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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 10 (March 21, 1927)

Among The Books. — “Control On The Railways.”

page 28

Among The Books.
“Control On The Railways
.”

It is only of recent years that the greatest developments have taken place in scientific railway operation, and one of the greatest drawbacks to the student who has not the opportunity of coming into personal contact with the latest developments in this direction has been the scarcity of suitable literature bearing upon the subject. The treatise on “Control on the Railways” by Philip Burtt, now published is, therefore, a timely addition to the information available to students, especially to those who have not had the opportunity of studying the system in actual practice.

Various articles of great value have appeared in the “Railway Gazette” and other magazines on this recent development in operating methods; and the work now under review, written by one who is recognised as an authority on such matters, comes at a time when such a treatise is an urgent need.

The author points out that “train control” is an expression which has, during recent years, come to have a special and quite technical meaning as the system under which, by a centralised and co-ordinated system of telephones, the whole supervision of train-working becomes centralised in, and administered from, a central office, concurrently with the actual operations and movements on the line at the time.

Special chapters deal successively with a stationmaster's control, a signalman's control, power signalling, subsidiary mechanical devices aiding control, the telephone as a means of control, the enginedriver's control, and the growth and development of the new telephone control; but it is in chapters ten to fifteen that the new methods are chiefly described. The author says that the Midland Railway Company claim to have been the pioneers in initiating the new system of train control in Great Britain when they introduced a limited system of control of mineral train working at Masborough in 1907.

The old “North Eastern Company” established a control office at Middlesbrough about the same time, but although the installation of control apparatus took place about November, 1910, it was years before the full use of it was applied or even understood.

The control board was first used as an aide-memoire rather than as it is now an operating instrument upon which the game of manipulating trains may be played as on a chess board.

Some of the principal functions assumed by the train control officer to-day are enumerated as under:—

(1) The provision of a visual indication—by means of a control board—of the train working within the area.

(2) The keeping within reasonable limits of the Trainmen's hours.

(3) The supervision of Freight Trains with a view to getting them along with less detention en route.

(4) Traffic control and regulation.

(5) As a general train controller and supervisor.

(6) As a rolling stock control officer.

(7) As controller of locomotive power.

(8) Control of passenger trains.

(9) Control of goods wagons.

In chapters 10 to 15 the methods adopted by the various Companies are described in detail with numerous photographs of the apparatus, including the control boards, the controllers desks, rolling stock cabinet and train control table.

page 29

Chapter 13 deals with the functions of the Train Controller and these are summarised as under:—

(1) Train Control.

(2) Arrangement of men's hours.

(3) Distribution of locomotive power.

(4) Control of wagon stock.

(5) Control and distribution of carriage stock.

In referring to the general effects of train control Mr. Burtt points out that the new telephonic train control is a mechanical aid on a large scale, and it may be expected to result in greatly modifying the work of individuals in various grades of the staff. The new system insures a watch being kept on the whole train movement concurrently with its actual working. It gives confidence to the staff, who know that the Controller is within call to give direction and advice. The general effect of the system is to introduce into train working the team spirit which is so desirable in the interests of the staff and the Railway.

Franz Josef Glacier, South Island.

Franz Josef Glacier, South Island.

Sunset On Franz Josef Glacier.

“Sunset on Franz Josef Glacier,” says a correspondent in the Auckland “Star,” provides a panorama of surpassing wealth and beauty, unrivalled except in the regions of perpetual snow and ice cascades of the Southern Alps. Sunset comes like a cataclysm, transforming the glacier into a labyrinthine maze of colours. The great frozen field varies in colour with surprising frequency, at sunset presenting an ever-changing spectacle in which all colours of the rainbow mingle to create a scene of supreme grandeur. With the setting of the sun, the surrounding snow-clad mountains, towering like mighty sentinels above the ice-field, become tipped with gold, while the glacier itself sparkles like an opalescent sea, and gorgeous colourings defying the pen to describe or the brush to paint. Yet, as one is held spellbound in wonderment, the transformation goes slowly on; the ice pinnacles and crevasses, reflecting to the sun's declining rays, provide a kaleidoscopic spectacle in variegation which reflects the glory of the firmament and which gradually fades away in a sombre grey.