In going through some papers recently, I came across some things I had long since forgotten I had. Here are some Southern Railway freight bills that my granddad had from when shippers would still send less than car load freight.
Neat stuff! It's amazing to me how the rail carriers kept track of the many thousands of LCL shipments moving between various stations and in numerous freight cars in an age without computers. And, all of this freight moved on rates that were contained in voluminous tariffs and amendments, and were rated by hand. In the early years of my career before computers, fax machines and carrier contracts, I determined rates and routings for carload and motor freight by hand and it was challenging work. Most everything moved on regulated rates back then, interstate and intrastate. We had a huge file area packed with freight tariffs and even employed a part time person just to keep them all updated. When my employer was bought by another firm and our office closed, friends cleaned out the file cabinets and sent me some old mileage tariffs, including one from the Erie from 1918 as seen here:
Here's another recently uncovered item from my past. I remember touring the train when it came to Chattanooga but my parents didn't take any pictures of the train itself. I have a ring I got that day as well. Will post it whenever I come across it again.
A few buttons uncovered in a box yesterday. First is from the 1996 Spirit of Tennessee Bicentennial train. and these two are from the early 70's as best I can remember.
Found these Florida East Coast playing cards in my mother's basement the other day. I remember seeing them as a kid. I'm uncertain of their age, but views with automobiles look to be from the 1930s. The diesel seen on two of the cards is the FEC's E-3, Henry M. Flagler leading the train of the same name which operated from 12/1939 to 12/1940. $1.25 seems like an astronomical amount to pay for a deck of souvenir playing cards then or even in the '40s. My grandparents vacationed in Florida in the '50s, so perhaps the same product simply carried on through the decades.
That is a nice looking set of cards. Back in those days, a !.25 was a bit steep but even back then , those probably cost a fair amount to print.
I came across a picture of a destination sign off of a Pacific Electric Blimp. I knew that I had to have one, but couldn’t get one due to the rarity of the real one, I decided to make one. I painted a sheet of of steel with Valspar Island Orange, and then applied a vinyl mask that a friend of mine made. I then shot the letters with Krylon gloss black before peeling the mask off… I now need to scratch up the paint more before I chemically rust the sign with a mixture of vinegar, hydrogen peroxide and salt. Not quite the same font, but it is close.
I spent a portion of my career in transportation and as a result, collected things as given to me by railroad salespeople. I am blessed that Supervisors and others in my company also kept an eye out for me. One category was matchbooks, once commonly found everywhere, but scarce in this era. These are neat, but I'm uncertain what to do with them because they cannot be shipped if sold. The RF&P and N&W boxes contain four boxes each of wooden matches.
Wow, I have a bit of a matchbook collection from my younger years, and I've never seen a single one of these. FANTASTIC! If you're looking for someone to take them off your hands.........
I'll keep that in mind Kez, seriously. I'd be sad to have to throw these away someday. My wife and I collected matchbooks for years, as souvenirs of our travels. We quit some years ago when restaurants stopped offering them. When I last asked at a restaurant, the young maitre d' had no idea what a matchbook was. I patiently explained and she cheerfully replied, "Oh, now I know what you're talking about. I've heard of them, but have never seen one." No judgement here; times have changed.
Some cool match books. Nice little collection. I've seen the red UP ones and the Amtrak ones before but not the rest. It is kind of funny the stuff we took for granted when we were all younger that have just disappeared right before our eyes.
I would search for a matchbook collecting group. (Surely there is one!) Ask them about how they ship their sales/trades. It is just the cover which is important, so carefully removing the actual matches may be OK.
Hmmm, good idea Box. I'd feel a lot safer having these and the others we have "defused" with the matches removed. Time for me to dive in here http://www.matchcover.org/ It reads that "almost all collectors collect most matchcovers without the matches, as long as no matches have been struck on the cover's striking surface, so don't worry if your covers have no matches." It says to remove the staple, soak the matches and throw them out.
What a great result bremner! Looks fantastic. If I can make a suggestion, you might want to inscribe something on the backside to indicate that it's a reproduction. Many years from now, it will assure that others know. On a minor note, I do this with photos from the Internet I download and wish to keep. When I'm gone, I don't want my family unwittingly sending my photo files to someone with the assumption that they're all mine.
I agree. Too many deliberate fakes in railroadiana these days. This is clearly NOT the case here. But in the future, folks need to know....