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 Post subject: Ring mystery
PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 9:44 am 

Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 5:10 pm
Posts: 1182
[attachment=0]0325_0003.jpg[/attachment]In the photo below, taken on a 1940 fantrip on the two-foot gauge Bridgton & Harrison Railroad in Maine, the rings attached to the walls above the windows are a mystery. Anyone out there have any idea what they might be?


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 Post subject: Re: Ring mystery
PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 9:59 am 

Joined: Fri May 04, 2012 12:20 pm
Posts: 209
Location: Maine
For a signal cord????

Keith


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 Post subject: Re: Ring mystery
PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 10:24 am 

Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 5:10 pm
Posts: 1182
I thought about that, but right at the top center of the photo I think I can see a hanger for the signal cord. Besides, you could put a hawser through those rings!


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 Post subject: Re: Ring mystery
PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 10:31 am 

Joined: Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:42 pm
Posts: 2875
Two of the ones on the right have something white in them. Can’t make it out, is it a porcelain bulb holder? Seems to fit exactly right, so may give a clue?


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 Post subject: Re: Ring mystery
PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 11:55 am 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 7:19 am
Posts: 6399
Location: southeastern USA
It was an early experimental design for a cup holder, and didn't last as they soon found that horizontal ones retained the liquid in the cups much better.

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“God, the beautiful racket of it all: the sighing and hissing, the rattle and clack of the cars over the rails. These were the sounds that made America the greatest country on earth." Jonathan Evison


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 Post subject: Re: Ring mystery
PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 1:09 pm 

Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2004 2:50 pm
Posts: 2815
Location: Northern Illinois
No, it's an automatic passenger awakening device. The rings swivel. A passenger desiring to use the device would fill a cup with water and place it over his seat; when the train slowed for the station the cup would tip and the water would wake the passenger. The two with cups still in them have already been used.

Sorry I missed April 1st.

The thought came to mind that they are racks for fishing poles, but the thought of hanging hooks getting snarled in passengers hair kind of rules that out.

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