Model Forum / General / Railroads / November 2008

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Your scenes and stories bring back a lot of pleasant memories, Phil.
Thanks for sharing.

Bill
Bill's Railroad Empire
N Scale Model Railroad:
http://www.billsrailroad.net
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Resources--Links to 1,200 sites:
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Phil,
   Very interesting set - some of the text brought back my own memories of
the 50s. Our fire dept had call boxes attached to telephone poles - you had
to break a glass seal and twist a handle to report a fire. The fire horn
would signal a two digit number that indicated the location of the box. 22
was reserved for ambulance/rescue only and did not indicate location. The
fireman had the option of driving to the fire - or being picked up by a
truck enroute. Our corner was a pickup point for the West End Pump Engine.
You'd see the guys racing down the street to catch the engine as they didn't
wait for straglers. The boxes were replaced with telephone type units when I
was in late grade school.- but the horn continued.

   As part of their fund raising the firemen would mail out cardboard
sheets that gave the location of each code number. In the summer - with no
school - kids on their bicycles would check the code and race the engines to
the scene.

   The sunday store codes was another memory. I remember waiting all day
sunday until 4:00 when a local small food store could open for a few hours -
they also sold model airplane cement - and an entire sunday could be wasted
if you left the cap off the stuff you were using.

   We've been involved with some activities that include new college grads.
I talk about the way things were back then - and sometimes think they're
convinced I'm making it up.

                                                                           
                           Val Kraut