Page:Hine (1904) Letters from an old railway official.djvu/164

 should go out over the initials of the chief dispatcher. Years ago your old dad, with the title of trainmaster and the duties of an assistant superintendent, obtained smooth results from the following bulletin:

“Instructions from this office governing the movements of trains, engines and cars, and the temporary assignments of men, will be given over the initials of the chief dispatcher. Messages concerning such routine matters will be addressed to the chief dispatcher. The idea is to limit the use of the trainmaster’s initials to cases handled personally by him.”

The men caught right on. They saw that it was impossible for a man to be issuing all the instructions over the wire when he spent most of his time on the road.

I have long thought that a train order should be as individual as a bank check and be signed by the dispatcher’s own initials. I am beginning to believe that no signature is necessary; that the dispatcher’s initials, given with the “complete,” should be sufficient. Affectionately, your own D. A. D.