Nostalgia & History > A Fun Find

Early in my railroad career, the railroad landscape was still, relatively well, littered with vintage artifacts and one could, occasionally, find something of interest. I wish I'd had the foresight to realize that this would not always be the case. Unfortunately, these days, the environment is, starkly, void of anything more than a decade old.

This morning, while switching, I came to a stop and, down in the ballast, I spied, what appeared to be, a pair of needle nose pliers, only the grip end showing. I stared at it for a few minutes until my conductor called for me to move again, at which point, my curiosity overcame me and I told him to stand-by, for a moment, while I climbed down to investigate. To my surprise, it turned out to be a conductor's ticket punch (it makes a diamond shaped hole). This, at a location that has not seen a ticketed passenger train since the advent of Amtrak. So, ostensibly, it has lain in the ballast, waiting for me to find it, for more than 45 years!

Although, monetarily speaking, it's not worth much, in the three decades that I've been collecting railroad antiques, I have bought and sold some pretty exotic and expensive artifacts but, frequently, the items that have been my favorites, have been some of the small trinkets that I have found on my own, in the wild. It will find a place in my curio cabinet, with my other found treasures!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/27/16 22:11 by crackerjackhoghead.

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A treasure, to be sure!  Keep it until someone can identify it further.

-John

Hundreds of different punch designs, but I would think the diamond is pretty common.

If only it could speak. The stories it could tell........

I have several, but I think the most unusual is "1/2". Half fair I guess.

Posted from Android

That's a really interesting find!  Thanks for sharing.

Rob Smith
Hamilton, ON

crackerjackhoghead Wrote:
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> This, at a location that has
> not seen a ticketed passenger train since the
> advent of Amtrak. So, ostensibly, it has lain in
> the ballast, waiting for me to find it, for more
> than 45 years!
>

would any specials have traveled over that track that might've used a punch ??? ...

Out_Of_Service Wrote:
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> would any specials have traveled over that track
> that might've used a punch ??? ...

  I suppose it's possible but I don't know of any in the last 30 years. Only officers specials.

Do you have a   BC  punch ?  That was for baggage checked.