When did N&W stop using telegraphs?

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Subject: Re: NW-Mailing-List Digest, Vol 44, Issue 27
Date: Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:50:32 -0400
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I, too have heard the year "1958" when associated with the N&W, the
Shenandoah Division and the demise of the telegraph. Other railroads
undoubtedly ended the practice at different times including the Frisco
quote for 1957, however, didn't a number of "old heads" on the B&O
keep a section active well into the 1980's for their local use out in
the Sand Patch area? I have heard many references to this one and that
it only ended when a derailment took out the wire. Southern's
Washington Division ended the practice on the mainline by or before
about 1960.

Bob Cohen

<snip>

In fact the Frisco date was quoted as 1967.

I've asked DC based friends who has lots of connections in telecoms to 
see if he can come up with anything and anyone.

There are he says lots of folks who just slaver over railway telegraphy 
- all part of the signalling and communications area that in the UK I 
never got into, though I knew of the private railway telephony and data 
networks.

Just a cursory search on the web kicks up quite a bit - some links give 
a flavor below (US and UK) -  but I presume railway histories, and 
perhaps museum archives, might hold some of the detail.

http://distantwriting.co.uk/railwaysignaltelegaphy.aspx
http://www.northstar.k12.ak.us/schools/ryn/projects/inventors/woods/woods.html
http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/311.html
http://www.samhallas.co.uk/railway/single_needle.htm
http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/tlcar.Html


If anything else does come to my notice in particular in connection with 
the N&W I'll of course post it.


Now what was that calculation by Sherlock Holmes, being able to 
determine the speed of the train by noting how many telegraph poles were 
being passed every minute or whatever?

Ah - http://barzilai.org/cr/sherlock.html - but surely that is not a 
late 19th century railway locomotive in or of the British Isles?

ttfn


Dominic
London

-- 
Please help me support the Pirate Castle at
http://www.justgiving.com/dominicpinto

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