THE RECORD.
A careful record ought to be kept of each step in the issuing of an
order, as well as of its exact terms. This record should be made on the
original copies held by the Dispatcher, and by the operator who receives
and delivers the order. The Dispatcher's copy should show who issued it,
and both should indicate what operators were engaged in its transmission,
and the time at which each step was taken, as well as the proper address,
etc.
The Dispatcher's train sheet should constantly show the movements of the
several trains, which should be promptly reported by the operators and
recorded by them in the prescribed forms. A practical difficulty occurs
in making the Dispatcher's record of all the steps in the issuing of
an order, which it may be well to refer to here. When the Dispatcher
is assisted by an operator, the most of the steps will be taken and
recorded by the latter. They should be at once recorded on the original
copy of the order, so as to leave nothing to be remembered or copied.
Now, if the Dispatcher must write the order out in the book before
transmission, the operator may have occasion to use the book at the
same time for recording steps then in progress with reference to other
orders; and if he does not, the passing of the books back and forth
between them is inconvenient. It has, partly on this account, doubtless,
become the custom with many for the Dispatcher himself to telegraph the
orders without first writing them down, his operator taking them down as
repeated back and writing them in the book of record. The operator thus
has the book all the time in his hands. The objections to the Dispatcher
transmitting orders himself are elsewhere considered, and it is designed
here to point out a method by which the other plan can be pursued and
the inconvenience referred to avoided. The Dispatcher is provided with a
manifold-book and some loose sheets properly headed. With these, by the
manifold process, he prepares two copies of the order, one in his book
and the other on a loose sheet which he hands to the operator for use in
transmitting. On this all the subsequent record is made by the operator,
and at the close of each day all the orders for that day are fastened
together and filed away. The numbers and manifold writing sufficiently
identify the two copies if subsequent comparison is necessary, each being
in fact an original. This method has the further advantage that the
Dispatcher has by him all the time copies of orders he has issued, for
reference if needed.