The life of George Stephenson, railway engineer - Lighthouse ...

RAILWAY SYSTEM AND ITS RESULTS. 477
meat inclines to the right, it means that the line is clear ; if it inclines
to the left, it indicates that the line is blocked. Should it be observed
that the needle rests upon the card vertically, this, though not a signal
in the ordinary sense is the most important indication of all, for it
shows that the wire has been broken, either by some accident, which
may possibly affect the line itself, or by some engine driver, or guard,
whose train has met with a serious casualty, and whose first duty, in
such an event, is to cut the wire.
Now, the great value of this system is, that whenever the needle
rests vertically, or inclines to the left, the officers at the stations are
immediately informed that something is wrong upon the line, and that
no train must be allowed to pass, until the line is cleared. A collision,
with such precautions, is all but physically impossible. And so far
from this arrangement operating to delay the progress of a train, as
might be supposed, experience proves that the traffic of a raQway is
immensely facilitated by it,
The automatic working of the telegraph shows the officers at every
station, that for a considerable number of miles in advance of the
station, whether up or down, the line of way is clear. This knowledge,
imparted instantaneously and comprehended by a glance, enables the
officers to augment very materially the traffic over the portion of the
line to which their duty may apply. The telegraph, in fact, does the
work of an additional line of rails to every company that uses it, and
does it at a cost perfectly infinitesimal in comparison with the cost of
constructing another line.
At one period of its history, the Northwestern Railway appeared
to be so overcrowded with traffic, that additional lines for its relief
were believed to be indispensable ;
but at the very moment when the
demands upon the system were beginning to outgrow the machinery for
safet)', this remarkable invention came to its relief, and the capacity of
the line for traffic has consequently been immensely increased. The
very first use made of the telegraph was to enable the Company to
meet the difficulty of a strike among the artisans. During the Great
Exhibition of 1851, when 750,000 passengers were conveyed to London
by the Northwestern excursion trains alone, the whole of the
extraordinary traffic of the line was conducted by means of the elec-
tric telegraph. At the present moment the ordinary traffic is double
what it was when the telegraph was invented, and there is a greater
capacity for increase than at any period since the line was opened.
Moreover, it must be observed that, great as is this saving to a Railway
Company, it is not the only economy effected by the use of the
electric telegraph. On every line where it is thoroughly employed, it