Anyone know of one anywhere? Good, bad or otherwise. I'm quoting one for a museum and trying to conceptualize how to do it.

Thanks,

Paul

The Richmond Railroad Museum (Old Dominion Chapter NRHS) has a nice telegraph exhibit. I believe visitors can click a telegraph key and hear the dits and dahs.

http://www.richmondrailroadmuseum.org/s ... t8_jpg.htm

. _ _ . _ . . . _ . . . _ _

(Andrew)

The Railroad Museum of PA has a nice one,They do demonstrations all the time

InfoAge Museum at Camp Evans on Marconi Rd. in Shark River Hills, N.J. has one, modeling the 1st telegraph line between Baltimore and Washington along the Baltimore & Ohio RR's Washington branch, complete with a Lionel 0-gauge B&O passenger train.

http://www.infoage.org

Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum has a telegraph exhibit that's sometimes attended by local hams. Otherwise a computer program is left running when the depot is open that keeps the sounder constantly clicking out messages.

As for advice on setting up an exhibit, try asking the local amateur radio club. Or even call the Samuel F B Morse museum in Poughkeepsie NY to see if they have suggestions.

The problem with "hams" is they use International Morse, and that's different from traditional "railroad" Morse. People conversant with railroad Morse are quickly fading from the scene.

The Ladysmith Rail Display in Ladysmith, WI has a nice operating telegraph display set up by John Terrel (sp?). You should be able to contact John through the Rail Display.

Unfortunately, the gentleman who was TVRM's living telegraph exhibit passed away a few years ago. Mr. Martin Treadway was a retiree from the Southern Railway and was the last railroad telegrapher based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He (and his father-another railroad telegrapher) both worked out of the Southern Railway office at 1301 S. Market Street. He had a collection of equipment that he had saved from the railroad-after he retired, the office closed and all of the equipment would have been trashed had he not saved it. Whenever he was working, he would bring in keys and sounders and demonstrate them. He was fluent in both American "railroad" Morse and International Morse.

There is a local telegraphy club that had a display at the Washington State Fair. They *might* have been part of a railroad group, maybe the Milwaukee RR Historical Society (or maybe I'm simply recalling a different display and blending the two, it's been a few years).

They were sending telegrams for the visitors. You'd write down what you wanted sent, the operator would pound it out, and then you'd walk to the other side of the display hall where the operator would hand you your telegram. Was fun, and many people were fascinated by the technology.

One that I thought was cool was in Elizabeth, IL. The telegraph sounder has a Prince Albert tobacco tin on it, which was something the RR telegraphers did to get a better sound. Search Youtube for "Elizabeth depot" and you'll find a video of it.

That reminds me of the Jay Leno skit where Leno had two ham radio operators using a telegraph key to send a message via Morse code versus two people using text messaging. The contest was to see who could send and receive the message faster. Obviously, the guys texting never had a chance competing with the telegraphers.

... And supposedly "landline" (railroad) Morse was even faster to send, as it used about 5% fewer characters.

Thanks everyone for the ideas...also found some old threads about it too. Good info.

Paul

We had one set up at the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museume. There were two telegraph stations at each side of the room and you could "talk" to the other person. Since stuff got rearranged in the visitors center we haven't gotten the chance to set it up yet.

The Virginia Museum of Transportation had a display back in the mid-90's.