Re: [DL] Random questions

[SteveL1979@aol.com]

In a message dated 4/18/00 11:48:35 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
munchwolf@yahoo.com writes:

**1) How far apart are your towns?  A few hours ride by horse?  Half a days 
ride?  Longer?  I figure it would depend on where you are.  Back east towns 
would be
closer together (but how close?) than out west.**

    It depends on the area.  If the environment can support it, there are 
often towns about a day's ride apart.  In other places, like the Badlands of 
New Mexico, there aren't going to be quite so many, since there's not enough 
water, arable land, etc., etc. to support them.  You're more likely to find 
towns closer together in areas which have been settled for a reasonably long 
time (e.g., parts of Texas) or in areas with a big, valuable resource to 
exploit (e.g., mine-able minerals, easily extracted lumber, etc.).
 
** 2) How often does a town have a rail line going through it?  Are lines out 
west mostly single lines, or double?  How often do trains run?  If a train 
needs to turn around, or two trains meet head to head, what do they do? **

    Sadly, I haven't yet done the research for the "Weird West Miscellany" 
booklet I'd like to write for my posse, so I can't provide a definitive 
answer to this one.  I'd venture the following educated guesses:
    -- If you take *all* towns together, most don't have rail lines.  If you 
look only at towns with a certain population level or higher (maybe 500 or 
1,000 people would be a good benchmark), most of them probably *would* have a 
rail line.
    -- I expect most rail lines are double lines; the logistical problems 
otherwise seem pretty hairy to me.  But I could be 100% wrong.
    -- How often trains run depend on the commercial need/demand for them.  
Trains probably pass through major destinations, like Dodge City during 
cattle drive season, daily, or at least several times a week.  At a 
relatively small town, the train might only come through once a week or the 
like.
    -- To turn a train around requires a switching station (I think that's 
what it's called), which you'd find at most major "urban" areas.  I doubt 
there were too many instances of trains meeting -- since most lines were 
owned by a particular company who could schedule their use to avoid such 
things -- but presumably if it happens, one train's got to back up to the 
point where it can shift over to another track and let the other train pass.

** 3) How many towns have a telegraph station?  I assume towns near a fort 
would have stations, and there would be central lines heading out east, but 
just how far do
 the lines run westward?  Is there one main trunk, or is there a network 
established?  Just how do telegraph lines work, must each station relay the 
information?  If there's a break in the line, how quickly is it detected and 
someone sent out to repair it?**

    Again, I haven't yet done the research I'd like to do on this subject, 
but I believe that telegraph lines sprang up fairly quickly between most 
cities and towns once the technology became economically feasible.  They 
often followed the rails.
    Breaks are detected fairly quickly, I think, due to the unexplained 
silence.  As for how quickly they can be repaired, I expect that depends on 
(a) how far away the break is from the person who detects it and/or is 
responsible for repairing it, (b) the demands on the time of the person who 
will make the repairs, (c) the availability of supply repairs, and (d) the 
importance of that line.  Let's say, just for fun, 1d6 hours for an important 
line and 1d6 days for a lesser line, with modifiers based on how close to 
town the break is.
    One interesting fact I *do* know is that telegraph operators have a 
"fist," or identifiable way of hitting the key and sending messages.  An 
experienced operator can recognize who's sending a message by the fist.  A 
clever operator can, during wartime or when committing some sort of crime, 
imitate another person's fist.  Another form of "electronic warfare" was to 
tap into the telegraph line and listen to the transmitted messages.  This was 
done frequently with lines Back East during the War o' Northern Aggression. 
:)  I've got some notes on all this in my LAW DOGS files somewhere that I'll 
eventually write up sometime.

Steve Long