Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 November 1891 — DEATH ON RAILROADS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DEATH ON RAILROADS.

HOW LIFE IS JEOPARDIZED BY rapid travel. Signal Code-What the Colored Flags T.lghts Menn-An Bnglne that Wanted Kl<le—Fatal Mistake ot a Telegraph ■ Operator. Xotable Collisions. The many disastrous railroad accidents r of late, both in this country md i B Europe, have .naturally made the q«erti<n of danger in railway travel a topic of general discussion; Hut after all, when one stvps to study the history and statistics of accidents of all kinds which overtake the ’traveling public, it would seem that the chances

■f death in this way are singularly remote. Indeed, it has been lepeatedly Asserted that there are fewer persons •killed annually by adopting this method

■srf travel than by any other, and when couipurisons are made this would appear to be tree !■ the ( nited States, for instance, the somber of passengers killed in railway Tridrote in the year 1889 was 207. The total passenger movement in the same fear was equal to one person traveling

1M, *08,710 miles. Taking these figwpon which to base the chances of lhaiqg killed, a person might have gone vwr >l/MX),000 miles of country before aeectlag Ms death, an operation which wobM occupy no less a period than 194 tyaao. traveling day and night at a oyaaAaf thirty miles an hour. mea trains 'weighing 4( 0 tons are ; f*aaa<aaovflßg at a rate of sixty miles an hb®«, with the people upon it confident •■at Chair aafety, nor thinking of aught, VMkayc, but the grand scenery at which I lhay **« permitted to look for so brief a •p*ta,the mechanical details and the died pH acid intelligence which enable it '<• do «o may be the better understood If the writer who said of John Ericswa'a locomotive in 1826, rrhiah weighed bat two and a ha'f tons and traveled at • maximum speed of thirty miles an hour tor oaly a short distance, that it was the most wonderful exhibition of human •dartsp and human skill the world had •var seen, could look to-day upon the achievements of railroading, he would •doebtleas think that he didn’t know - '-wusch of what he was talking after ad. Bat sixty miles an hour is not the ' hipfaeat rate-of speed attained ty trains 40O£ons. The extreme speed of sev- ■ eatty miles an hour, or 110 feet per se •- «md, has been reached more than once. IHI extraordinary energy has been com- ■ puted-to be nearly twice as great as a shot fired from a 100-ton -gnm. fUaaay be of interest in this con-■cetloo•to-point out that the speed of a ’traia may easHy be determined by pastapn<ers curious-enough to know at what rate they are traveling, -by eounting the ■washer of rails over which they pas-, careful listening this-can be detected, (the wwmber of miles per hour being a’dßMtexactly the same as the number of aafla passed in twenty seconds. With trains running at such remark abte speed it can be readily understood how necessary it is for every mind connected with a great railroad system to be centered upon the work allotted to it Wad every hand to be unfailing in the of its duties. The safety es-a train entirely depends upon this : -aoaditioo of things, for there are but few-devices in use on.,railroads that are Miely-safety appl arees. Everything or measly everything used ha< a mechanical awaconomic value, and if it perchance «T tasteetlonally promotes safety a part eatyof. itaduty is j erformed; I This Is illustrated in the use of the brake. Tts Unvention and application was for the sole purp se of stopping the traia at stationsfor purely bus ness purpoeea. But -nevertheless it performs an important part in-the prevention of acWMents wh ch threaten from count'ess •at •-a When the speed attained wat lata than that at whicjj-itrains-are run to-day the old screw aud foot brake were Amhrl aufficimt for..all practical pur■aaea, but as the r jhilar velocity of traiaa was increased-itof course became > aacaasary to adopt a more quickly acting •amaaa to bring them to a standstill. . hftanae tbe iatroduetiou of (the automatic ateteakc. dtoabawlnvthegraet tdvantage of the ■fchcako over handbrakes a series of Wparimenu were made a few years ago «Mki train of fifty cars on a 3,000-mi e tm. TU train was ab<Ait one-third of ■ too*, aad fram a speed of forty E? £<>*■.•-*’ -|& ' f- *

