When I hired out (end of 1959), the telegraph - especially on the DL&W side - separated the 'newbies' from the more experienced men. THEY knew RR Morse!! At this far remove, it's difficult to understand that telephones were considered 'a newfangled thing'. I remember distinctly sitting in the baywindow of my hometown depot on the 'Bloom' (West Pittston, Pa.) and cranking the handle of the magnetophone trying to raise the Scranton telephone operators to be patched thru to Binghamton crew dispatcher......thereby saviing the cost of a long distance call on the Bell telephone at my house. The old agent watched me and finally said "Here, kid, let me sit there." He pulled the telegraph key over and tapped, tap tap, tapped. I still had the headset on and heard a female voice say "Scranton operator.". I said, "Please ring the Binghamton crew dispatcher." A few clicks of the relays and the voice of John Lynch came on to tell me I was lined up for the 'YO' yard midnight job.
The moral here is - even in the 60s - the telegraph has been tried by time as have the men who can use it. It has brought news to West Pittston of disasters on the Rappahannock or the Chickahominy Rivers during the Civil War as well as the assassination of our 'Late, beloved, President, Abraham Lincoln'. The telephone has no such pedigree and will therefore be ignored until an oldhand used the key to summon the operator. The outside phonebox which reposed on the trackside wall of the WP depot had a large, black 'T' in a circle but it was more blocky than the one in Buffalo. Since that one is referred to as 'local', is there a chance that it's connected to the city phone system rather than the Company phones??
Regards,
Walter E. Smith - Employee # 102156> From: mnmang_@_comcast.net> To: erielack@lists.railfan.net> Subject: RE: (erielack) DL&W Signal> Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2008 22:38:09 -0600> > Tom,> > I have been looking at Jon Liles Rulebooks on line and the signal shown had> what appeared to be "regular" kinds of aspects: Stop, Proceed at> Restricting, etc.> > The DL&W signal shown for train orders had what looks like an illuminated> "O", at least according to the rule book.> > I think the photo is actually looking railroad east. According to a labeled> Sanborn map that (I think) Henry posted, the LV runs almost east-west at DM> tower. The DL&W runs in a southwest-northeast direction, and we are looking> up the DL&W line to the northeast, based on where the tower building is> relative to the bridge. If we were looking west, the tower building would be> in front of the LV bridge.> > Jon's scan of the DL&W employee timetable also shows that a Local telephone> was installed on "automatic signal 3924", which according to my track> diagram, is pretty close to DM tower and could very well be this signal.> > Michael Mang> > >> > Schuyler, et al.,> > > > The DL&W, being a highly developed, innovative and > > progressive railroad, used lower quadrant semaphore signals, > > unlike that other railroad the Erie. The lower quadrant > > signals were only two position, with red and green lenses. > > The third hole was typically blanked out or had another red > > lens placed in it. The signal is an absolute signal, > > indicated by the square ends of the blades. Pointed or > > fishtail ends would indicate a permissive signal. In this > > particular location, perhaps the second large signal on the > > mast is to give a more specific aspect regarding the Pennsy > > diamond. But of course, that is mere speculation on my part.> > > > The dwarf semaphore signal is very interesting. I think that > > the purpose of this might be, as someone else on the list > > speculated, a telephone train order signal. When the signal > > displays stop, as in !
the phot
o, the train must stop and the > > conductor call in to the dispatcher to copy new orders. Very > > interesting. Anyone on the list know if that was, in fact, > > the application here?> > > > Anyone know of any other locations on the DL&W where this > > dwarf signal was placed with a T-box for such a purpose? I > > know that dwarf semaphores were used within terminals, but > > I've never seen it out on the road like that. > > > > Tom Schmieder>> > > The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List> http://EL-List.railfan.net/> To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html
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