Through my lifetime - (b 1946) B&O has never had a Cleveland Division. At one time the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling (CL&W) was part of the Monongah Division and subsequently the portion from Holloway, OH North was part of the Akron Division. The Cleveland Terminal & Valley (CT&V) was always part of the Akron Division as it ran from Cleveland through Akron & Canton to Mineral City.
I am not familiar with the B&O's organizational structure before my birth, as my father didn't speak about prior structures, only the structure he was working in.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Added some photos via Google+. Hope this works.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/app/basic/photos/112036562522004368900/album/6092500696865422513?cbp=1d4i0as4p8o42&sview=27&cid=5&soc-app=115&soc-platform=1&spath=%2Fu%2F0%2Fapp%2Fbasic%2F112036562522004368900%2Fposts&sparm=cbp%3D18i3butiagrm4%26sview%3D2%26cid%3D5%26soc-app%3D115%26soc-platform%3D1%26spath%3D%2Fu%2F0%2Fapp%2Fbasic%2Fstream%26sparm%3Dtab%253DiX
23 17 46 11
Normally I'd say a baggage claim tag - see:
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/brass-railroad-tag-b-o-rr-cumberland-division
but the "M. of W." (Maintenance of Way) is inconsistent with that.
So i'd say instead that it's employee "brass" - an early form of a personal ID badge or card that was hung on a board when the employee "clocked in" ("dropped brass") to go to work, and was taken off when the employee "clocked out" to go off duty, etc. See this article for a decent explanation, part of which I've copied and pasted below:
http://www.securedbymac.com/news/articles/bid/19876/Modular-Security-Systems-Inc-MSSI-Announces-Modern-Electronic-Brass-Shack
"The Brass System of Timekeeping; In the old days before card swipes, biometrics readers and bar codes were so common the "Brass System" was a really simple inexpensive and reliable method of timekeeping and tool control on large construction projects. Actually, the practice started as a safety roll call method in the mining industry.
Each employee was issued a brass coin approximately the size of a half dollar stamped with the employee's unique control number and a small hole to facilitate hanging it on a peg board in the brass shack. The typical brass shack was like a ticket booth with the window parallel to a walkthrough gate called the "brass alley".
Each morning the employee would "brass in" (pass through the brass alley where he would be given his brass). At start of work the timekeeper would close the brass alley and inventory the brass. The presence of a brass indicated the absence of a worker. At quitting time the worker would brass out and the brass would be inventoried again. A vacant spot on the pegboard represented a worker who had not yet brassed out. If an employee had not brassed out on time it could indicate a safety problem or simply an overtime assignment that would have to be verified.
During the course of the day if an employee needed an item from the tool crib he would use his brass as a security deposit until the tool was returned. A typical tool crib had a pegboard where the employee's brass would be posted along with a paper tag for each item he had out on loan. He would have to return all the tools at the end of the day in order to retrieve his brass."
And a brief excerpt from this one: http://www.macsema.com/raytheon.htm
"After hearing Corder's wish list, Brian Smith, a sales rep for Konetix, recommended the TimeCentre Mobility System and explained that it would meet his requirements much better than a conventional time clock. "On previous job's we've mostly used a manual system," recalls Corder. In manual systems, each employee is issued a brass tag with a number on it. It is picked up as the worker arrives on site each day and replaced as he or she leaves. "It's very labor intensive. The brass has to be housed and the employee has to come and go at the same location each day or the brass isn't available. The manual system poses a lot of logistical problem's," recalls Corder."
- Paul North.
Could it possibly be a 'tool crib token'? In some large mechanical facilities that required use of specialized tools for work being preformed. The worker's would 'borrow tools' from the Shop's 'tool crib', and would surrender their own numbered token to the tool crib manager to hold til the tool was returned and replaced back in the tool crib inventory.
It was an easy system to keep up with who had checked a tool out, and at the end of the day (end of the shift(?) track the tool's location down. Thus keeping the inventory of tools in order.
Pictures would help.
Good morning, a friend asked for some help in identifying something he found at his father's house in Toledo.
What he found is a brass disk, similar to a coin, about the size and thickness of a quarter . It's approx 7/8" in diameter. It has a hole punched in the top that might be used to hang it on a hook or nail.
One side is engraved with
M. of W.
CLEV'D
DIV'N
The other side is engraved with
B.&O. R.R.
below that, is stamped a number:
7016
If anyone has any idea what this was used for and the significance of the number, id greatly appreciate it.
Thanks,
Jack
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