CONTROLLING TRAINS BY "WIRELESS."

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1876, 9 October 1913, Page 3

CONTROLLING TRAINS BY "WIRELESS."

0 REMARKABLE INVENTION. If an experiment which is now bemado by tilo London and Southwestern Railway should be successful tho era of tho practical control of trains by wireless may bo at hand sooner than has been anticipated. Tho South-Wes-tern installation is similar to that already tried on tho Canadian Pacific Railway, but it lias never yet been adopted in England, nor, tho " Morning l'ost" believes, elsewhere in Europe. Tho system would seem to have remarkable possibilities, although tho apparatus is of tho simplest description. In tho centro of the track is laid a conductor known as tho " wave wire," for tho high-frequency current employed. The running rails are used to obtain a track circuit, and arc divided into signalling sections, according to the customary manner when track circuits are employed. When a train passes over a section of lino thus equipped tho hightension current is maintained so long as tho signal shows " liue clear," but when the signal is at "danger" a short-circuit leads to a cessation of tho high-frequency current through the "wave wire," and tho wireless apparatus on the locomotive is set in motion. This operates a" danger" indicator oil tiie loeomotive, sounds a whistlo or buzzer to call tho driver's attention to tho condition of tho signal, and applies the engine brakes. Another interesting feature may bo mentioned. Where a block section is a long one it might bo undesirable or unnecessary for a tain to come to a standstill immediately tho brakes are applied, as in such an instance the signal may bo situated at some distanco from tho point where the brakes are originally applied. To overcome this drawback 1 the locomotive is. further equipped with an appliance that allows the driver to release the brakes after they have been applied, and so proceed until he comes to the 'section of track w'liero a halt is imperative, which, in normal circumstances, would bo tho signal. The system is arranged so that any failuro of the appliance to work is likely to mean an error on the side of safety. That is to say, if tho mechanism bo out of order, tho signal will remain in tho "danger" position, tho driver will receive an audible warning, and the brakes will be applied. Tho occasional inconvenience that might result from a train being brought unnecessarily to is obviously more than balanced by tho added safety thus obtained. Tho possibilities of such a signalling system aro almost incalculable. For ono thing it would remove tho uncertainty and tho risk of collision resulting from fog, w'hilo it would enable notable economies to bo effected by making tlio provision of fog signalmen and detonators (fog signals) unnecessary. That such accidents .as tho recent disastrous collisions at Colchester, Yeovil, and Hawcs Junction would bo eliminated by tho general adoption of a device of tho kind is almost a foregone conclusion, and raihvaymon will await with interest tlio outcome of tho present series of exhausUvo experr-. ments which tho London and Southwestern Railway is conducting in the neighbourhood' of Hampton Court.