THE SEARCH FOR SAFETY: A History of Railroad Signals and the People Who Made Them 0960620206

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THE SEARCH FOR SAFETY: A History of Railroad Signals and the People Wh o Made Th em By Mary Brignano and Hax McCullough w ith graphic design by Sid Nav ratil

Copyright © 1981 , A merican Sta ndard Inc.

Library of Congress Cata log Card Number: 81-67462

ISBN 0-9606202-0-6

DEDICATION This book is dedicated to those unnamed, unsung individuals who have kept alive the original pioneering spirit of railroad signaling. This industry could not have survived without the untiring dedication of those maintainers and helpers, signalmen, draftsmen, circuit designers and signal engineers who have upheld the high standards of safety which have been the cornerstone of this industry for more than 100 years.

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the Search for Safety Commissioned by Union Switch & Signal Division, American Standard Inc.

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PREFACE

May, 1981, Pittsburgh, PA

The Union Switch & Signal Company was founded by George Westinghouse in May, 1881. We are using its Centennial year as the occasion for an illustrated history about the progress of railroad signaling. Transportation and progress have gone ahead together throughout history. Moving people and goods helps civilization advance, helps people exchange ideas and products, and helps pioneering people build and enhance their lives. While this has always been true, it has been particularly so because of the railroads, in North America and in the last 100 years. Our story in the following pages is mostly about the signal industry in America and the creative people who have helped us use our railroads efficiently and safely. America was built by people of ambition, imagination and engineering ingenuity. They "made" America into the world's most advanced, affluent, educated and fulfilled nation. These people are more than history to us. If the future is to learn from the past, we should know about how they solved the problems

they faced. Because America is so big and its development was so fast, important changes had to occur rapidly. The pace of life had to quicken in the 19th century because expansion, invention, adventure and risk were a part of everyday existence. Railroad trains rumbled from place to place throughout America carrying people and goods at unheard-of speeds. New systems of scheduling and safety had to be created by people ready to make dreams come true. The Union Switch & Signal Company and other important. signaling companies answered the need. Creative, vastly imaginative work was done (and is being done today) to make railroading safer, surer and more efficient. What was once man 's dedication to a schedule and a safe trip is now a technology. This is the American way. All of us - and the rest of the world - have benefited. v

CONTENTS

Dedication .... . ..... .. ..... . . . ...... . .. .. . .

II

XII POWER FROM THE HEAVENS .. . ......... . ... 112

Preface . .. .... . ... .. . ........ . .... . . . . . . . . . .. ON THE MOVE . .. ... .. .... . ... .... .... ......

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XIII John D. Taylor and ALL-ELECTRIC INTERLOCKING ...... .. . . . . .. 120

II From the Acropolis to Stockton, England: THE IRON HORSE IS BORN .. .. . . ..... ...... . .

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XIV Trolleys, interurbans, "els" and subways: THE "ELECTRIC HORSE" COMES TO AMERICA ... . 126

III Off to a good start: STEAM LOCOMOTION COMES TO AMERICAN RAILROADS . .. .... . .

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Light signals: PUTTING NATURE'S SWIFTEST MESSENGER TO WORK .. .. . . . ... . 135

IV As we made ourselves known: SIGNALING THROUGH THE AGES . . ... .. .... . .. . .. . .. . . . 30

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MANAGING THE MUSTANG . .... . . .... ......

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VI The tick, tick, tick of TAMED LIGHTNING .. . .. . .. .. . . .. . . . .. . .. . .

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VII A change in thinking: FROM TIME TO SPACE .. ... .. . . . . . . . .. ... . . . 54 VIII THE SIGNALMAN'S BRAWN ........ . .. . .....

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IX The adolescence of American railroads: LUXURY AND DANGER .. ........ . . .. .... . ..

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x

xv

XVI Highway grade crossings: AMERICA GETS THE MESSAGE TO "STOP, LOOK, LISTEN" .......... . ...... ..... 144 XVII Automatic train control: BRINGING THE WAYSIDE SIGNALINTO THE ENGINE CAB . . . . 154 XVIII Train control continued: CODING THE TRACK CIRCUIT . .. . .. .. . .. . . . . 164 XIX Human drama in work and play: RAILROAD TERMINALS .......... . ... ... ... . 175

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"Running the train, reading the paper": CENTRALIZED TRAFFIC CONTROL ... . . . .. .. 182

THE PROUDEST, MOST OUTSPOKEN, MOST IMPORTANT AND SUPREMELY CONFIDENT INVENTOR WHO SAID SO HIMSELF .. . . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . .. .

