THE TRANSMISSION.
The transmission of orders will be taken to include all the steps after
preparation by the Dispatcher until final delivery.
These are:
1. Telegraphing the order to the stations to which it is to be sent.
2. Writing down as received.
3. Repeating it back to the Dispatcher.
4. The response of the Dispatcher indicating that it is correctly
repeated.
5. The acknowledgment of this response.
6. Comparing copies of the order with the persons to whom it is
addressed, and taking their signatures.
7. Telegraphing the signatures to the Dispatcher's office.
8. The Dispatcher's reply, acknowledging the receipt of the signatures,
and indicating that the order may now be delivered.
9. The indorsement of this reply on the order.
10. The delivery to the trainmen.
Some Dispatchers prefer to personally telegraph their orders, having
an assistant operator to copy them as transmitted or as repeated, and
to perform the subsequent work of verification, record, etc. Those who
are accustomed to transmit their own orders strongly contend for that
practice. Those who pursue a different course are equally strong for
theirs. In arranging for those, at least, who have not become wedded to
any particular method, general consideration should govern. If contests
or inquiries arise on the wire when the Dispatcher is sending, time is
occupied which he may very much need, and where the amount of work is
large it will leave the Dispatcher more at liberty to attend to his
special duty if he simply prepares his orders and hands them to an
operator for the subsequent steps, and this is by some carefully insisted
upon.
The Dispatcher's duty is not simply to direct each movement as the
exigency arrives. He should be constantly on the alert to provide as
far as possible in advance for the arrangements necessary for keeping
his trains moving, and his mind should be free from anything that may
interfere with this. Attention by him to the merely mechanical duties
detracts from his usefulness and the benefits which the road should
derive from the talents which are supposed to fit him for his position.
Some points connected with this subject are referred to in Chapter VI.
Whether sent personally by the Dispatcher or by an operator from a
written sheet, the order should, whenever practicable, _be transmitted
simultaneously to all the offices to which it is to be sent_. Ordinarily
this will be to but two offices. An order annulling a train may have to
be sent to all the offices on the division. The simultaneous transmission
is a most valuable safeguard and a saving in telegraphing only
practicable with the duplicate order. It has been urged as an objection
to the duplicate order that where agents act as operators their duties
as agents may sometimes interfere with their attendance as operators
when wanted for simultaneous transmission. This furnishes no ground for
objecting to this form of order, as simultaneous transmission is not
essential, and it is only necessary in such case that the precaution be
observed of sending first to the train of superior right.
On calling an office a special signal should be used to indicate that a
train-order is to be sent. The numerals 31 or 19 are now generally used
for this purpose, the former for orders to be signed by the trainmen
before delivery and the latter for orders to be delivered without such
signature. After this signal the word "copy" should follow, with a number
indicating how many copies are to be made. This maybe omitted when three
is the number required, that being the most usual. If the system in use
does not provide that the train-order signal shall stand normally in the
"danger" position, the operator who is to receive the order must, at
this point, place it in that position and report that he has done so. He
then prepares his manifold-book for the requisite number of copies and
takes the order down as sent, with the proper address for his station,
immediately repeating it back word for word, _reading from the order as
actually written on the paper to be delivered_, and not from a slip to be
afterward copied. A "paper" operator should write the order in manifold
before repeating. Some defer the repeating until the signatures of the
trainmen are to be reported. But it is on many accounts preferable to
repeat and verify the order at once and before signatures are taken,
even if the trainmen are present. It assures its accuracy before they
have read and signed it. The repeating operators can listen to each
other better than if they repeat at different times, and the sender of
the order can better attend to its verification while the original lies
before him. There will also be less detention to trains if the repeating
is done before their arrival. The importance of this will further appear
from the consideration elsewhere of the effect of an order where the
telegraph fails after but one train has received and proceeded on it.
The relative succession in which the offices are to repeat should be
fixed by rule or usage, to avoid doubt or conflict. It is better that the
repeating be done in the same succession as that in which the several
offices are addressed. This assures the repeating first by the office
receiving for the superior train. As a valuable precaution against error,
_each should be required to listen while the others repeat_. An operator
has been known to hear the name of a meeting-place correctly, write it
down incorrectly in the order and repeat it back correctly. If he had
looked at his copy as the other repeated, he would probably have noticed
his error.
In this connection it may be observed that too much importance cannot be
attached to the cultivation of a careful habit in telegraphing orders. A
certain degree of rapidity in handling the key is not inconsistent with
distinctness, but the latter should never be sacrificed to haste and a
hurried and careless style of telegraphing should never be permitted.
