On Being a Railroad Signal Maintainer, circa 1913

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All: A very interesting list. Question, how did he transport the equipment to the job site. In 1913 horses were still horse around, trucks just coming on scene. Cal Reynolds
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org 
  To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org 
  Sent: Sunday, August 22, 2004 5:03 PM
  Subject: On Being a Railroad Signal Maintainer, circa 1913


  This is a very interesting "Complete List of Maintenance Tools Required at Electric Interlocking Plants," as given in General Railway Signal Co's book "Electrical Interlocking," published 1913 and reprinted in 1930, pages 369-370.

  The list is a commentary on the life of a railroad signal maintainer during that period.  And do observe that all this pertained to that much-improved state of life after "electricity" started doing things like throwing switches, which,  just a few years earlier, had been done by brute muscle power through levers, rods, cranks, compensators and chains.  Holy smokes !

  And, mind you, despite all the heavy capital machinery this fellow was given to work with, he wasn't "making" anything... he was just "maintaining" it !

  -- abram burnett


  COMPLETE LIST OF MAINTENANCE TOOLS
  REQUIRED AT ELECTRIC INTERLOCKING PLANTS (1913)
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  BLACKSMITH TOOLS:

  1 -  Anvil

  1 – Forge

  1 – Set of tools, including 10 pound hammer, cold cutter and ¾” punch

   

  CARPENTER TOOLS

  1 – 18” square

  1 – Jack plane

  1 – Brace with set of bits

  1 – 13/16” single lip car bit 14” long

  1 – ¾” wood chisel

  1 – 26” No. 9 hand saw

  1 – Hand axe

  1 – Adz

  1 – Claw hammer

   

  ELECTRICAL TOOLS

  1 – Soldering furnace pot and two ladles

  1 – Small soldering copper

  2 – Screw drivers, 6” and 10”

  1 – Aligator pliers, 8”

  1 – Side-cutting pliers, 7”

  1 – Binding-post wrench

  2 – Socket wrenches for ¼” hexagon nut

  1 – Wrench for signal circuit breaker

  1 – Crank for switch motor

  1 – Hydrometor <for testing specific gravity of acid in batteries>

  1 – Portable volt meter

  1 – Solid wrench for ¾” hexagon nuts

   

  LINE CIRCUIT TOOLS

  1 – Belt with safety

  1 – Pair 16” climbers

  1 – “Come along” with blocks

  2 – Connectors

   

  PIPE TOOLS

  (For pipe connected detector bars)

  1 – Stilson wrench

  2 – Pipe rivet punches

  1 – Pipe cutter

  1 – Stock with 1” right hand dies

   

  SWITCH FITTING TOOLS

  1 – Machinist hammer

  1 – Center punch2 – Cold chisels

  1 – 12” tommy bar – bent on both ends

  1 – 20” tommy bar – bent on chisel end only

  1 – Packer rachet with 11/16” and 13/16” drill

  1 – “Old man” for drilling rail

  2 – Switch adjusting wrenches

  3 – Two-man “T” socket wrenches for ¾” square and hexagon nut, and 3’4” lag screws

  2 -  “T” socket wrenches for 5/8” and ½” lag screws

  4 – Solid “S” wrenches and 5/8” and ¾” bolts with square or hexagon nut

  1 – Solid wrench for detector bar clips

  1 – 14” monkey wrench

  2 – Reamers, 5/8” and 7/8”

  1 – 14” Stilson wrench

  1 – 6” Wescott wrench

  4 Files: one-14” flat bastard, one-10” round smooth, one-12 inch half-round bastard, one-12” round

  4 Files: two-6” rat tail, two saw files

   

  TRACK TOOLS

  1 – Spike maul

  1 – Spike puller

  1 – Claw bar

  1 – Track wrench

  1 – Track shovel

  1 – Barn broom

  1 – Railroad pick

   

  TRACK-CIRCUIT TOOLS

  1 – Bonding drill with twelve 9/32” twist drills

  2 – Channel pin punches

  1 – Channel pin set (slotted)

   

  MISCELLANEOUS

  1 – Workbench with combination vise

  1 – Drill press with drills

  1 – Set taps and dies with stock ¼” to 1”

  1 – Breast drill with set of drills 1/8” to 3/8” by 32nds.

  1 – Bench emery wheel

  1 – Hack saw, 12 blades

  1 – Large spout oiler (1 quart)

  1 – 9” spout oiler (1 pint)

  1 – 6” spout oiler (1/2 pint)

  2 – Water pails

  1 – Canvas tool bag



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