I found a large box of my fathers "railroad papers." Two items jumped out at me, a 1971 Southern Crescent schedule, and a 1950 Schedule of Wages for locomotive engineers.
I have two: a fireman’s badge from the Lackawanna (which I had since I was a kid, but don’t know it’s source, and a “2 tracks” sign that came off a removed crossing sign in the Erie Lackawanna from a town outside of Scranton.
Attachments
Spikes, so what?
The outside two were taken from the standard gauge tracks in Elizabethton, TN from the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina RR, and were so badly pitted I could only assume they were there when steam was still running (as the last steam engine left there in 1967). I painted them because there wasn't a good reason to think they were used by the arrow gauge line.
The middle one was recently recovered from the right of way before milepost 13 on the 3-foot gauge line, before the covered truss bridge over the Doe River between Valley Forge and Hampton, TN. Very few identified pieces of the NG line have been found over the years as the track crews clearing those tracks in 1951 did such a complete job. I just got the middle spike, which to me is worth its weight in gold! I for sure won't be painting this one, and will be mounting it on something to hang on the wall of the train room.
Attachments
Added to my collection is a Nathan old cast P3 air horn with dark green(C&NW maybe) paint and a Wabco AA2 horn of suspected South Shore vintage. AD
Attachments
@Radioman77 posted:The watch was my other half's grandfather who worked for the PRR. If the documentation is right the watch was made in 1922 it is a leverset.
I was also lucky enough to inherit a pocket watch - this is a 1919 Illinois Watch Co. Bunn Special. I've been told that it belonged to my great grandfather when he worked in the MKT roundhouse in Franklin, MO.
By the way - I believe all railroad pocket watches from this period were lever set (to prevent accidentally changing the time), so that makes sense.
Attachments
Gee, I wonder where you got the crossbucks, stantions & station wire schedule rack came from?
Just rolled into Charlotte N.C. at 6:30. What a busy area. Plus, the Stones are in town!
Everything looks great!!! The house is closed on as of today.
And missed my chance at going to the N&W RR museum, while having lunch in ROANOAKE. Mom & wife weren't interested in going there. ROAD TRIP!!!
Steam Forever
John
Once upon a time I sold nearly every railroad item I owned. This included my old grip and all its contents, and my Conger brakemans’ lantern. Then I got reminiscent about my train service days, and started looking at lanterns on an auction site. When I saw this pretty blue lantern I could not resist buying it. It gets plenty of use, but not for passing signals or reading switch lists at night (heavy sigh).
Attachments
I recently picked up an adlake lantern with a blue frenel lens, not a common one.
And I just scored this off eBay, a Ww2 Army Railway unit badge. Never saw an "agent" marked one before, I only have a matching conductor one:
Here's a photo of badges of this type being worn stateside:
Attachments
@Odenville Bill posted:I found a large box of my fathers "railroad papers." Two items jumped out at me, a 1971 Southern Crescent schedule, and a 1950 Schedule of Wages for locomotive engineers. ...snip...
Nice Drake.
Attachments
We have found more of my Father's railroad goodies. Can anyone identify the railroad and yards burned into this coal shovel? Do the WMW Yards still exist? What railroad is this from?
Bill
Attachments
There no railroad with the abbreviation WMW that I could find...
I doubt it was made for railroad use.
Lee, It says "WMW YARD." Maybe Western Maryland West Yards or something like that.
Bill
@Odenville Bill posted:Lee, It says "WMW YARD." Maybe Western Maryland West Yards or something like that.
Bill
Yes, I can read.
But the acronym itself still doesn't come up as any railroad I could find in any timeframe.
Anybody have anything new to share?
@NJCJOE posted:Anybody have anything new to share?
Thank you for bumping this thread along. This is great! I hadn’t seen this before. This stuff really strikes a chord with me. I collect train build prints, photographs, timetables, railroad correspondence and well…..a lot of mostly flat stuff. Thank goodness for the map cabinet. This weekend I’ll share some of my things.
Sure thing NJCJOE....How about
The Case of the Disappearing Passengers
One area of railroadiana which doesn't get much attention is postcards from the past focused on various aspects of the real railroads.
I discovered some time ago that Fred Harvey of Harvey House fame had a series of postcards featuring things like Santa Fe railroad stations associated with the Harvey Houses. With one exception I've managed to get a period postcard for each of the stations that had an associated Harvey House. In most cases the cards have printed on the back "Fred Harvey trademark" or something similar.
Based on what I've found a company named Phostint did a lot of the Harvey cards and also turned out cards with what I think are Fred Harvey numeric identifiers on the front but without a Fred Harvey trademark on the back.
In the course of looking for a Harvey/Phostint card of the old Los Angeles Station complex I found the following card.
Card #1
It is a Phostint card and it has a numeric identifier in the lower left hand corner but it does not have a Fred Harvey trademark on the back. The price was right and the card was in good shape so I went ahead and bought it - if I ever find this card (or one featuring the same station) with the Fred Harvey trademark I'll get that as well.
A couple of weeks ago the following card showed up and I bought it. It is obviously the same picture but as you can see the passengers had gone into the station .... or had they?
