Boyce demo circuit

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

October 26, 2006

Hello, N&W HS:

Does anyone have Hagerstown District, Shenandoah
Division train orders, a dispatcher's train order
register, or a dispatcher sheet from pre-1955?  I'd
like to work with the Morse Telegraph Club to recreate
telegraph message traffic on the dispatcher's wire. 
Also, if anyone has car orders, passenger car space
requests, tariff quotations, or other information that
would have been send on the message wire, that would
also be helpful.  When done, this recording can be
provided to the society.

Jim, I'll get back to you with an inventory of
instruments furnishe by Ace Holman's estate. 
Basically, Boyce station has legless keys, mainline
sounders, local sounders, relays, a pegboard, a jack
box, and a small patch panel.

Best wishes, all!

Frank
f_scheer at yahoo.com

Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2006 5:29:06 -0700 
From: wb8siw at charter.net
To: "Frank Scheer" <f_scheer at yahoo.com> 
Subject: Re: Boyce demo circuit 

Hi Frank:

For Morse Day and similar events, you will want to
stick with the standard modem and dial-tone line.  The
hubs are utilized for Morse Day and similar events, as
well as Saturday sessions during which a volunteer can
come in and operate.

If you like, we can create a Morse tape of simulated
train orders for you.  I recently did this for a
museum in Southern Indiana, and have provided similar
"taped morse" systems for similar venues.

In the later case, a local rail fan provided me with
copies of sample train orders, and I created a
dispatcher / operator exchange, which was then
recorded and utilized to drive a sounder for realism. 
Such a tape can be created to operate through the same
modem that serves the dial-up function.  We would
simply use a basic jack-box for switching circuits
(identical to arrangement in standard telegraph
practice) so one could move from "taped morse" to live
operation on the hub with ease.

I regularly build telegraph exhibits at museums, and I
suspect our group could be of assistance.  A few
questions:

1.  Do you have any instruments?  If so, can you
provide an inventory?
2.  Do you have someone locally who can assemble an
office?

If you need instruments, our group has a couple of
resources for warehoused equipment that we can
possibly access.  

Give me a call if you want to pursue this, as it might
be easier to discuss it on the telephone.

Thanks,

Jim Wades
Director, Morse Telegraph Club
269-650-0215