(erielack) "Train Starters"

["Curtis Brookshire" <curtis.brookshire_@_verizon.net>]

I'm going out on a limb again, so if I'm giving bad information please keep
"phasers on stun" when flaming.

The train starter was a station employee at major terminals like Hoboken who
let the tower know when to start a train.

His job was to verify that the gates had been closed and no stray latecomers
would go sprinting down the platform trying to board a departing train.  He
would then push a button that sent a signal either to the tower or light a
signal at the end of the platform so the engineer knew he was clear to
depart when he received the signal on the train line from the conductor.

Did Erie Terminal have the same system?

For those of you from Jersey City who remember Journal Square prior to the
PATH tower going up, I seem to remember a man in a booth at the north end of
one of the islands who sounded an alarm bell to signal the Hudson Boulevard
busses to depart.  Same idea.

Curtis Brookshire
Manassas, VA


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