miles an hour ft was repeatedly stopped In one-third of its own length. But the following comparison will give a better idea of the merits of the airbrake. The

measurements were taken from the instant the brakes were applied, to the spot at which the train came to a standstill. No. of Miles cars, per hour. Feet. Handbrakes 50 20 791 Airbrakes 50 20 Ififl Airbrakes 50 40 ;81 Airbrakes 20 20 99 The great value, therefore, of the airbrake in stoppings tran before imp nding danger cannot be adequately gauged. But, apart from the mere mechanical devices used, of which the air-brake is by far the mo t important, the system of working and the discip ine exerci ed in the successful operation of a road are an interesting study in itself. The cardinal principle to be observed in preventing accidents is never to allow a train to be ahead of line. The obvious reasons of this are manifold, and the imperative instructions given to employes of raihoad companies in this connection show its importance. The engineer, despite the fact that the train is under the control of the conductor, is in no case considered blameless if unnecessary r.sk is r n by leaving a station or pass ng any point ahead of the scheduled time. In case of accident or stoppage upon

the main track, it is the duty of the conductoi to immediately station men at not less than a thousand yards—that is, 100 rails' length—distant, tn both directions. These men carry a red flag by day and a red light by night, and two toroedoes must be fastened to the rail on the engineers side of the track, one at 1,000 yards from the obstruction and the other fifty yards beyond it These torpecoe* are not removed, although the flagman is called in and proceeds with his train, but are left as a warning to the engineer of the first train that passes over them, whose duty it is to ascertain the object of their .presence and proceed slowly until satisfied that all danger is passed. In cases of uncertainty every employe of a railroad oemoany is instructed to take the safe side The wa'chword is “Security.” Let every man protect his own tritin and engine, and each section hand and station agent his track and swit hes, and accidents from carelessness will never occur. But not in train crews, section men and station agents are the responsibilities of safety in railroad traveling aloite vested. At many stations where the agent himself does not manipulate the electric current which te.ls of the move-*

meat of trains elsewhere much depends upon the te egraph operator working for him. An error in a single word has more than once been the cause of terrible human slaughter. Not many years ago an appalling accident happened on a single track branch line of an Eng ish railroad, which is, perhaps, unsurpassed in the annals of railroading for its terrible re suits. It happened in this wav: There are two stations about live miles apart;

Up and down—Move ahead. Across the track—Stop In circle—Go back. Swinging at arm’s length—Traih parted. the one hat the junction of, the branch with the main line and the other about half way to the termifius. of the road on the east coast Trains Were scheduled to leave each end of the road at the same hour, to meet at the half-way station, where provision was made for them with a double track. A mishap i occurred at the junction on the occasion referred to and the departtire of the east-bound train was consequently de- | Ibycd. When the traia from the coast

reached the customary mooting point the cast-bound train was not in sight and the operator telegraphed to the junction for instructions. He was in-

