despatcher's office of a big railroad line is one of the most
interesting places a man can get into, especially if he is interested in
the workings of our great railway systems. It is located at the division
headquarters, or any other point, such as will make the despatching of
trains and attendant orders of easy accomplishment. In riding over a
road, many people are prone to give the credit of a good swift run to
the engineer and train crew. Pick up a paper any day that the President
or some big functionary is out on a trip, and you will probably read
how, at the end of the run, he stopped beside the panting engine, and
reaching up to shake the hand of the faithful, grimy engineer, would
say:

"Thank you so much for giving us such a good run. I don't know when I
have ridden so fast before," or words to that effect. He never thinks
that the engineer and crew are but the mechanical agents, they are but
small cogs in a huge machine. They do their part and do it well, but the
brains of the machine are up in the little office and are all
incorporated in the despatcher on duty. Flying over the country
regardless of time or space, one is apt to forget where the real credit
belongs. The swift run could not be made, and the train kept running
without a stop, if it were not for the fact that the despatcher puts
trains on the sidetrack so that the special need not be delayed, and he
does it in such a manner that the regular business of the road shall not
be interfered with.

The interior of the despatcher's office is not, as a rule, very
sumptuous. There is the big counter at one side of the room, on which
are the train registers, car record books, message blanks, and forms for
the various reports. Against the wall on one of the other sides is a big
black board known as the "call board." On it is recorded the probable
arrival and departure of trains, and the names of their crews, also the
time certain crews are to be called. As soon as the train men have
completed the work of turning their train over to the yard crew at the
end of their run, they are registered in the despatcher's office, and
are liable thereafter for duty in their turn. The rule "first in,
first, out," is supposed to be strictly adhered to in the running of
trains. About the middle of the room, or in the recess of the bay
window, is the despatcher's table. On it in front of the man on duty, is
the train sheet, containing information, exact and absolute in its