EDITOR FORUM:-I recently had the following order issued to me: "Eng. 704 will run special A to C with right of track over No. 84 and hold the main line to B." I refused, being No. 84, to leave the yard at C until Spl. 704 arrived. Dispatcher claimed I had a right to go to B. Please give your opinion through THE CONDUCTOR. I. M. BIGGS, Div. 241. ANSWER-The order is not standard. We cannot see that this order would give No. 84 any right to leave C. The addition "and hold main line at B" could not by any possible mental contortion be construed into a meet with No. 84. In fact, we cannot see that it means anything and certainly is no information to the Special, since the first part of the order gives them the right to the main line at B. EDITOR FORUM-Asking you for information of Orders which you will find inscribed below. Order No. 20, Sept. 16, '04. No. 519 Eng. 989 will meet 514 at Glenmont. Signed and complete. Order No. 26, Sept. 16, '04. No. 519 Eng. 989 will meet 514 at Brink Haven instead of Glenmont. Signed and complete. Order 26 supersedes Order 20. Order No. 29 Sept 16, '04. No. 519, Eng. 989 will meet 514 at Glenmont instead of Brink Haven. Signed and complete. Order 26 and 29 are two positive instead meet orders. Does Order 29 supersede Order 26 under the standard code rules? Had not Order 29 read Order 26 is annulled, No. 519 and 514 will meet at Glenmont. M. Columbus, O. ANSWER-The orders are correct and supersede each other according to standard code provisions. Possibly by annulling Order 26 and making a new meet at Glenmont the Order would have been less confusing, but it is doubtful. EDITOR FORUM:-Will you please answer through the columns of THE CONDUCTOR, the following question: Engine 1142 will work extra 3:30 p. m. until 6:00 p. m. between Concord and Jacksonville and will protect against Extra 1171 north and will protect against Extra 1196 south after 4:30 p. m. and against Extra 1379 north after 4:45 p. m. Complete 3:30 p. m. QUESTION-Will it be necessary to protect against Extra 1171 north immediately upon receipt of the order or not until "after 4:30 p. m."? There is a difference of opinion among some of our Brothers, and on account of two extras meeting on main line while working under this order, your ruling will be appreciated by MEMBER DIVISION 81. Beardstown, Ill. ANSWER-If you are using standard rules, then Eng. 1142 would not be required to protect against Extra 1171 until 4:30 p. m., since the standard code provides that where this form of order is used the time after which the work extra shall protect itself shall be stated unless it is desired to have the work extra protect at all times in which case the words "protecting itself" are all that is necessary. If the despatcher desired Extra 1171 to protect immediately the order should have read "and will protect itself against Extra 1171 north after 3:30 p. m., etc.", then there could have been no misunderstanding. In our opinion Extra 1171 north should not have passed the station at south end of limits until 4:30 p. m., but the order is worded so poorly that it is easily misunderstood. Despatchers should use the regular forms whenever if is possible to do so. Whenever it is not possible to do so, the order should be so worded as to admit of but one understanding. OFFICIAL CHANGES Uriah Lott has resigned as president of the St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico and has been succeeded by B. F. Yoakum. A. E. Welby has been appointed general superintendent of the Rio Grande Western, with headquarters at Salt Lake City, Utah. M. K. King, general manager of the Norfolk & Southern, has also been chosen vice president, with headquarters at Norfolk, Va. Joseph A. Gordon has just been appointed general superintendent of the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton with headquarters at Cincinnati, O. J. S. Douglas, trainmaster of the Evansville & Terre Haute, has been appointed superintendent and chief engineer, with headquarters at Evansville, Ind. The office of D. F. McFarland, superintendent of the Sterling division of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, has been removed from Holyoke, Colo., to Sterling, Colo. T. K. Scott, general manager of the Georgia Railroad, has been elected president of the Macon, Dublin & Savannah, which has been acquired by the Atlantic Coast Line. Timothy F. Brynes, of Minneapolis, Minn., has been appointed assistant to President Mellen, of the New York, New Haven & Hartford, with headquarters at New Haven, Conn. W. S. Carson, who recently resigned as superintendent of the World s Fair Terminal Railroad, has been appointed superintendent of terminals of the Pere Marquette at Saginaw, Mich. Frank Trumbull, president of the Colorado & Southern, will on Jan. 1 remove his headquarters from Denver to Chicago, where he will be identified with important banking interests which are concerned in the financial affairs of the Colorado & Southern. C. M. Kinney has been appointed trainmaster of the Lehigh Valley at Easton, Pa., to succeed E. B. Seigler, who has been transferred to Jersey City, N. J., in a similar capacity. Charles I. Stich, heretofore trainmaster of the Mexican Central at Jimulco, Mex., has been appointed superintenddent of the Monterey division, with headquarters at Monterey, Mex. W. H. Bancroft, vice president and general manager of the Oregon Short Line, has also been appointed acting general manager of the Southern Pacific, owing to the resignation of C. H. Markham. F. A. Lattig, formerly trainmaster of the National Railroad of Mexico at Laredo, Tex., and afterward superintendent of the Matamoras branch of that road, has been appointed terminal superintendent at the City of Mexico. H. O. Halsted, formerly superintendent of the Detroit district of the Pere Marquette, has been