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Acknowledgements . . . . . . .. ...... . .... . .. . . ... 196

XI George Westinghouse: A MAN OF IMAGINATION, COURAGE AND GENIUS . ... .

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Bibliography .. ..... . .. . .... ... . .. .. . . .. . . .... 197

XX! SAFE AND SENSIBLE ... . ...... . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. 191

I. ON THE MOVE

"All Aboard, " first called o ut in 183 7, s till can thrill tli e spirit.

This is a book about railroad signaling ... and about people and accomplishment, about power and speed and the revolution of technology, about inventors, invention, building, communications, glamor, intrigue, international travel, legends, changes in art, music, and literature, enormous social changes ... all in relation to the railroads. Our story is about people and materials on the move. In America, motion is a way of life. Sail a river, climb a mountain, find the continental divide and cross it . Go - and get there. Perhaps you'll be famous or rich or both. Perhaps you will want to settle down. But first, adventure, self-expression, building, conquest, and achievement. The 19th century, particularly in America, was an age of thrust. Slow became fast, little became big, the past became a bore, the future a promise. Strength was equated with good, money with happiness, old ways with mediocrity, new things with power and glory. This was the century of the railroads' birth. Railroads were big, long, romantic, exciting to plan and construct, thrilling to ride upon, symbols of progress, part of the good life, and a source of peer approval to have traveled upon. Railroads were the way to go. But all thinking Americans did not idolize tracks of metal that stretched to the horizon and beyond. At Walden Pond outside Concord, Massachusetts, the self-sufficient philosopher, Henry Thoreau, deplored their existence as he did most of human society. To him they were the antithesis of privacy, peace, and justice. He equated railroads with crowds and desperation. He saw them as having been brought on by greedy people hurrying lustfully after ill-gotten wealth. He saw the railroads "paving" the surface of our planet - and ruining it. He saw fools racing to catch a train to rush to another place to make money-fast. Our American way of life, particularly its basics as created and developed by the 19th-century men and women who "built and preserved us a nation," often has been compared to the Roman Empire. Both were big, varied in geography, confederations of states, and dedicated to growth and efficient transportation . Both often callously changed what and who stood in their way. When the Romans built roads through Gaul, down went the great oaks that the Druids had worshipped. Down also went the culture of ancient Gaul and in its place was a Roman road with a

0 11 the move

Roman legionary directing traffic with a spear. But one vast difference between the Roman Empire and our own United States is the very fact of the railroads - their power and their speed. The land Rome subdued in a millennium, the U.S. conquered in less than a century - thanks to the railroads. Railroads brought people to new, unsettled places, food to tables, iron and steel to market, men and guns to battles, politicians to the seats of government, and in a burst of patriotic joy, railroads welded and wedded the American continent with a strong steel band. When the enterprising entrepreneurs of the 19th century in England, America and other industrially developing countries built railroads, they applied a principle discovered by the Greeks and another involving ordinary common sense. The Greeks found that a smooth running surface creates less friction , and sensible citizens knew that it was better to have a machine pull a load than a horse - or many horses . With a steam locomotive as power, carloads of materials could be hauled long distances rapidly - in all seasons, night or day, and in virtually any weather. At the time of the Civil War almost all railroads were single track lines and their rails made of iron. After the war, steel was

C lassica lly beautif ul b ridges that echoed t/1e sy111111et ry an d usefu lness of Roman aqu edu cts were created for the new A m erican ra ilroads. This viaduct , eng raved in 1838, w as part of th e Balt i111ore and W ashingto n li11e.

