Page:Fagan (1908) Confessions of a railroad signalman.djvu/19

Rh personal side of the problem, come to an end. Being in full possession and understanding of the actual results of our system of operating the railroad, the authorities seem disinclined to adopt any radical measures for the improvement of the service. In a report prepared for Congress some time ago, by the Interstate Commerce Commission, it was distinctly affirmed that these avoidable accidents are mostly due to the failure in duty of signalmen and enginemen.

“There is no escape from the conclusion that the block system is the best-known instrumentality for the prevention of collisions,” says the report, “notwithstanding the imperfections that have been shown in the results of its operations.”

According to the same report, during a given period, thirteen collisions occurred under the telegraph-block system, and all of these, so the commissioners say, were chargeable, not to the engineman, but to the telegraph operator. Yet in the same period seven collisions occurred on lines operated under the automatic block-signal system, where the telegraph operators are eliminated. These collisions were due to misconduct or neglect of enginemen. It is reasoned from this that the defect in the automatic block system is that the telegraph operator is not there to caution the engineman. The presence of a telegraph operator who attends the signal sta-