This Cabinet has me stumped !! Anyone know what it may have been used for ??

[cogar]

OH mercy me, ..... now why didn''t I notice that?

My bad. I'll stand it upright like it should be.

[mart]

Well,, That's what I thought since the center had slanted shelves !!  But then,, I have no idea about anything that might be on a railroad !!  In years past hotels would let you check valuables but at six inches and conical shaped,, they couldn't hold much and there would be no way to lock or secure them in this cabinet !!

[cogar]

After reading this ….. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_post_office ..... I decided it was not a railroad “postal car” related item …. but it could have been  from a railroad depot office and used for safe-keeping of “switch” keys and messages for the Conductor and other train crew workmen.


And ps, here is a RR ticket cabinet of same design but different interior.

http://railroadmemories.com/dynapage/IP1208.htm

[mart]

Darn,, wish we could see the inside of that cabinet !!

[Rauville]

Hi Everyone;
I've handled a few railroad ticket cabinets, and even though this one matches the exterior appearance of one, the interior was designed for something other.
My guess that if this RR related, it may have been used in a depot for "Torpedo" storage? A torpedo was a small black powder filled packet with a couple lead straps that was placed on the rail to warn an approaching train of trouble or a pending message. As the locomotive passed over them, they would explode, sometimes with added color to denote special conditions on the track ahead. Because they were susceptible to hard blows, you wanted to protect them until needed.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3201/2378238069_15ed91af04.jpg

[mart]

Well,, Never heard about anything like that before !! Any idea why the cabinet would have those slanted shelves in the center ??  It is grooved for something like shelves !!

[cogar]

Now Rauville, don’t you be gettin upset at me …….. but those “torpedos” were probably dispensed by the depot Agent or “call-boy” but were kept in both the depot and the caboose in easy reach of the “call-boy”, Brakeman  and Conductor because it was their job to put them on the track to “signal” the Engineer of an approaching train. The “track crew” and/or caboose of a “work train” always had a good supply of torpedoes on hand or on board.

And they were really not that dangerous because one would have to hit them with a sledgehammer to get them to go “KABOOM”. I useta … uh, … uh, … “snitch” them outa the cabooses because the lead “strap” made for fine “sinker” weight for my fish line cause I couldn’t afford those fancy “store bought” sinkers. I’d just cut off a short piece of that lead strap and wrap it around the fish line.

[mart]

Mmmm,, Cogar You may have answered one question !!  The reason for the roll down cloth shade !!  To keep kids like you from seeing them and be tempted to snitch a few !!  OK so they are not that dangerous but would sure disrupt a trains schedule if kids decided to play with a few on the tracks !! I thought it odd that the center shelves were not in the cabinet,,do you suppose that the center grooves would have allowed a clipboard or something to be inserted for work schedules ect !!  I think the canisters were not so much to protect them from hard blows but more likely to keep the powder dry since humidity could affect them !!

[cogar]

I think the canisters were not so much to protect them from hard blows but more likely to keep the powder dry since humidity could affect them !!

Mart, the "canisters" in the cabinet that you posted a link to ....... has nothing whatsoever to do with railroad "torpedoes".

The explosive portion of those torpedoes, that I once played with, was a “yellowish” colored hard-pressed cake of approximately 3/8” thick and 1 ½” square and was tightly wrapped and sealed in a “waterproof” paper that would withstand being subjected to rain or snow or even submerged under water. I think wax, …. as in “waxpaper” was used for the “waterproofing”. A piece of "red" paper with printing on it was wrapped around the exterior of it. (Clink the .jpg "link" Rauville posted)

[Rauville]

Cogar;
More likely than not the cabinet in question was probably never used by the railroad, I was just guessing out loud. But, I have had some oddities that did have a RR connection. One that comes to mind was a tall (7’), narrow, RR marked cabinet with two padlocked doors. One side had a stretcher inside, while the other side held a 1884 Springfield rifle with attached bayonet, and a compartment for about 10 rounds of ammunition. There were printed orders that stated use of the weapon had to be under the direction of the station master. Strange setup...when would you have the need for a stretcher along with a rifle and bayonet?
I grew up next to the tracks, and was awestruck by the way the RR did things at times

[mart]

OK so that blows my theory !!  Actually Rauville that makes perfect sense to me !! Should the need for the rifle arise you wouldn`t just leave him laying there !!  Need something to carry him to the undertaker,,or to the doctor if you were a bad shot !!

[cogar]

Strange setup...when would you have the need for a stretcher along with a rifle and bayonet?

Rauville,

To possibly answer that question one would need to know the date and the location (town/state) of the depot where the cabinet was found or retrieved from. The 1880s thru the 1900s were troubling times for railroad property due to “strikes” by both railroad employees and coal miners. And one thing to note is that the different railroads had their own Police Agency and were not subject to any local, county or state government jurisdiction or their tax laws. And that is still true to this day. That is the legacy of the Railroad Barons of yesteryear. Anyway, to wit:   

11 May – 10 July 1894 (United States) Pullman Strike: A nation-wide strike against the Pullman Company begins with a wildcat walkout[19] on 11 May after wages are drastically reduced. On 5 July, the 1892 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago's Jackson Park was set ablaze, and seven buildings were burned to the ground. The mobs burned and looted railroad cars and fought police in the streets, until 10 July, when 14,000 federal and state troops finally succeeded in putting down the strike, killing 34 American Railway Union members. Leaders of the strike, including Eugene Debs, were imprisoned for violating injunctions, causing disintegration of the union.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_labor_issues_and_events#1880s

 

And Rauville, for what its worth as a curosity factor, ...... I was born and reared in a Town that was founded in 1905 by a per se Railroad Baron, Henry Gassaway Davis, who purchased the property for his C&C Railroad maintenance shops and switching center ….. and his engineers laid out the town’s streets, alleys, sidewalks and building lots, …… constructed a water pumping station and reservoir and also installed water, sewage and NG lines throughout the Town, including building many houses that were sold or rented to his RR employees.  Herein is a short “bio” of the Town:  http://www.wvculture.org/history/communities/gassaway.pdf 

My father went to work for the C&C Railroad when he was bout 17 (circa 1914) and retired from the B&O Railroad and was a life-long resident of Gassaway, WV.

[mart]

Interesting !!  Looks like they could have used a bunch of those rifles !!