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What do you have hanging around the house that is railroad related and you just love, other than the models?
I finally got some pics together today and I will start with this table. The table its self is a old treadle sewing machine table, then I built the top and then Robin used some of the RR China pieces we have found over the years to make the top. Because of its nostalgia it is by far my personal favorite.
No pic's, but I have a working steam locomotive marker light. All the lenses are intact and the lever to change the light from clear to green still works.
It's eventually going to be mounted outside my garage.
Great piece of history Mike, very nice!
Carey I'd love to see the lamp, sounds cool!
I don't really have any one thing in particular since railraodiana is a part of my business.
However I guess one of the things I'm hesitating to let go would be the builders plate from the first loco I ever bought.
I have a Brass Steam Whistle off of an engine that use to run on the east coast of Florida in the 30's. The engine is in the river someplace in St.Cloud Fla. at the base of a wood trestle.
I also have a hand drawn picture of a Diesel from the person that use to draw for a railroad in NY.
I'll take pictures of both sometimes tomorrow.
Great piece of history Mike, very nice!
Carey I'd love to see the lamp, sounds cool!
I don't really have any one thing in particular since railraodiana is a part of my business.
However I guess one of the things I'm hesitating to let go would be the builders plate from the first loco I ever bought.
No pictures at the moment, but a great-uncle of mine used to be a yardmaster for the P.R.R. and when he passed on some pieces of his collection were handed down to me which included a few signal lanterns, some cloth "No Trespassing" signage and various P.R.R. books and pamphlets on freight handling rules & regulations.
I would have to go with my marker lights. Adlakes from the UP #4023, Pyle Nationals from the GCRY #18, And a set of Adlake caboose lights from a C&S Caboose. All of which are functional and I use regularly on the #15 in Chehails, WA. Also have a few whistles and builders plates.
reproduction trust plate from PM 1225 cast from the original in aluminum I had it powder coated and I hand painted the gold letters. It is mounted on the fascia of the layout
My only real original original stuff is a china ashtray from the C&Os failed passenger train named the 1948 Chessie and a recently aquired matchbook from the 1946 Pere Marquette passenger train
Pere Marquette ran through my birthplace in Michigan. I almost thought of modeling that line, but it is harder to find model stuff for them than the Great Northern. There is still a Pere Marquette coal tower in Grand Haven, MI.
I have a hinge from a wood referigerator car door that I found, a Uniform Code of Operating Rules handbook for 1962. I'll dig up a pic of the hinge
My Wife's Grandfather was a sectionman on the CNR for 30+ years. My mother in law has his railroad watch and a CNR first Aid kit that I'll probably inherit someday.
Steam Whistle & a Custom Engine Painting from the man that use to paint signs for the Erie railroad in the 40's, 50's & 60's. Paul Hudson This picture was painted in 1946
The Steam whistle was made by: Crosby Steam Gage & Valve
Boston, USA Jan. 30th, 1877
Here is a Baldwin Executive print that was given to me by a man by the name of Fred Cave and his claim to me was that he was the last man working at Baldwin when they closed the doors.
This print was behind a couch in a baldwin exec's office.
The frame is new but the print and mat are original. Fred passed away many years ago at 95 years old. I meet him at age 92.
Well, mine isn't material. My grandfather started at the PRR at age 18. Shoveled coal....when he retired, he was at the helm if a GG1. His stories....like the guy who had a bee fly in his beer stein at lunch...stung his throat...or his stories about sunnyside yard. Or the songs he used to sing to me about staying off the tracks, as he sadly injured 3 people fatally at the helm of a locomotive. My memorable artifacts are in my heart, as he busted his butt, raised 4 kids, sent one to Harvard, and still found the money to buy his wife (now 94) a modest piece of jewelry every year....he is my memorabilia.
I can recall when I first got back into the hobby, visiting a railfan in my home town, he had a prototype switch stand mounted in front of his house. I thought that was so neat, but never thought I could ever have one too.
A while later I was able to obtain one for myself legally. Mounted in on a concrete base I poured in front of our house. Found a lantern, target and lock through friends. Lantern has a 7.5 watt light bulb and is operated by a timer, comes on at dusk and goes off around 11 PM.
Been where it is for about 25 years now - see attached photo.
I know you said "see" but I don't know that mine is worth a photo. Two years ago I took a field trip to the Alpine Tunnel of the DSP&P. On the way I followed the D&RGW line from Pueblo west to Salida. At Texas Creek I walked up to the loop back on the Westclilffe Branch grade and found a narrow gague rail joiner that is clearly marked DRGRR. When I got home I looked up when the Westcliffe Branch had been abandon and found this tie plate has been sitting there for about 100 years. I actually also found a point rail from the turnout off the Monarch Branch for the switch-back across US 50, but it weighed about 250 lbs and was too long to fit into the back of my Blazer.
Background - The Denver Rio Grande (DRGRR) buiding out of Denver eventually joined the Rio Grande Western (RGW) building out of Salt Lake to form the Denver and Rio Grande Western everyone is familiar with.
Not too long ago, a family at my church asked me if I wanted some "old train papers" that their uncle had left them. They were just going to throw them out, since they were taking up space in the attic. Of course, I said "yes", and a few weeks later they brought the boxes.
I was able to piece together from the stuff in the boxes that their uncle was a Traffic Manger for the Spokane International, and later worked for the Union Pacific during the 1980's. The boxes were full of Railway Equipment Registers, Timetables, books that told railroad employees how much to charge customers based on the freight being shipped, the area, and the mileage, as well as bumperstickers, a Canadian National bottle opener, a package of facial cream from a sleeping car, and all sorts of other cool stuff (and to think that the family had already thrown out a bunch of Union Pacific calendars ).
One of the cool things in that collection was a box of unused passenger train tickets from the Spokane International. Several of the ticket packages are still unopened. The box the tickets are in is the box those tickets were shipped to the railroad in, having been printed by the Ross Printing Company in Spokane, WA.
I was about 12 years old when the Milwaukee Road was doing some mainline repairs. They had cut off about a 16" section of rail and cast it aside. I came by after working hours, stuck it under my coat, and carried it home (about 2 miles). It's a wonder I didn't herniate myself.
Oooo, maybe I shouldn't have told this story. I wonder if the statute of limitations has run out on my crime. That was 42 years ago.
). 
