March 1930 I noticed your posting on railroad.net in the New York Central/Fallen Flags section, with the photo of Hal Johns at the Stonefort, Illinois Big Four depot. Here is another photo, in the same subject area, showing my Grandfather, W. C. Settlemoir as the agent/telegrapher at the Vienna, Illinois Big Four depot in 1945 (Vienna was about 17 miles south of Stonefort on the Cairo line). W. C. Settlemoir (Big Four seniority starting in 1906) became the agent at Vienna in 1919, as shown on the attached appointment form, and died after suffering a heart attack at the depot in 1946. After his death, my Father (H. C. Settlemoir) exercised seniority and was the agent at Vienna until the depot was closed in 1958. H. C. Settlemoir started with the Big Four on December 24, 1927 and retired from the Penn Central at Columbus, Ohio in 1975. Captain Rex Settlemoir - U. S. Navy, retired
Very nice, Roger. Mr. Settlelmoir's office looks like so many of them back in those days that made railroading so interesting. Most of the people who worked in them welcomed us visitors.
Railroads were always trying to drum up interchange business so calendars were a good tool to keep the routes flowing.
Given that Vienna had a population of under 1,000, how much interchange business might the local agent possibly have been able to direct via the Santa Fe?
Vienna was an open agency, so no doubt was on the mailing list for freight and passenger tariffs (large bound volumes of rates and supplements), so perhaps the AT&SF mailed calendars to the same addresses? Just a guess.
Don't know for sure, but probably for either radio, or possibly for outside speakers for announcements. Just a guess, probably someone with real info will reply.
It is the "microphone" portion of the dispatchers phone system. I have seen this many times, where the old piece was removed from "scissors", and mounted onto a swiveling pipe. That is the telegraphers/operators desk and front window of the trackside bay. There is a foot pedal under that desk to open the talk circuit, as the operator copied train orders, OS'd the passing trains, etc.