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used and thanks to Cornelius Vanderbilt, two tracks were laid along the Hudson River route of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad from New York to Albany . Rough and ready sleeping cars gave way to Pullmans, bridges were built across streams and rivers, gauges were standardized at four feet , eight and a half inches, allowing rolling stock to go from one line to another - and dining cars, steam heating and air brakes (invented and manufactured by George Westinghouse) were put into widespread usage. The age of railroading had begun. One could glide across America, resting or reading or eating or conversing amid all the comforts of home . Instead of simply being a good way to travel, railroads became romantic symbols of the good life, love, adventure and modern know-how. There were songs to sing, stories to tell, poetry to recite. The famous "Casey Jones" became a folk hero in legend and song . Many of the songs of early cross-country railroading achieved great popularity in their time. In this category are such ditties as "Silver Palace Car," "My Dad's the Engineer," "In the Baggage Car Ahead" and "Put Me off at Buffalo." Most of us have heard and may know "I've Been Working on the Railroad," 'The Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," "The Chattanooga Choo Choo" and many others. The first railroad suspense movie "The Great Train Robbery" (1903), was followed by many well-known, now beloved railroad motion pictures such as "Shanghai Express," "The Lady Vanishes," and "Union Pacific." "Grand Central Station" became a popular weekly network radio show. It began with the noise of a train rushing into a tunnel bound for the historic 42nd Street, New York, terminal - the exciting place that was said to be "crossroads of a million lives daily ." The peace treaties to end World Wars I and II were signed in railroad cars. Important business contacts, personal rendezvous, international meetings, international espionage and a thousand and one other exciting human interchanges took place aboard moving trains. Even if they didn't, legend said they did and human imagination delighted. Murders in railroad tunnels became a cinematic cliche. And who can forget the terrifying runaway train sequence in 'The French Connection"? The very language of America (and many other countries as well) was added to, changed and enhanced by the railroad train, the railroad station and the people, places and things of railroad

Tra ins were so big, so exciting and potentially dangerous, that people had to sing about th e111! Songwriters µraised th e railroads, their routes, services, elegant sleeping cars .. . and tl1e hu111an dra111as t/1at happened 0 11 t/1e111.

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0 11 tlie 111ove

"Wl1is tle Stoµ" sµeec lies i11 tow11s too s111all to be regularly scheduled stoµs lielµed Presidents McKinley (toµ ) and Tru111a11 gel elected. "Give 'e111 lie/I, Ha rry! " was first called 0 11/ to Pres ident Trw11 a11 fro ni t/1e crowd al a whist le sloµ. A11d li e did .

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lore . Railroad trains made plenty of noise. And, the locomotive's evocative whistle became an instrument of communication in the hand of an engineer. Whistles soon became more than warning signals. Though its weird, shrieking tone was not beautiful, a whistle could be "played" in a recognized code. It could carry a message, bring joy to an anxious heart, play a joke and salute a passing friend or foe . An engineer could "whistle" a name or message. Often something as recognizable as "I love you" was sounded and many an engineer would signal his wife that he soon would be home for dinner. So many railroad terms are a part of our conversation that it would take a book to list them. Here are a few you are likely to recognize - caboose , club car, cattle car, commuter, day coach, cow catcher, depot, dining car, dispatcher, double header, flagman, gandy dancer, head of steam, high ball, jerkwater town, milk train, parlor car, red cap, right of way, roundhouse, sidetrack, smoker, stopover, Vistadome, and yardman. The trains themselves had names, many of which have become a part of our vocabulary. Among these are the Zephyr, Empire State Express, Broadway Limited, Super Chief, Twentieth Century Limited, Congressional, Capitol Limited, Wabash Cannonball, Overland Limited, Hiawatha, Golden State Limited , The O rient Express, and many more. Many towns were created along the railroads, many businesses. Because the railroads joined the expanses of America and promoted travel within our vast territory, they brought people together, mixed them and their ideas. Quips came into the language - "Run to the roundhouse, Nellie, he can't corner you there"; poems such as "Chicago" by Carl Sandburg were written

Old rou11dliouse at Norwalk, Ohio

M en fro m nian y nations work ed o n t/1 e railroads, lay ing down tracks across t lie vast American p rairies.