The operator in the Dispatcher's office should carefully observe each
word as repeated by each, to make sure that all is repeated correctly.
Some observe the commendable practice of underscoring each word as
repeated, thus making sure that their attention is not withdrawn. If the
Dispatcher transmits his orders himself and his copy for record is made
as the order is repeated, as is the practice of some, his copy can hardly
be said to be an original. It may vary from what was sent or designed
to be sent, and his operator taking it down has not the opportunity of
checking as above, and may himself make a mistake in receiving it. All
offices required at the time to repeat an order should do so before the
Dispatcher replies. The signal for this reply now generally used, and
adopted for the "Standard" Code, is "O K." This is given simultaneously
to all, naming each, and each should acknowledge it. It is important that
the Dispatcher should know that each has received the "O K." It is not
necessary that the Dispatcher personally authorize this reply. It may be
properly done by his operator who has watched the repeating. Where the
order is not repeated back until the signatures are obtained and sent
with it, the response, "O K" and sometimes "complete" is used to cover
the whole, but where the practice herein recommended is pursued, the use
of two signals is necessary, "O K" being the first. The time at which the
order is sent and "O K" given should be noted on all the copies, with the
initials or signals of the operators sending and receiving, and the name
or initials of the superintendent. The order is then ready for signature
and delivery, and, if the train for which it is designed has not arrived,
the train copies should be removed from the book, folded and marked on
the outside with the train number, and placed in the rack provided, as
indicated under The Train-Order Signal.
Practice has varied very much in the method of delivering orders. Some
have simply had them authenticated by repeating back as above, with
perhaps the proviso that the trainmen compare their copies with that
of the operator, and in some cases sign for them. The transmitting of
signatures has not in all cases been required. Many rules, especially
those of early date, appear to be based on the idea that the whole
process of sending, verifying, and acknowledging an order is to be
continuous and while the train is at the station. Much that appears
in some rules gives the impression that either this idea prevailed or
that the phraseology used in connection with it was retained while the
practice had changed. On a busy road it would certainly be impracticable
to carry out this idea, and it is not now usually attempted.
In early days of train telegraphy, when orders were not prepared with the
precision of the present day, it was the custom to add to the order the
phrase "how do you understand?" This came to be represented by a signal,
the most generally used perhaps being the numeral "31." The reply to
this, preceded by "we understand we are to," represented by "13" or
other numeral, was required to be written out by the trainmen as their
"understanding." This was probably in most cases a verbatim copy of the
order. Whether this was actually done by the conductor and engineman is
doubtful. Some allowed the operator to do it. With the definite forms
of orders now used and well understood, there is certainly no necessity
for men to write out their "understanding." The manifold copies,
authenticated by repeating back and compared by reading aloud, which also
serves to impress the order on the men, must certainly be better than
anything written by or for them. There would seem to be no reason for
perpetuating a fiction by referring to the repeating of the order as the
"understanding" or by the use of "31" and "13" in their original sense,
when the question and answer which they represent are no longer designed
to be used, and this practice and the expressions which arose under it
have almost entirely given place to the improved methods.
Following, then, the practice here recommended and now generally used,
the message has been placed in the hands of the operator and its verbal
accuracy assured, and the train-order signal being in position to stop
the train, the conductor and engineman understand that on arrival they
are to go to the office "for orders." One of them (or the operator)
should read the order aloud while each looks at his copy, the object
being _to guard against a hurried reading of the order, to acquaint them
fully with its exact terms, and to impress its purport upon them_. It
is to be hoped that no man would willfully disregard a train order, but
there are many who would proceed upon a hasty examination or none at all,
if permitted to do so, and perhaps on a wrong impression as to what it
directs to be done.
The order having been thus read and compared, the signatures should be
taken on the operator's copy. From the many rules forbidding operators to
sign for trainmen, and conductors for enginemen, it would seem probable
that this is sometimes done. This is a practice which no considerations
of convenience can justify. Personal signatures should be insisted upon.
Without this there is danger that men will hastily "grab" an order and
fail to get its meaning. Time is well spent in securing their particular
attention to it, and their signatures attest that this has been done.
There is much difference of opinion as to whether it is important to take
the signature of the engineman. Much time is often lost by taking him
from his engine, particularly on very long trains, and some think that
the purpose is as well served by having his copy delivered to him by the
conductor. In the latter plan there is some danger that the attention of
the engineman may not be particularly called to the purport of the order,
and for this reason the author believes that the practice is best where
both signatures are required. The Time Convention code leaves the choice
optional.
