Harrold Flintlock76 Back around 1969, I found a flag/torpedo holder in an O&W depot. Inside were a number of torpedoes, including an ancient one that was just sheet lead wrapped around like a cigar. This was 12 years after the railroad quit. I didn't want to keep them as sometimes the powder can be unstable, so I gave them to the owner of the business that owned the depot and told him about getting rid of them. Would have liked to keep them but... At the MidContinent Rwy Museum, we still have torpedoes in our flagging kits and crews are trained to use them. Deggesty Quoting Larry: "Collectables can be almost as dangerous as modelling." Yes, especially if you collect torpedoes. Oh wow, track torpedoes! You don't see those around too often, probably a good thing. An old timer I new up in New Jersey years back told me the local railroaders he'd gotten friendly with when he was a kid used to give him track torpedoes. He used 'em as targets for his .22 rifle! He said you sure knew when you scored a bulls-eye!
Flintlock76 Back around 1969, I found a flag/torpedo holder in an O&W depot. Inside were a number of torpedoes, including an ancient one that was just sheet lead wrapped around like a cigar. This was 12 years after the railroad quit. I didn't want to keep them as sometimes the powder can be unstable, so I gave them to the owner of the business that owned the depot and told him about getting rid of them. Would have liked to keep them but... At the MidContinent Rwy Museum, we still have torpedoes in our flagging kits and crews are trained to use them. Deggesty Quoting Larry: "Collectables can be almost as dangerous as modelling." Yes, especially if you collect torpedoes. Oh wow, track torpedoes! You don't see those around too often, probably a good thing. An old timer I new up in New Jersey years back told me the local railroaders he'd gotten friendly with when he was a kid used to give him track torpedoes. He used 'em as targets for his .22 rifle! He said you sure knew when you scored a bulls-eye!
Back around 1969, I found a flag/torpedo holder in an O&W depot. Inside were a number of torpedoes, including an ancient one that was just sheet lead wrapped around like a cigar. This was 12 years after the railroad quit. I didn't want to keep them as sometimes the powder can be unstable, so I gave them to the owner of the business that owned the depot and told him about getting rid of them. Would have liked to keep them but... At the MidContinent Rwy Museum, we still have torpedoes in our flagging kits and crews are trained to use them.
Deggesty Quoting Larry: "Collectables can be almost as dangerous as modelling." Yes, especially if you collect torpedoes.
Quoting Larry: "Collectables can be almost as dangerous as modelling." Yes, especially if you collect torpedoes.
Oh wow, track torpedoes! You don't see those around too often, probably a good thing.
An old timer I new up in New Jersey years back told me the local railroaders he'd gotten friendly with when he was a kid used to give him track torpedoes. He used 'em as targets for his .22 rifle! He said you sure knew when you scored a bulls-eye!
Interesting stuff Harrold!
About 20 or so years ago I was in an antique mall and a booth holder selling railroadiana had what I'll call for lack of a better term a "brakeman's kit." Sort of a tin "bucket" holding flags, fusees, and track torpedoes. The price was right (don't remember what it was) but I passed on it. I think those torpedoes made me a bit nervous.
Does anyone know if track torpedoes are still made?
Santa Fe's most collectible train order was the one issued on the day of President Kennedy's funeral which stipulated that all trains will completely stop for one minute at a stipulated time.
I've heard that some people collect old train orders. I worked for Seaboard Coast Line in '75 out of Waycross on the Bow Line to Thomasville and also the run to High Springs, Florida. Even caught the midwest Auto-Train a couple of times. It was all dark territory, so we ran on 'train order' authority. Always a stack of 8-10, and at the crew change I always just threw mine in the trash. Now I wish I had saved them all! What a souvenir of my time on the railroad that would be, as well as a great memory jog of long ago.
Collecting in general can be even more dangerous at times. I worked in the rail industry as a computer programmer installing systems for transit, CTC and hump yards. I spent most of my time in hump yards and over the years replaced systems that either I had put in 20 years previous or had been put in by competitors. As a computer geek, and realizing that classic switch and lamp computer front panels almost disappeared overnight, in the mid 80's I started collecting them and have about 15 so far. At least 2/3rds of these came from retired railroad systems. Although I never worked for US&S some of my "memoirs" are up on a site for former US&S employees and this collection habit is examined:
http://has-been4.ddns.net:8080/wp2/index.php/?p=15045http://has-been4.ddns.net:8080/wp2/index.php/?p=16226
But that's not the worst of it. Back in the early 90's I became involved with a local railroad museum which had preserved an old 1909 Erie depot. There was a derelict telegraph setup in the bay window and I got it operating. As I further researched the telegraph I found there was an organization, The Morse Telegraph Club( http://www.morsetelegraphclub.com/ ), of land line American Morse telegraph operators orginally formed in 1942 and anyone with an interest could join so I did in 2001. I started collecting telegraph instruments and now have a houseful. At the beginning of 2014 I became its international vice president. We publish a quarterly magazine, "Dots & Dashes". Several years ago I became involved with a local communications museum, The Antique Wireless Association ( http://www.antiquewireless.org/ ), and became its land line telegraph docent. I like to say that I'm the "wired" guy at the wireless museum. Here's a video made of me last summer in the telegraph office at the AWA museum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvwuOUdwvdI
And, oh yes, I do have a few railroad lanterns as well :-)
73, J. Chris Hausler
Regards - Steve
I am avoiding creating a model layout too- just don't have the interest. However, I am collecting HO Scale models of the locomotives and cars that I remember seeing over the years. I put them in a display case. They make great gifts from friends and family- hint hint! Also, have started collecting metal signs with railroad logos, heralds on them.