Card #2
Detail of card #1 - passengers on their way
Detail of card #2 - the ghosts of passengers past
Obviously, Phostint wanted to keep selling the Los Angeles station but time had passed and the passengers gave the picture a dated look ...so I guess it was the 1920's version of Photoshop to the rescue.
Attachments
Picked these up around last Christmas. These are aluminum repros, but beautiful nonetheless. I have a real Lima builder's plate from a Nickel Plate switcher and anyone would say they look identical in terms of the quality of the casting and the colors.
If interested, here is the website...they make repro builder's plates, number plates and other signs. http://leroyslocomotiveworks.com/ (and they are affordable for most!)
Ask for Jon if you are interested.
Tom
Attachments
Hey Joe,
How can anybody have anything to share when you've cornered the market on ALL railroadiana! Geez!
Wise Guy from Huntersville N.C.
@Robert S. Butler posted:Sure thing NJCJOE....How about
The Case of the Disappearing Passengers
One area of railroadiana which doesn't get much attention is postcards from the past focused on various aspects of the real railroads.
I discovered some time ago that Fred Harvey of Harvey House fame had a series of postcards featuring things like Santa Fe railroad stations associated with the Harvey Houses. With one exception I've managed to get a period postcard for each of the stations that had an associated Harvey House. In most cases the cards have printed on the back "Fred Harvey trademark" or something similar.
Based on what I've found a company named Phostint did a lot of the Harvey cards and also turned out cards with what I think are Fred Harvey numeric identifiers on the front but without a Fred Harvey trademark on the back.
In the course of looking for a Harvey/Phostint card of the old Los Angeles Station complex I found the following card.
Card #1
It is a Phostint card and it has a numeric identifier in the lower left hand corner but it does not have a Fred Harvey trademark on the back. The price was right and the card was in good shape so I went ahead and bought it - if I ever find this card (or one featuring the same station) with the Fred Harvey trademark I'll get that as well.
A couple of weeks ago the following card showed up and I bought it. It is obviously the same picture but as you can see the passengers had gone into the station .... or had they?
Card #2
Detail of card #1 - passengers on their way
Detail of card #2 - the ghosts of passengers past
Obviously, Phostint wanted to keep selling the Los Angeles station but time had passed and the passengers gave the picture a dated look ...so I guess it was the 1920's version of Photoshop to the rescue.
Am I allowed to share rail post cards and the like? I know we have some pretty appropriately strict copyright concerns on this forum. Powers to be, what say you?
WRW - I don't think it is an issue - a postcard is a purchased artifact not some picture abstracted from some other site or reference source. I suppose if you cropped the image so it didn't look like a postcard it might be a problem but otherwise I don't see that it is any different than showing an image of a railroad time table or an antique railroad calendar.
@Robert S. Butler posted:
Back then, you painted these things. "Airbrushing out" was a phrase you clearly don't hear anymore.
Just go look at all the Soviet changes to official photos when certain people came out of favor back in Stalin's time.
Attachments
p51 I agree - elsewhere Phostint made mention of hand colored photographs. Given the effort it would have taken to hand tint the original it would have been much cheaper to just do a touch up as opposed to going out, taking a new picture and hand tinting a new one. What I do wonder about is the aspect of "re-tinting" that would result in ghosts as opposed to outright elimination of the figures.
@trestleking posted:
Awesome piece Rich.
Attachments
I have been enjoying all the Railroadiana items people have been sharing.
We have several railroad collectibles I have gotten over the years. Among my favorites are two metal Western Pacific signs. I think one is of the type used on the tenders of steam locomotives and the other is of the type used on the cabs of diesel engines. I have one at each end of the inside of our train shed where we have built our layout.
Attachments
@WP posted:I have been enjoying all the Railroadiana items people have been sharing.
We have several railroad collectibles I have gotten over the years. Among my favorites are two metal Western Pacific signs. I think one is of the type used on the tenders of steam locomotives and the other is of the type used on the cabs of diesel engines. I have one at each end of the inside of our train shed where we have built our layout.
Nice train shed, the artifacts set the stage for your RR
Ahhhh! I remember those days Joe. Always went out of my way, going home, to see what was new in "Z" land. Just a suggestion, you might want to show that "earthen" (rock) mile marker that you have. Might be one of the oldest pieces that you have. I know that I was impressed!!! Always good to see your knick knacks of railroadiana.
Steam Forever
John
Yes, the stone mile marker may be the oldest piece I own. This came from the Belvidere and Delaware Railroad which was constructed between 1850 and 1855, so this piece is right in there age wise. This became part of the Pennsy's Bel-Del line around 1871. The mile marker is about 4' long and it is heavy!
Attachments
@trestleking posted:Nice train shed, the artifacts set the stage for your RR
Thank you Trestleking!!!
I really don't collect anything along those lines but with a recent train purchase I got a bucket. Even has a lid. I do use it so I will hang onto it.
Since reading the thread I decided to check out a lantern I have had hanging up in the rafters for the last 20 years. Where and how I got it is unknown. I know I did not buy it. Well it is railroad related because on the glass is molded in P & RRy that stands for Pennsylvania and Reading Railroad. I cleaned the glass but thats it. I left the soot inside the top. Anyway I looked around and one of the last ones to sell went for $210.00 with a cracked glass. I think it is time to part with it as it only hangs around.