Radio on Wheels

In the six-mile-long Moffat Tunnel the radio conked out. But otherwise the first two-way FM radio communication link between engine and caboose was a success. It was tested last week on a Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad heavy freight, making a 1,140-mile round trip between Denver and Salt Lake City.

General Electric engineers who made and installed the equipment estimated its cost at $1,500 a train. Delighted D. & R. G. officials and trainmen agreed that the device would soon pay for itself. Hitherto, train crews could communicate with one another only by stopping the train, sending a crew member trudging the whole stretch of the freight. Such necessary, time-consuming stops are frequent. On last week's test run four important train messages, one reporting a hotbox, were relayed from cab to caboose. Without radio the trainmen figure it would have taken them three hours to get the message back, meantime delaying other trains behind them.

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