Old phone booths along the line
steve in so az
lines. Mostly abandoned lines - they are usually fallen over. They are
made out of concrete, round in shape and are high enough to admit 1
person. There's a board on the wall inside - I guess to hold a phone ?
Can anyone tell me more about these items ? Thanks, steve in so az
TNG1949
They usually were access for the train crews to the dispatcher's lineside
telephone.
Prior to the two-way radios used by railroads today, the only way for train
crews to communicate with the train dispatcher was by the use of the
lineside
phones or telegraph. The concrete booth were placed along in various
locations,
usually near interlocking plants or sidings so a crew member to talk to
the dispatcher to receive train movement orders. On other railroads,
often just a wooden phone box on a pole was used. The advantage of the
concrete
booths was at least you could get in out of the weather.
You've probably noticed the multi-stranded telephone poles running alongside
railroad tracks. The phone and signal lines used to be carried on these
poles,
and many today are in disrepair because the phones have pretty much been
made obsolete by the radio and the cel phone.
The disadvantages of the both the booths and the phone boxes is
that not only the phone inhabited the booths or boxes, but often in
hot summer months, bees, wasps, hornets, snakes and other
critters found their way in. Most trainmen learned to be careful
opening the booth or box lest they get a real unpleasant surprise.
--
"I'm a designated driver on the Information Super Highway"
"steve in so az" <snm...@msn.com> wrote in message
news:e537c8ed.04011...@posting.google.com...
Yardpilot
"TNG1949" <meggl...@stny.rr.com> wrote in message
news:jIjNb.158079$JW3....@twister.nyroc.rr.com...
> You are right, they are a phone booth, but they were not for public use.
> They usually were access for the train crews to the dispatcher's lineside
> telephone.
>
> Prior to the two-way radios used by railroads today, the only way for
train
> crews to communicate with the train dispatcher was by the use of the
> lineside
> phones or telegraph. The concrete booth were placed along in various
> locations,
> usually near interlocking plants or sidings so a crew member to talk to
> the dispatcher to receive train movement orders. On other railroads,
> often just a wooden phone box on a pole was used. The advantage of the
> concrete
> booths was at least you could get in out of the weather.
"I am the Conductor of the big old train,
with my head stuck in the phone booth,
and my ass out in the rain." <G>
Stan de SD
"TNG1949" <meggl...@stny.rr.com> wrote in message
news:jIjNb.158079$JW3....@twister.nyroc.rr.com...
Steve Okonski
>
> The round concrete booths were associated with the Southern Pacific.
Here's a picture of one the B&O used. It's the last pic on the page,
so once there scroll to the bottom:
steve in so az
Yes - the Southern Pacific lines are the ones where I have seen them.
Also the El Paso & Southwest RR line - but they were bought by the SP
in 24 so same thing. steve in so az