A lot of my collectibles were from my Dad, Frisco playing cards, pens, pencils, notepaper, cig lighter, ashtray, all the timetables from trips we took-Mom made sure we saved those. All the names are gone except UP.
Not to mention that commuter rail time tables, for example, are re-issued at least once a year. And there is a separate small fold-up timetable for EACH INDIVIDUAL station. Gotta get them all. And maintain that collection from year to year.
When downsizing, don't expect a good return on investment with books. I had a BUNCH, best price was $150 for the collection from dealers. Went to a train show and sold 2 books for $175. Did very well at the shows, but had to put in a lot of time and travel expenses.
I have several authentic Santa Fe items - silver, china, calendars & calendar tops, and more paper items. I am willing to trade, buy or sell. email is jwk1932@att.net
I have several sets of railroad playing cards, also many dining car menus. A dining car menu from Santa Fe's Chief in 1957 had a beautiful portrait on the cover of "The Red Cliffs of Western New Mexico" painted by an artist named Adolph Heinze. I made an enlarged photocopy and have it hanging on my wall. You can see a picture of it by typing the name of the portrait and the artist into Google Images. I also framed some pictures from Amtrak calendars of the 1980's.
I have two Official Guides from 1971, one before Amtrak took over and one after, also a couple of reprints of Official Guides from 1868 and 1870.
steve-in-kville https://www.mybrandmall.com/storeitem.html?vid=20190516360&iid=59318 I did order this!
https://www.mybrandmall.com/storeitem.html?vid=20190516360&iid=59318
I did order this!
This currently sits on my desk at work. Might fill one car with Jolly Ranchers and another with Hershey's Miniatures.
I have some odds and ends marked T.T.R.R (Toledo Terminal RR) that I got from bugging train crews when I was a little kid who lived next to the tracks.
I don't have much of anything like Timetables or anything like that, but I have service manuals for EMD F7, GP40, and SD40, GE Dash-8 and Dash-9, and opertaing manuals for SD60, SD80MAC, and most of an SD90MAC. I have some bad order tags from Conrail, NS, and CSX. And a few mostly CR hats, keychains, and a CR lighter that never worked and leaked all the butane out of it almost immediately. I got it from an engineer who used to like to visit with my dog and I while they waited to go into the siding a couple of miles East of where I sat and watched trains in the middle of the night. Oh, and a very nice Santa Fe lighter that I got from the dining car waiter on a BN train right after the BN merger, NOT the later BN&SF merger. I don't know where a SF lighter came from but he made my 12 year old self very happy. Those SF lighters go for a fair chunk of cash on Ebay.
Um....me......Actually, I have gotten out of bed at 0600 to stand by the tracks in much colder weather than that, sometimes below zero, but I lived in upstate NY, where such was not unusual certain times of the year. I moved to Arkansas 13 years ago, so the sub zero weather is not a factor now, but if the train is there, I'll get up for it. My outlook is, railroading is a 24/7 all weather enterprise, so is railfanning.
If you decide to get into ETT's and rule books, you might also check out some of the train shows. There's probably one-or more, if you live in a fairly well populated region-every year within reasonable driving distance. The offerings will run the gamut from mostly model equipment, to models with a fair variety of railroadiana-ETT's, rule books, lanterns, locks, clothing, books, photos, all manner of things.
We have a show here in late February that usually has a couple of tables where the purveyors have several boxes of ETT's, mostly from the 60's and 70's, but other eras as well, and most are reasonably priced, though that will vary according to condition and relative rarity. I have acquired quite a few by sifting through the boxes to find something of interest, especially for roads that served this area, as they are useful for comparison with current characteristics, as well as helping me identify abandoned lines. A 50 year old ETT can be a wonderful research tool.
Oh man, "Morning Suns" are addictive as hell! I've confined myself to the ones concerning the classic era of Northeast railroading, that's enough!
I collect books. At one time, I was going to collect the entire series of Morning Sun books, except for the freight car ones. Then, my wallet and I came to our senses. Now I just collect books on my major interests, along with a smattering of others. I sold the rest.
BTW--If anyone has copies of the old PC Railroader magazine, I'll buy them off your hands...
Murphy Siding Ulrich I collect books of all kinds, including railroad books. And I actually read them too. Yep- I have that affliction as well. 1,000, maybe more.