formed that the train had been unavoidably delayed. Then he asked whether the west bound should proceed or await the arrival of tfae overdue train. Th 1 answer he got was, “Just come on,” and he at once started the train on its way. W hat the operator had intended to say was, “.just gone on.” referring to the east bound train. But it was too late. He discovered his mistake immediately and telegraphed for the station agent at the half way depot to hold his train. The reply was that it had , ust pulled out. About two miles from the junction there is a sharp curve in the road, and immediately beyond this a bridge, which crosses a deep river. The trains met on this bridge with scarcely a moment’s warning. There was a terrific crash, and the two trains, a mass of twisted iron and splinters, toppled over into the water. There were some 300 passengersoh board the two trains, but not one was saved. The operator knew what the inevitable result of his error would be while yet the two trains with their human freight, unconscious of the fate which awaited them, were rushing oh to their destruction. The effect of this upon his mind was so great that ere the a eident had happened he rushed from hisoi.ee and was not found until the following day, and then with his mind permanently deranged. This calamity was due to the simple error of one word, and goes to show how great consoquences nay follow litt’e acts of negligence or inattention. , Another collision wo thy of mention took p ace on the Batavia branch of the New York Central and Hudson River ■ Road. At the time it occurred there had been some very heavy snowstorms, aud the line between 1 atavia and Canandaigua was blocked in several places. An engine came up from Cafir andaigua, got very near Batavia and’ was in a drift The engine was pushing a snow-plow, constructed something like an inclined apron, extending fifteen feet or thereabout fiom the front end of the engine, and was attached to a work train, with men to go east to help open the road. It got a short distance from Batavia station and was working through the drift when a train from the oppo.-ite direction met it and the engine ran up on the snow plow. The plow being very strong sustained the weight, and the engine tontinued to move forward until it mounted fairly on the top of the other. This ac ident also occurred through the agent mistaking his

orders over the wire from the next station. The telescoping of coaches which invariably follows serious collisions between passenger trains, may also be classed as one of the remarkable results

in railroad accidents. Often a passenger coach w.ll become almost completely incased by the one next to it,, while the re mainder of the train is comparatively but 1 ttle injured. The derailments of trains are occasioned by a variety of causes, among which is the open switch, the spreading or the warping of the rails and by obstructions that may be accidentally or purposely pla ed upon the rails. .Of these the former is by far the commonest cause, but as an open switch is invariably indicated by a signal of some kind, such as the a m of a semaphore by day and a red light by night, the casualty is frequently traced to the negligence of the engineer. Next to the air brakes in preventing accidents a proper understanding and prompt service of signaling is considered as the most important. Signaling‘‘by torpedoes, already referred to, is both effectual and simple in many cases, bu<t it is with the manipulation of colored flags and lights that trainmen must make themselves familiar in order to secure the proper protection of life and property. The following code of signals wifi not be without interest: A green flag displayed at a station by day or a green light at night tells the engineer that orders are awaiting him and he. must bring his train to a stop. Ureflal trains carry two green flags by day or two green lights by night on the front of the engine A red flag or red light or the explosion' of a torpedo denotes danger ahead.. If, however, such a signal is placed just outside the rails It denotes that the track is out of order and speed must be reduced to six miles an hour, but if placed within the rails it shows that the trick is impassable ani the train tmuel ■be brought to a stop. Two red signals on an engine show that another train is following and has the same rights as the train carrying the signal, but if the signals be white instead of red it shows that the train following will keep ten minutes behind >ll regular passenger or freight trains One sound of the locomotive whistle tells the brakemen to apply the brakes;

two sounds to' let them go again; three sounds is*the signal to back- the train; four sounds call in the fiagman who has been sent out to warn approaching trains; and five sounds is a warning to tnen oir top of freight cars that-the train is approaching a covered 'bridge or tunnel. When a train is approaching a roadcrossing the engines gives one long and two short sounds, while a succession of Short sounds of the whistle is a signal of danger. . A light swung over the head is a signal. to go ahead, when swung across or at right angles wit i the track is'a signal to back up, and when moved dp and down is a signal to stop. With all these details to bear in mind, with the many other duties devolving upon the men in whose hands the safety of trains and human life isplaccd, it is indeed a marvel that accidents are not of more frequdntoccurrence and the sacrifice of life greater.

DANGER AHEAD.

WRECK AT THE BRIDGE IN THE GREAT ENGLISH ACCIDENT

DEFINES WRECKED DURING THE GREAT WABASH STRIKE.

THE ENGINE THAT WANTED A RIDE.

RAILROAD TORPEDO FOR WARNING TRAINS OF TROUBLE AHEAD.

BAGGAGE AND PASSENGER CARS TELESCOPED.

LANTERN SIGNALING.