honoring the railroad; and politicians used a railroad train as a headquarters on wheels from which to greet small-town crowds, give interviews, and make speeches. Harry Truman's "Whistle Stop" presidential campaign of 1948 was in this tradition. It helped him earn new voter support and get elected . When the circus came to town it was by train - as did actors to put on a play or baseball teams to play important games. Working on a railroad or hitching a ride hobo style became part of the American economy and culture. As the song lyric goes, ''I've been working on the railroad, just to pass the time away," and "Can't-cha hear the whistle blowing, rise up so early in the morn. " During the years 1840-1860, over 4,500,000 immigrants entered the United States. As people moved westward, Chicago, a small town in the 1830s, became a great railroad center. "Player with the nation's railroads, " Carl Sandburg called it. Yet as late as 1850 there was not a mile of track west of the Mississippi River. After the Civil War, the growth of the railroads was like a crusade - at a feverish pace. Huge fortunes were made and lost by railroad entrepreneurs. Soon America became the world's leading nation of manufactured goods. Standard time was conceived by railroad men needing uniformity they could count on. Later the time zones were prescribed by law. Whole new professions in engineering, manufacturing and construction grew up because of the railroads . It was a golden age of opportunity, invention, change, new technology, vast market growth, westward movement, and great excitement. Foreign visitors to America have long marveled at our geography and the gumption of our people. America was to them

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The locomotives "Jupiter," of th e Central Pacific, and "119," of the Union Pacific, met "head to head" on May 10, 1869, at Prom o nto ry Point, Utah ... and a nation rejoiced. The railroad had united our huge land. Churcl1 bells rang, Chicago held a parade several miles long - and in Philadelp f1ia t he Liberty Bell tolled out the news.

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Venerable, much-decorated, worldfamous Sa111uel Morse soon before his death in 1872.

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A man of imagination, courage and genius

"Saved," by Harry Fenn , Every Saturday, March 4, 1871. Reporter Ralph Keeler wrote: "W e were just coming round a bend on a downgrade at appalling speed . ... An entire freight train seemed to be piled up in tumultuous ruin before us . ... There did not seem to

96

be the least hope for us, or for our whole train . .. . But even while we were thus paralyzed, our train came to a stand-still without a jar; . . . by what miracle had our train been so suddenly stopped? I was assured that it was by the air brake. "

patents during his 48 working years - a rate of one patent every month and a half! And patent #88,929, issued on April 13, 1869 to the 22-year-old youth for his automatic air brake, helped make the name Westinghouse a household word - world-wide. (This patent was reissued July 29, 1873, as #5504. ) As founder a nd president of the Union Switch & Signal Company, Westinghouse was granted 18 patents for railway signaling and interlocking devices. Westinghouse initiated new methods and manners of work. At a time when small , family-owned shops and handmade goods were the norm, Westinghouse began and ran large, well-organized companies for the mass production of his inventions. By the time of his death, the 68-year-old Westinghouse had organized 72 companies with total capitalization of about $200,000,000. He was a persuasive salesman, and discovered new markets for his companies' products both in America and abroad.

Lo renzo Coffin (1823-1915), the "Air Brake Fanatic," devoted much of his long life to persuading railroad and government officials that every train should be equipped w ith th e W estinghouse air brake .

~·

97

A man of imagination, co urage and genius

George Wes tingh ouse, Sr. (1809-1890)

Emmelin e V edder W estinghouse (1810-1895)

Geo rge Westi11g /1 ouse inherited /1 is fath er's st rong w ill and love of Izard wo rk and his 1no t/1er's imaginative , ambitio us tempera111 ent.

Westingh ouse companies spanned the globe - located in Canada, G reat Britain, France, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Germany, Russia , and Australia. T hey served millions of people, supplying electricity and na tura l gas, providing ra ilroad safety equi pment and laborsaving machinery. Westinghouse helped create and adva nce America's international image as the world 's workshop - a place of ingenuity and enterprise. At the height of his career, Westinghouse was president o f 29 of his companies - a nd was criticized for exercising "autocratic" control. Some of his contemporaries q uestioned his ability to manage money wisely. (During the financial panic of 1907, a number of Westinghouse companies fai led. George Westinghouse reorga nized them and concentra ted his management activities on fewer endeavors.) In resp onse to such criticism , Westinghouse on ce asked a newspaper reporter: I would like to know what you would call a man who established industries that em ployed 30, 000 to 40,000 men; who raised th e capital for these industries among his personal friends first and then among their fo llowing; w ho devoted his life to those enterprises, wh o put $2 of his own sav ings in the business for eve ry dollar he ev er inv ited a friend to put in , and who never paid a cent of commission to any bankers ' syndicate for any do llar of capital ever raised? The reporter might have answered, "An inventor, fin ancier, and executive. "

A

George Westinghouse's birthplace in Central Bridge, N ew Y o rk \;

·-~-- ..

