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It is interesting that the DB operator imposed his own authority between the engineer and the wayside signals, and because the operator partly controlled those signals, the engineer accepted the operator’s personal authorization, and let it override the authority of the wayside signals.   <o:p></o:p> Then when the operator realized he had made a mistake in giving his personal authorization to the engineer, the operator simply rescinded it without telling the engineer.  It makes you wonder why the operator did not tell the engineer that he was taking the route away from the train after telling the engineer that he (the operator) had given the route to the train.   <o:p></o:p> The only explanation I can see, is that the operator simply assumed it was not necessary to tell the engineer because the rules required the engineer to obey the wayside signal indications.  Perhaps the operator was a bit embarrassed for making the mistake of forgetting about the boat he had waiting for the bridge to open, and did not want to broadcast it on the radio.   <o:p></o:p> There was a similar situation on the Milwaukee Road coming down the hill into St. Paul.  There was a switch tender at the base of the hill.  Trains had to approach that location prepared to stop until they got a highball from the switch tender.  About a quarter-mile earlier, there was an open station at Chestnut Street where the operators would hold up their arms in an “X” shape as a signal that the switch tender had the route lined for them.  <o:p></o:p> The point was that the “X” signal acted like an approach signal to the switch tender, so that trains did not have to slow way down and crawl up to the switch tender to see if he would give a highball.  The operating assumption was that if you got an “X” from Chestnut Street, you could expect a highball from the switch tender.   <o:p></o:p> Of course this was a complete fallacy, because only connection between this improvised approach signal and the “home signal” of the switch tender were the intentions of two human beings communicated by telephone.  If an engineer relied on the “X”, expecting a highball from the switch tender, and did not get one, he would not be able to stop in time.  The switch tender was free to line up the route or not, no matter what the engineer had been told ahead of time by the Chestnut Street operator.      <o:p></o:p> So, when coming down the hill, the new brakemen would call out the “X” signal to the engineer by saying “The crossing is clear.”  And then the engineer would tell them to ignore that signal because it has no meaning.
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