Does anyone have data to draw upon, LS&MS or successor, which might identify station telegraph calls? I'm trying to pin down what are hopefully Toledo, Ohio locations. One is "WO", was supposedly "Wagon Works", Toledo. The other is "WC" and also Toledo or near by. Anyone?
Not really what you were looking for, but I found "AN" as Adrian, Michigan. And while I know you don't FB, you may still like: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Northwestern-Pennsylvania-Railroad-Telegraph-Company/186674568041648
Interesting page. I have train orders from some of those locations. I recognize such as "NE" (Niobe), NY. Don't recall if I have an Erie order, but do have Erie Lackawanna RY from there. I have a relay stashed away in a box downstairs. It was missing a spring, but a friend who worked RR when telegraph was still in use explained how to easily replace it. So I wound my own new one. It worked just fine and looks natural.
Spare parts are always a problem with some of that kind of thing. Great that you could "home brew" one.
Ken, my 1943 Toledo Division info has neither one of the two you are looking for. Lake Shore and Michigan Southern preceded this, so maybe the telegraph marks were changed?
Jim- After mergers, there could be duplication between those merged companies. So often some were changed. Being LS&MS we are talking 1914 and earlier. These papers I have in question are dated 1890's.
I did some more searching and actually found both in 1943, but if the trainorders you have are back in the 1890s they probably aren't the same. WC on the West Division, MP 58.70, Michigan Central, East end, Niles to Chicago. WC= Willow Creek. WO on the Ohio Division, MP 130.8, Sherwood, on the Franklin to Jackson run. Jim
Hmmm. Well, it looks like I will need to scan these, and put up a web page so folks can see them. There do appear to be multiples of both WO and WC.
It's amazing for how much of the earlier NYC family it seems difficult to locate information. Once you get back around the beginning of WWI, when the big mergers happened,...
Here they are. The first two, dated 1877, are from "WO" (Wagon WOrks - Toledo), Ohio. The last (right) is dated 1882, and clearly "WC". Where was "WC"? "KY" by the date is the dispatcher's office call and location. "Pony" or "Poney" is the name of an engineer, not a horse. McKey is also an engineer. "53" is a scheduled train number. "A L" is Air Line Junction. "12" is the dispatcher request for the telegrapher at WO or WC to acknowledge receipt.
Still don't know where WC was, but wow, I have never seen any orders like those. Maybe because they were issued some 62 years before I was born!
I actually used to have a few more of these specific papers! I don't many locations, but will have an LS&MS page on my web site soon. Now, if I could just find out more about the locations.
