RADIO ON TRAINS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 303, 14 March 1928, Page 14

RADIO ON TRAINS

DRIVER TALKS TO GUARD The practicability of a locomotive engineer sitting in his cab conversing by radiophone with a brakeman in a caboose at the rear end of a freight train one mile long, was recently demonstrated in tests conducted by the General Electric Company and the New York Central Railroad. The cab and caboose were equipped with the necessary aerials and transmitting and receiving apparatus. Short waves were used in order to avoid interference with the regular broadcasting stations. The engineer shouted that a collision was impending and he ordered the brakeman to throw the emergency valve to stop the train. The command was received in the caboose, the engineer’s voice coming through clear and strong. Radio communication will be valuable on trains made up of from 75 to 125 cars, where the engineer and conductor are separated by a mile of train, according to railroad officials. They point out that hitherto signalling between the extreme ends of long freight trains has been done by whistles or by flare lights, which often fail because of curves in the route or because of inclement weather conditions. Furthermore, if a defect ever developed in a long train the conductor either had to send a brakeman on the dangerous trip along the tops of the cars to inform the engineer, or he had to pull the emergency valve to stop the train. Time can be saved by the radio method. When radio communication is desired. the ‘‘Scientific American” points out, a signal is given by either the engineer or the man in the caboose pressing a button, which causes a howling noise to attract attention at the other end of the train.