The signatures having been obtained, the Dispatcher is to be advised, by
their transmission to him, in connection with the number of the order
signed for and the train number or designation. The reply that all is
satisfactory, authorized by the Dispatcher personally, is then to be
given in some prescribed form. The word "complete" has been adopted in
the "Standard Code," superseding "correct," which was formerly used.
The selected word should be written on each copy, with the exact time at
which it was given. The order may then be delivered, and the train order
signal so placed as to allow the train to proceed. If the Dispatcher's
office is also used as an office for delivering orders, the same
formalities in delivery should be observed as at way offices.
It will sometimes occur that an order must be sent to a disabled or
other train away from a telegraph station. It must, in that case, pass
through additional hands, and great care is necessary to guard against
error. The conductor or messenger who carries the order should be made
accountable for its delivery in proper form, by himself signing for it
and getting "complete." The order being addressed to the conductor and
engineman of the train "in care of" the messenger selected, the latter
should be furnished with an additional copy, on which he is to take the
signatures of the conductor and engineman, as if they were at a telegraph
office. This copy should be delivered as soon as practicable to an
operator, who should forward the signatures, completing the process.
Although when these paragraphs were first written the method of
transmission described did not correspond entirely with any practice that
might be termed general, it agreed in essential points with the practice
upon several roads where most careful consideration has been given to the
various risks in train dispatching and to methods for avoiding them. The
process detailed indicates the points to be guarded, and furnishes what
has proved a practicable and satisfactory method, and corresponds with
the regulations now being rapidly adopted on our principal roads.
The rules should determine the course to be pursued if the telegraph
fails during the process of transmitting an order. If this occur
before its correct reception is assured by repeating back and giving
and acknowledging "O K" for any office concerned, the process is not
sufficiently complete for the men of a train at such office to be
allowed to sign for and act upon it. If, therefore, communication is
not quickly restored it is perfectly safe and proper to provide that an
operator shall permit a train, in such case, to proceed on its schedule
rights without orders. If, on the other hand, "O K" has been given and
acknowledged, the correct reception of the order is assured, and a period
is reached when the men of a train may, and often must, be permitted, on
arrival, to sign for and act on the order before the arrival of the other
at the point where the order is awaiting it. If the men of one train have
thus proceeded, and the other on arrival cannot be communicated with,
it would be obviously unsafe for it to proceed upon the order awaiting
it for which signatures cannot be transmitted, because, although the
opposing train may be on the way to execute the order, this is not known
to the train that is cut off from communication. It would therefore be
improper for it to proceed either in accordance with the order or on
schedule rights. It would appear, therefore, that an order wholly or
partly sent by the process detailed, and for which "O K" cannot be given
and acknowledged by reason of the telegraph failing, should not operate
to hold the train addressed, but that an order for which "O K" has been
given and acknowledged should have this effect. The rule should therefore
be _that, after "O K" is given to an order and acknowledged, the train
to which the order is addressed shall not be permitted to pass until the
signatures are transmitted and "complete" obtained_, or until the train
can be communicated with by the Dispatcher. This is based, of course,
upon the presumption that the plan is followed of assuring the accurate
transmission for both trains, and that each operator has acknowledged the
"O K" before "complete" is given to either. The delays arising from the
operation of this rule cannot be frequent, and it is better to submit to
these than to run the risk involved in a different course.
In the use of the "19" order, to which the signatures of the trainmen
are not taken, the order becomes of effect only when "complete" has been
given and acknowledged; and until this is accomplished it should be
treated as of the same effect as a "31" order for which "O K" has not
been given and acknowledged.
If the practice is followed of delaying the repeating of the order until
the signatures are obtained and sent, then the presence of the order in
the operator's hands should serve to hold either train if the telegraph
fails, as neither can know but that the other train has received the
order and proceeded on it. It must be seen, however, that there is some
risk in depending on a train being held by the mere presence of an
order, the correct reception of which has not been fully acknowledged,
as the receiving operator may even have made an error in receiving the
number of the train for which the order is designed; and this offers
an additional reason for repeating back at once on the receipt of the
order. These considerations as to the holding effect of an order when
the telegraph fails, do not, of course, apply to a general order, as one
annulling a train, until such order is specially addressed to a train. It
should be understood that operators hold trains a reasonable time for the
resumption of communication broken during the transmission of orders.
It is important that the holding effect of an order not signed for
should be clearly understood, so that the Dispatcher may run trains with
confidence against a train so held.
A careful Dispatcher will observe that the inconveniences arising from
a train being held by the incomplete transmission of an order will be
greater as the distance is greater between the point to which the order
is sent for delivery and the point where it is to take effect.