the duties of station agents, baggagemen, and miscellaneous employees. Only eighty pounds of baggage was carried free in those days. A corpse was transported for two first-class fares.
The ninth section contains a rule which, while still with us in spirit, has been shorn of the breezy and refreshing language of 1854. It reads:
“Employees of the Company disapproving of these or other regulations of the road, or not disposed to aid in carrying them out, are requested not to remain in the employ of the Company.”
The remainder of the book consists of instructions relating to passes, list of officers of the road, table of distances, and a speed table. The whole is issued under the authority of Charles Minot, Superintendent.
The book contains several references to double track, and it is plain that the telegraph was used in connection with train movement, and also for the transmission of standard time daily at noon, precisely as at present, and yet there is one rule which indicates that so simple a thing as a ticket punch had not yet been brought into use. This is a rule relating to the handling of passes by conductors, and required a corner to be torn off to show that the pass had been used—each division of the road being indicated by a certain corner of the pass, prescribed in the rule.
No doubt many readers of the Railroad Gazette are familiar with the name of Charles Minot, and know the valuable service he rendered to railroads as a pioneer in the profession. He is credited with being the first to make use of the telegraph to control the movements of trains, and it may be worth while to repeat the somewhat familiar story:
“In 1850 the Erie Road was in operation between Piermont and Elmira. The track was a single one, such a thing as a double track being then unknown in the country. Two years before, after much discussion and opposition, a telegraph wire had been put up along the line. Superintendent Minot, who was a man a long way in advance of the times, was a strong believer in the practicability of the telegraph as a facilitator of transportation on railroads. In the summer of 1850 he was a passenger one day on a westbound train over his road. The train he was on, according to the printed time-table, was to meet a through train from the west at Turner’s Station, 47 miles from New York. When Mr. Minot’s train reached Turner’s, he learned that the eastbound train was six hours late, owing to some mishap. Under the system of railroading then governing employees, the westbound train had to remain at Turner’s until the delayed train passed that station. In fact, the whole business of the road from there west was at a standstill owing to the non-arrival of the train at the different stations where other trains were awaiting it. Superintendent Minot saw at once how ridiculous such a system was. There was a telegraph office at Turner’s, and it was then the only one between that station and Jersey City. The Superintendent went to the office and made the operator’s hair stand by sending a message to the station agent at Port Jervis that he intended to run the train he was on from Turner’s to Port Jervis on the time of the belated eastbound train. He ordered the agent not to let any train leave that station going east until the train he was on arrived there. He also ordered the agent to telegraph to him how he understood the message. The answer was satisfactory, and the Superintendent went to the conductor of the train and told him to start on with his train. The conductor refused to do so, and the Superintendent discharged him on the spot. Minot then ordered the engineer to pull out. The engineer said he would not take the risk, and in the argument that followed, the Superintendent dragged the engineer from the cab, gave him an elegant dressing-out, and mounted the footboard himself. He ran the train to Port Jervis, and sent it on west as far as Narrowsburg before it met the late train, thus saving the passengers five hours, and settling forever the question of the accuracy of the telegraph in running railroad trains.”
While this is being written, a friend to whom the above was shown, together with the old book of rules, confirms the story of the first train order, and tells me that his father was the telegraph operator upon whose hair Mr. Minot’s telegram is said to have had such a very peculiar effect; but he calls attention to the need of allowing a grain or two of salt in reading about the alleged harsh treatment of the objecting conductor and engineer.
In the statement quoted it is said that such a thing as double track was unknown in 1850; but the book of instructions, published four years later, prescribes rules for the movement of trains over double track, showing that progress had been made in that time.
End Post Reinforcement for Box Cars.
The Chicago & Alton is building a number of 36-ft. box cars at its Bloomington shops which will have the end-posts reinforced in the manner shown in the accompanying drawing. The end posts which are 4⅜ in. × 5 in., are framed into the sill and plate in the usual way. On the outside edge of each post a wrought-iron strap, 2¾ in. × ¾ in., is bolted on with ⅝-in. carriage bolts. The bottom of this strap is bent out and bolted to the top face of the end sill with ¾ in. bolts, and the top end is twisted a half turn and bolted to the outside face of the end plate. A 4-in. × 3-in. filling piece and a ⅝-in. tie rod fasten the two posts together about half way from the floor, and ⅝-in. vertical tie rods extending through the sill and plate are laid in grooves cut in the outside faces of the posts.
Detail of End Post Reinforcement.
Washington Railway Appliance Exhibition.
Applications for membership and for exhibit spaces in the American Railway Appliance Exhibition, to be held in Washington, D. C., May 3 to 14, in connection with the International Railway Congress, are now invited, and assignments of space will be in the order of receiving checks. Exhibitors proposing to erect their own booths, pavilions or exhibit structures will have access to the grounds. The building to be erected by the committee is expected to be ready for exhibits by April 15. As the time is very short it is earnestly requested that all interested give this matter immediate attention.
Following are the rules for the government of members and exhibitors:
1. All manufacturers of and dealers in American railway appliances, material and supplies, are entitled to membership in the exhibition, upon the payment of a membership fee of $50. Only members are entitled to occupy space as exhibitors, but membership is not confined to those who propose to make exhibits.
2. Members are entitled to attend and participate in all ceremonies, functions and entertainments that may be arranged by the committee; to have their names printed in an official pamphlet, stating the nature of their business and where located.
3. The committee will erect a large building for the housing of the smaller and lighter exhibits, similar to those displayed on the verandas during the mechanical conventions held annually in June. Spaces therein will be 10 ft. in depth and 5 ft. in width, or the multiples thereof. A charge of 50 cents per sq. ft. will be made for space occupied in this building.
4. Exhibits to be operated by power, excessive in weight or requiring large space, will necessarily have to be installed outside of the exhibition building erected by the committee, and the booths, pavilions, or other structures in connection therewith will be erected by the exhibitors at their own expense. A charge of 10 cents per sq. ft. will be made for ground so occupied.
5. A temporary track will be laid on B street, fronting the exhibition grounds, for the display of cars. The charge to be made per car will be announced at an early day.
6. No excavations for foundations can be made, but all exhibit structures must rest upon foundations that may be laid upon the surface of the ground.
7. Before any application for exhibit space shall be considered application for membership must be made accompanied by check for $50, the membership fee, and by check for the amount of space desired. All checks to be drawn to the order of Chas. A. Moore, Treasurer.
8. The committee shall not be held liable for any loss or damage by fire, flood or other casualty, or by theft. The committee will arrange for such safeguarding of the exhibits as will prove adequate during the continuance of the exhibition. As the exhibition is not an incorporated body, and the service of the committee and its officials is purely a voluntary and gratuitous one in the interest of our great industry, its members, of course, will not be expected to assume any personal liabilities in connection therewith.
9. All structures erected must be approved by the officer in charge of public buildings and grounds before erection can be begun; hence exhibitors proposing to erect their own exhibit structures must submit plans at the earliest possible date to the Director of Exhibits for such approval. As a general suggestion in regard thereto, such booths or exhibit structures should be of tasteful design, about 12 ft. in height from the platform at the eaves, if covered, and of sufficient slope from the ridge pole to permit of proper drainage.
10. The Director of Exhibits shall approve of the size, design and location of all advertising signs.
11. Exhibitors erecting their own structures must remove such structures and exhibits from the grounds prior to May 25, 1905, as that is the date fixed by the Act of Congress when the right to use said grounds for exhibition purposes will expire.
12. Steam and electric power will be placed at a central point, exhibitors to make their own connections and pay for the power used.