Ulrich I collect books of all kinds, including railroad books. And I actually read them too.
I collect books of all kinds, including railroad books. And I actually read them too.
Yep- I have that affliction as well. 1,000, maybe more.
That makes three of us. If and when my church builds a new parish hall/classroom building, I'm hoping they include space for a library. If they do, I'm going to donate mine, which will be a good start on a library (but not 1000). One of priests has 3 or 4 storage rooms full; between us we could probably stock a decent ibrary.
That's a great inheritance, especially if you're a Santa Fe fan!
And of course, "The Springs" is Santa Fe country!
Flintlock76Unless you've got some really old ones, maybe 50+ years old, there's really no market for them. At the train shows my club sponsors we have a give-away table where members stack their old magazines, and even then they don't all disappear before the end of the show.
I agree with this. Nearly every railroad show or open house I've been to has a table with old magazines free for the taking. At the end of the day, the magazines are still there. I think it is a waste of time trying to find someone willing to pay for them on ebay or another site.
York1 John
zardozAnother interesting use of torpedoes,
I once read an account of someone having put several torpedos in a line down the track, where they were hit, in sequence, by a speeder. Nearly rolled the speeder right over.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
tdmidgetThere's a lot of money spent there, too much to throw away.
The subject comes up repeatedly on RyPN: apparently a great many people try donating collections of railroad magazines to museums and so they keep the 'best' copies and either pass on or trash the rest.
If you want money for them, your most likely bet is to get an account on eBay ... and be prepared to wait and wait and wait until someone wants a particular issue or collection of volumes. I doubt any of the other 'online auction/sale sites' would command as much peripheral railfan interest as eBay does.
There are, or were, a few hangover sites on the Internet that specialized in railroad books and back-issue magazines ... I found and accessed one about a year and a half ago that still had its pages and listings in what looked like early-Nineties 256-bit HTML 1. They might list items on consignment for you, but most of any 'profit' would be eaten up with postage and handling.
My advice is to find organizations that will value the collection or some part of it, and agree to keep it for x years without deaccession or discarding. Local or regional libraries could easily accommodate the magazines in boxes if they don't have lineal shelf space or 'hardware' available to put them out. There may be local organizations like the Cub/Boy Scouts (isn't there a Model Railroading merit badge to go with the Railroading one?) that would find uses for the publications -- again, not necessarily putting them out for browsing but keeping them available and periodically asking if there's any interest.
At one point, the Craigslist/Freecycle 'phenomenons' might have given you a wider range of direct interest, particularly if you only want to see them 'go to a good new home'. I don't think much of the Freecycle platform survived their abandonment of Yahoo Groups as a platform, though.
For me, it's books. I may have 200+ RR books. Nowadays I buy fewer photo books, and more text-oriented ones.
Flintlock76An old timer I new up in New Jersey years back told me the local railroaders he'd gotten friendly with when he was a kid used to give him track torpedoes. He used 'em as targets for his .22 rifle! He said you sure knew when you scored a bulls-eye!
And if you were really bored and wanted to go for a stroll, and you had a good supply of torpedoes, you could walk back and put some under as many freight cars as possible, placing them just behind the lead truck.
Not that I would ever do such an activity....
tdmidget Glad this subject came up. My better half is after me to reduce my vast stacks of railroad magazines. Trains, Classic Trains, Railrod &Railfan. The local used book stores no longer take them in trade. Can anyone suggest an outlet? There's a lot of money spent there, too much to throw away.
Glad this subject came up. My better half is after me to reduce my vast stacks of railroad magazines. Trains, Classic Trains, Railrod &Railfan. The local used book stores no longer take them in trade. Can anyone suggest an outlet? There's a lot of money spent there, too much to throw away.
Not really. Unless you've got some really old ones, maybe 50+ years old, there's really no market for them. At the train shows my club sponsors we have a give-away table where members stack their old magazines, and even then they don't all disappear before the end of the show.
I drop off my used railroad theme and rail-modeling theme mags at the gym. They're usually gone in 24 hours or so. I can see why, most of the mags on the table are usually "Bride," "Modern Bride," "Southern Bride," "Bride Again..."
Occasionally there's a "Cosmo" or "Vogue."
You get the picture.
Oddly enough, I never see any body-building mags, you know the ones with the guys on the cover that look like those Aryan superman statues the Nazis used to put up? Maybe I don't want to!
I'm familiar with the feeling, there's always that one ETT or OG that I just can't pass up.
I subsribe to Trains, naturally and Hemmings Classic Car. When done with them, I drop them off in a doctor's waiting room in the back of a drugstore about 60 feet away from my place. Ever notice how the mags in doctor's offices usually concern women? There's never any mags of interest to men, except maybe a 3 year old Sports Illustrated.
I collect model trains for my layout- N scale, European prototype from the Trans-Europe-Express era. I have more than I need but not as many as I want. I imagine the same goes for collecting watches or lanterns or automobiles. No matter how many you already own, there's always the one you just have to have, right?
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