THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE
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THE TELEGRAPH OFFICE |
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The telegraph office in the Meath car of the Galesburg Railroad Museum was built and equipped to show what a typical telegraph office in a depot in any town along the railroad looked like. The telegraph table would be located in a bay window so the agent or telegraph operator could see both directions down the track. The train orders and instructions for trains were placed on a rack with hooks over the telegraph table or desk as soon as they were received from the Train Dispatcher. This prevented their being misplaced or mixed with other office work that was performed at this table. When the train orders and messages were needed for a train, they could be taken down in sequential order and placed in the train order hoop. They were then taken out to the depot platform and handed up to the trains as they passed. There were three or four telegraph wires coming into most depots, but in the larger stations where trains may be coming and going in several directions and in larger numbers, it was not uncommon to have a dozen telegraph wires, one of which was always a Western Union wire. Each of these wires coming in was connected through a sounder that would be sitting on a shelf under where the train orders and messages were hung. When the agent or operator was wanted by anyone on any of the telegraph wires, he heard his office call being sent three or four times in succession. To answer his call, the operator would plug his office sounder into a jack opening under that sounder, in this way connecting the wire to his sounder. He then used his telegraph key to answer the call by saying "I" and his office call such as "GT", then close his key and wait to see what the calling station wanted. His office sounder many times would have a tobacco can behind it to resonate the sound and make it easier for reading. A Western Union wire was used to send and receive telegrams, which would be delivered by telephone or by a messenger. At a station in larger towns or where trains were going in several directions, the man in charge was an Agent-Telegraph Operator. The Agent was responsible for the keeping of station books and records. The records would be of tickets, express, Western Union, local freight, carload freight and station expenses. He made waybills and did the billing that went with every car and shipment in and out of that station. In these large stations there was a telegrapher in addition to the agent. He would do all the telegraph work as related to the handling of trains and when he had extra time he would help the agent. Western Union and Postal Telegraph wires may have run for a distance of 300 miles between relay stations. Every station had a line to receive and send telegrams. Each station had its own call which was referred to as a "station call". No two stations on a particular stretch of wire had the same call, and generally the office call reflected the letters of the town such as "GT" for Galesburg and "BT" for Beardstown. Aurora, IL was "AU". Telegraph circuits on the railroad usually ran for a distance of 100 miles or between the terminals of that particular division. The agent or telegrapher at each station was required to go onto the station platform whenever a train passed and inspect the train. If everything was OK, he gave the crew a "hi-ball" which is a sign that indicated the train was OK on visual inspection. If he saw something wrong, he gave the crew on the caboose a sign and indicated to them with body signs the defect he saw, such as a hotbox. This was indicated by a sign in which he would be holding his nose and patting the part of his body which indicated where in the train the defect was. For example, a hotbox at the rear of the train was indicated by the agent holding his nose and patting his backside. Each train had to be reported to the train dispatcher as passing or stopping or leaving the station as soon as it occurred. Each depot had a standard time clock. It could not be off more than 30 seconds from the correct time. The correct time was sent every day at a designated time. Correct time was received from the naval observatory station. There were a few ways to learn to be a telegrapher in the early days. Some would start out as a youngster doing chores around the depot such as bringing in coal and wood, cleaning out the ashes and sweeping the floor and platform. In his spare time the agent would teach his young helper to telegraph. In larger towns where there was a Western Union office, they had messenger boys to deliver telegrams. The boys would learn to telegraph while waiting for the next message to deliver. There were few schools that taught telegraphy. There were also devices around to self teach. Morse telegraph was a product of Samuel F. B. Morse. The first words sent were on May 24, 1845 and said, "What hath God wrought." Morse code was used for 125 years before modern communication systems took over. There is no doubt it had a great part in the development of this country. It was our first transcontinental communication system. Many great stories are told and recorded of the telegraph and those that used it. It is our hope that memory of the telegraph will never die. |
