JeffPo's Miscellaneous Railroad Items Page
Last update: 07/13/07
Although my main interest in railroad memorabilia has been focused on the lantern and lamp, there are many other collectible items associated with the railroad. You would be amazed at what people collect. There's silverware and china from the passenger trains. There's timetables and tickets from the train stations. There's various uniforms and insignia that the railroad workers wore. The list goes on and on. If there's an item that is associated with the railroad, there is a group of people that like to collect it. Visit any railroad show and you'll be overwhelmed by the displays.
This webpage will show you various other items I have collected that are somehow connected to the railroad industry. While it might not be as extensive as my lantern webpage, it still conveys my fascination and love of railroads.
Whistles
No one can think of the railroad without thinking of whistles and horns. They were used as a means of communication and warning. Locomotives are required to sound a warning at each railroad crossing.
Here's
an example of a brass whistle used on a diesel locomotive. It's about
3 inches tall. Called a "dead man's whistle", it was used in the cab
of the locomotive as a "wake up" kind of device. To prevent run away
trains because of sleeping engineers, various measures were put into place
that required some kind of action. For example, a peddle or button
had to be pushed every so often. If the peddle or button wasn't pushed,
this whistle would sound.
Telegraphs
Before the invention of radio and telephones, fast communication was accomplished by the telegraph. The railroads used telegraphs to send train schedules, freight information, etc. It was an effective communication device that was used well into the 20th century, by the railroad, military, and other industries.
Here you see a telegraph sounder and key. The sounder is on the
left and the key is on the right. I've mounted them onto the same board.
You can find some, called a KOB, that were manufactured this way for
training purposes. The key is depressed, it closes the circuit
and sends current to the sounder. The coils of the sounder (those round
things) basically form an electromagnetic that pulls down the black bar that
is over them. This causes the armature (the silver looking bar) to
strike the frame, creating a sound. When the circuit is broken (by
releasing the key) the armature returns to its original position, striking
the upper bolt that it normally rest against, producing another sound. The
two sounds are slightly different, like a click & clack, or click &
clunk. These sounds were used in the form of Morse code to construct
a message.
Links
If you haven't done so already, visit my Trains/Railroad page, my Railroad Lantern page, or my Model Trains page.