Virginian depot communications switchboard

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Good morning:

Attached are two photos of a Virginian Railway communications switchboard from Phenix, Virginia. This was removed around 1972 after the depot closed. I am seeking additional information from anyone familiar with Virginian telephone and telegraph lines between Roanoke and Victoria.

The front of the panel has knife switches for  telephone lines and a three-wire plugboard for telegraph. My understanding is that telephone dispatching was used by the Virginian very early but that it did have telegraph instruments at depots and that there was a dispatcher's wire as a back-up for phone communications. Were the other two wires a message line and a Western Union line?

There was apparently no telephone message line; I suppose the one selector ringer that is mounted on the board was for the dispatcher's telephone line. A message line would have required a second selector. Also absent is a telephone block line; there are no magneto-activated bells on the panel.

It is possible that there was other items mounted on the operator's desk, but that had been stripped by 1972. The Virginian seems to have had a good arrangement for installing communications at depots by having a pre-assembled wired panel. The back view shows that there were two boards attached to the depot wall, to which the panel was attached by hinges. Any wiring connections could be installed and later maintained by swinging the panel for rear access.

If anyone recalls seeing similar panels in Virginian depots, I want to confirm that these were a standardized design. Perhaps I am asking this question 40 years too late, but better late than never. More photos are available upon request.

Happy holidays everyone,

Frank Scheer
f_scheer at yahoo.com
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