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RE: (erielack) Re: radio equipped
Funny you should mention that, Len..........One thing that always struck
me as funny was how the oldheads would disdain the "newfangled' radios and
the operators would not use the fone. I worked the 'over the river' job out
of Conklin yard. It went up the former DL&W line to Vestal & back working
the industries in Johnson City & Vestal. The old crew would NOT use the
radio. If called, they would not answer & God forbid that they should call
anyone. It was hand-signals all the way. It was a good education for me in
the use of hand sign. They were also right that the RRs would use radio to
get rid of jobs.
As for the phone VS telegraph, many times I sat in the West Pittston
station in the operators baywindow seat cranking the old magnetophone. The
operator/agent would come over & say "here, kid, watch this." Click, click,
dash, click.....then on the phone, "Hello, Hello, Scranton operator.". I'd
say, "Please ring the Binghamton crew dispatcher." A few more clicks and
buzzes and then the ringing in the office upstairs in the DL&W station."Crew
Dispatcher"
The moral here is - the use of the key showed that you were a serious
railroader and NOT a newhire like myself that didn't know the technology
that streched back in an unbroken chain to the dark days of the Rebellion
when bad news came over the wires from the Chickahominy River in Northern
Virginia.
Regards to all,
Walter E. Smith
>From: "Len VanderJagt" <lvj911_@_worldnet.att.net>
>Reply-To: "Len VanderJagt" <lvj911_@_worldnet.att.net>
>To: <erielack_@_lists.elhts.org>
>Subject: (erielack) Re: radio equipped
>Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 15:57:20 -0400
>
>Sometimes I just have to laugh out loud...
>
>In practice, through the 1960s, and I am certain right up to the end, the
>real question was was the railroad equipped with working radios.
>
>The F units, and particularly the 1200 Geeps might have the decal, but the
>radio inside did not often work. If it did work, often the range was
>barely farther than you could shout. Same thing with walkie-talkies, which
>started out about the size of Korean War field radio sets.
>
>Real observation: when you are calling someone on the radio and are getting
>no response, you tend to press the receiver harder against your ear. I bet
>Walter Smith still has a flat right ear.
>
>Best,
>Len VanderJagt
>
>
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