appointed_chief clerk to General Superintendent Trump at Detroit, Mich., succeeding Blaine Gavette, who has been appointed trainmaster. C. R. Gray, general manager of the St. Louis & San Francisco, has been elected second vice president of that road, in place of R. R. Hammond, who recently was transferred from St. Louis to Chicago, and who is second vice president of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois. T. R. Jones, superintendent of the Tucson division of the Southern Pacific, has been appointed superintendent of the Sacramento division, with headquarters at Sacramento, Cal., to succeed R. J. Laws, deceased. W. A. McGovern, heretofore assistant division superintendent at Los Angeles, Cal., has been appointed superintendent of the Tucson division, with office at Tucson, Ariz., in place of Mr. Jones. The accompanying cut shows the size and style of a fountain pen we are offer CELTRIC MODEL I. ing as a premium in connection with our circulation. This pen is the Celtic Model No. 1 and we feel safe in saying is as good as any $2.00 pen made. Send us one subscriber for a year for $1.25 and we will send you one of these pens. They are 14 kt. solid gold and warranted to be perfect in every particular - we've tried them and know. Brother M. E. Murray of 972 76th Place, Chicago, wishes to thank most sincerely all those who have sent him tobacco tags in pursuance of his request and for the purpose of securing a premium, furniture for the Home at Highland, Ill. He has not received as many of the tags as he wished and the Tag Company have kindly consented to extend the the time, so that anybody who feels like sending tags to Brother Murray, may still have the opportunity of doing We hope the response will be gen So. erous. Christmas at West Point is not a mad, merry festival season. It is a time of disguised tribulation. The only fortunate cadets are the upper classmen, who have pulled through the term with only a light percentage of demerits. These receive a leave of absence of from three to six days. But the under classmen, and all men that have been penalized, go through the same routine on Christmas week as on all the other weeks of the year except that the lessons are suspended. From their friends and relalives in the civilian world they smuggle in boxes full of "boodle," which is the West Point name for smuggled sweet stuff, and in their rooms, late at night, they eat this Christmas cheer over a poncho, to keep the grease spots off the floor. If the floor showed marks of cake or candy festivity, inspection next morning would bring a penalty. At the Mess Hall, cheap candy is served during holiday week.-Country Life in America's Christmas Annals. num happened to be the one questioned, and he was asked their age, occupation, original home, whether they were single or married, their weight and stature, and their religious belief. Nothing, at any rate, was too trivial or irrelevant, which the rustic thought of, all of which interested the showman intensely. Finally, the bucolic visitor started slowly, but reluctantly, to leave; but after walking away a few steps, he returned, and said, with the most solemn simplicity: "They are brothers, I presume."From "Success" Magazine. The Fraternal letters were unusually numerous this month, and if any of them seem badly "cut up" or "cut down," or do not appear at all, kindly remember the editor had to do it in order to give all a chance. We would suggest to those who "write for THE CONDUCTOR for the first time," that they read over very carefully the instructions at the head of the Fraternal Department. We sometimes think the "old writers" have forgotten those in A correspondent, writing from Peru, to order some of our books on engineering subjects, gives some information about his surroundings; he says: "I am working on the greatest road in the world. structions. We get up to an elevation of nearly 16,000 feet; there are 58 tunnels and 8 switchbacks on the line. The road is 222 kilometers long (about 138 miles). We have Baldwin and Rogers engines of about 90 tons. There are several Americans running here." -Railway and Locomotive Engineering. WANTED: The present address of Miss Ida Pryor Edmonds and Miss Florence Pryor Edmonds, nieces of W. B. Heflin, deceased. Brother Heflin at the time of his death, was a member of Red River Division 262, and at one time was a member of Division at Memphis, Tenn. Any information that will assist in locating these young ladies will be a kindness to them and greatly appreciated by me. A. B. HONEYCUTT, Secretary and Treasurer, 720 N. Angiline St., Cleburn, Texas. The late P. T. Barnum was a keen student of human nature, as well as a natural humorist, and nothing which set forth human traits that were odd, or amusing, escaped his attention. He was very fond of telling stories of incidents that brought out features in human character-one of which, that delighted him immensely, was connected with the Siamese Twins. One day there came to see them a back-country rustic, who was perfectly absorbed in them, and inquisitive enough in regard to them to require almost a bureau of information to answer his innumerable questions. Mr. Bar In the December number of Sunset Magazine Wallace W. Everett writes of winter touring in California, showing how automobiling there is as enjoyable in January as it is elsewhere in June. This should incite the snow-bound auto enthusiasts of the eastern states to move their machines westward in order to enjoy winter sport. The Christmas number of Sunset has a striking cover design by Maynard Dixon, entitled "Santa Claus Off the Range." Other features of this number are "Schools of California," by May L. Cheney; "Marketing on the Yukon," by Samuel Hubbard, Jr., and "Out of the Dead West," a narrative of adventure by Will Irwin. |