Young W estingho use's m ost successful "schooling" to o k p lace in his fath er's Agricultural W orks in Sc/1enectady, New York. 98

Good-natured and restless George Westinghouse was born on October 6, 1846 in the quaint village of Central Bridge, Schoharie County, in upstate New York . Perhaps it was a quirk of fate that of ten chi ldren, George Westinghouse was named in ho nor of his father - a mechanica l engineer, a ma nufacturer of agricultural machinery, a nd the inventor of one o f America's first threshing machines . Young George was a good-natured , generous, restless youth; but when in an a rgument, he was well-known for his alert mind, clever tongue a nd persistence. The Westinghouse fami ly moved to Schenectady, New York in 1856 and George a ttended public school. His rea l schooling though, was thinking about and tinkering w ith machines in his fa ther's shop, the Schenectady Agricultural Works. Young George had a knack for handling tools, and could comprehend a nd apply fundamental mechanical principles - and suggest improvements . Soon after he turned 19, he was awarded his first patent, for a rotary steam engine which he had designed at age 15. Like most youths in his time, George was eager to serve his country a nd fight in the Civil War. And, after one unsuccessful attempt to run away from home, he enlisted in the Un ion forces in June, 1863 - wi th his fath er's perm ission . Because of his engineering skills and w illingness to accept responsibility , George was promoted to an officer of engineers in the Navy.

On October 31, 1865, W estinghouse received the first of his 361 patents, f or a rotary steam engine.

99

A man of imagination , co urage and genius

W ith peace decla red in 1865, Westi nghouse retu rned to his fam il y and home in Sch enectady. He attended Union College a nd worked in his spa re time in his fath er's shop. H owever, at the advice of Union College president Hickok, Westingho use discontinued his class ical studies during his sophomore year and returned home. His coll ege professors were discouraged because G eorge h ad spent mos t of his class time making sketc hes o n his wristban d - sketch es of locomotives a nd machines .

Railroads fascinated Westingh ouse

George W es ti11g /1ouse and Ma rguerite Ersk ine Wa lker were married on Augus t 8, 1867.

The railroa d s set George W estinghouse on his way to fo rtune - a nd even fa m ily. Whi le riding o n a tra in in 1866, he sa t nex t to Margueri te Ersk ine W a lker of Roxbury, New Yo rk. The fo llowin g y ear, he married her. Westing h ouse so lved problems o f tra in delays and d erailme nts he experienced as a passenger by inventing his "car replacer" and "re versible ra ilway frog ." With these inventions, dera iled ca rs cou ld be replaced easily back on the tracks. In 1867, W estingh ouse came to Pittsburgh to be a sa lesman for his car repla cer a nd rev e rsible frog tha t Anderso n and Cook of Pittsburgh Steel Works wou ld ma nufac ture . Pittsburgh was the nation's capital of iron and steel produc tion , known as " the Workshop of the World. " It was a place of dirt , soot, sweat a nd industry. Here was w h ere pragma tic, ha rd-working men wi th ideas could make ideas into reality and lots of m oney. This was the righ t e nvironment for George Westingh o use .

" The most impo rtant safety dev ice ev er known " Before George Westinghouse fo unded the Union Switch & Signal Company in 1881, he was recognized in America and Europe as the inventor of " the most important safety device ever \ known," the a utom atic railway air brake . The trial run in 1869 of the Westinghouse automatic air brak e ha d been a dramatic event. The place was Pittsburgh - and the event became known to many throughout the world. W . W. Card , superintendent o f the Steubenv ille Division of the Panhandle Railroad, agreed to provide the crew, locomotive, te nder a nd three-car train for Westinghouse to equip w ith his a ir brake; Wes ting house h ad to shoulder the expense o f ma nu factu ring the brake . . . and also h ad to ag ree to reimburse the compa ny 100

Drilling of Mont Cenis Tunnel by Compressed Air. When W estinghouse read an article in the L iving Age titled . "In the Mont Cenis Tunnel ," he realized if compressed air could be the power source to drill a sevenand-a-half mile tunnel in the European Alps. it also could be used to power an effective ra ilroad braking system.

Pittsburgh artist Roy Hilton recreates the unplanned event that proved the success of th e W estinghouse air brake during its trial run in Pittsburgh in April. 1869.

for any damage done to the locomotive o r the cars. This was hardly an encouraging offer to the practically penniless inventor. But he knew this was his long-hoped-for opportunity to prove the superiority of his brake. By doing so, more than 600 patented types of brakes would become obsolete. Daniel Tate was the locomotive engineer of the train. He was described as a "bright young fellow who showed a hearty sympathy for the inventor. " The train pulled ou t of Pittsburgh's Union Station and went through Grant's Hill tunnel, picking up speed to 30 miles per hour. As Westinghouse recalled later, just beyond Second Avenue, a teamster disregarded the warning signals and pulled out recklessly in front of the oncoming train. Tate reached for the air brake handle and gave it a mighty twist. With a sudden rush of air, the train jerked to a stop. The railroad officia ls and invited guests in the passenger car were thrown forwa rd, but climbed up excitedly, rubbing bumped heads and skinned knees. As miraculous as it seemed, the train had stopped four feet from the petrified teamster and rearing horse . The invention that soon was reputed to "save more lives than Napoleon lost in all his battles" had made its first save. Even Westinghouse must have been impressed, and his greatest expectations for the trial run exceeded. Tha t night, the exhausted yet proud inventor sent the following dispatch to his father: "My air brake had practical trial today on passenger train o n Panhandle Railroad and proved a grea t success." 101

A man of imagination, courage and genius

W estinghouse Air Brake Company

The famous Burlington Test Train in 1887 was equipped with Westinghouse "qu ick-action automatic air brakes:· Participating in the competitive brake trials of 1886-1887 in Burlington, Iowa , Westinghouse perfected his air brake so a fifty-car train could stop in seconds with no shock in the fiftieth car, not even enough motion to upset a glass of water!

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To manufacture and market his air brake, the enterprising Westinghouse organized on July 20, 1869, the Westinghouse Air Brake Company. What railroad could possibly not want this revolutionary invention? The 22-year-old president and general manager directed and worked with the 105 employees to modify and refine the air brake. He introduced an improvement in the air brake in 1872; the "triple valve" made the "automatic brake" possible and ended the number one nightmare of railroaders - the runaway car. With the "quick-action" brake, patented in 1887, freight trains of SO cars could be controlled and brought to a stop in seconds. His improvements and sales trips to England, France, and Germany brought increased demand for his air brake. By 1881, the company had outgrown its original shop on the corner of Pittsburgh's 25th Street and Liberty Avenue, and moved to Allegheny, now Pittsburgh's North Side. In 1890, employees and their families again moved to new headquarters - this time to Wilmerding, east of Pittsburgh.

A progressive industria list, Westinghouse initiated an earl y adventure in "social security" for employees at Wilmerding. He not only designed a well-equ ipped factory, but a lso p lanned a selfsufficien t, "modern " community w ith employee housing and social, educational and recreationa l fac ilities. Roads were paved. Homes were lighted with electricity - then a novelty even for the most wealthy. And Westinghouse continued a policy he h ad proclaimed in 1871 - Saturday afternoon was a h oliday for workers. Many of the tra ditions Westinghouse began in his first company were continued in his companies to come. Samuel Gompers, the famous union organizer, once said of Westinghouse : "If all empl oyers of men treated their employees with the same consideration as he does, the American Federation of Labor would have to go ou t of existence. "

Th e "Father" of the Union Switch & Signal Company If it was possible to stop trains safely, surely it must be possible to keep tra ins running safely . . . even more efficien tly. Westinghouse reasoned tha t compressed a ir might be used to

W estinghouse made his boy/10od dream come true by initiating in 1871 the Saturday half-holiday. His progressive em ployee policies were precedent-setting.

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A man of imagi11atio11 , courage and genius

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