Museums always have limited promotion budgets. There is never enough to do what really needs to be done to promote an organization. That makes free opportunities even more valuable. Recently the Northern Ohio Railway Museum participated in a local history day held at the Medina, Ohio library. We were there as well as all the counties local, mostly township orientated, historical societies. The Library hosts liked our display so much that they invited the Museum to have the display cabinets located outside the local history room at the Library for the month of April. It was just installed.

The display has two primary purposes. The first is to promote the museum, let people know about us. We also take the opportunity to solicit for volunteers and donations. You can never have too little of that! Then we have some then and now photographs of locations in the county showing the interurban that used to run here. Those are always popular. We find that people know the modern scene, but have no idea what was once there.

Finally we promote our Education Directors efforts in S.T.E.A.M. education. No this trolley museum has not gotten interested in those big black, and sometimes little and blue, things that burn coal. We are talking about Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math education and how the Museum can work in these disciplines. Hopefully the display will help drum up more business for her.

Enough on promotion. Now its time to challenge people and make them think. Hey, this display is in a library, a place of learning and enlightenment. Or at least it’s supposed to be!

Ok here comes fun time. The display goes interactive by posing questions for people to answer as they view our display. One cabinet has a timetable test developed by our Education Director. In it one can see the lessons in Mathematics, History, and Social Science that a July, 1930 interurban public timetable could teach. In the same cabinet are 12 items that the readers of this forum should be able to identify. The items here are only identified by number. In another cabinet a few feet away are the answers to the timetable test as well as the "WHAT IS IT?" portion of the test. It will be interesting to talk to the librarians later and see how well this feature went over.

I am attaching the timetable test and pictures of the "WHAT IS IT?" items. Let's see who is the first to get all the correct answers. Good Luck.

Steve

Here are the tests.

Again, Good Luck.

Steve

Item 1 I don't recognize maybe a fuse an insulator or lightning arrester. Items 2 and 3 are both insulators that will hold item 4 which is used to support the overhead wire item 9 is a fuse holder Adam 7 looks like a circuit breaker item 12 is a a railroad spike.

Here's my attempt:

1) My best guess is a device for holding overhead somehow. Possibly related to span wires?

2) and 3) Insulators that go above item 4 and keep the current from going down the line pole.

4) Dog ear!

5) Map of the system

6) Looks like a roller. Is it hardware for a sliding door?

7) Line breaker

8) Fare tokens

9) Fuse holder

10) Electric switch, commonly used for headlights and heaters

11) Brass seat back handle for a walkover seat

12) A spike!

I really like your displays, too. They don't appear to be high dollar productions, and gives me hope that us regular people could create something which is interesting to our passengers who may not be railfans.

Good work, and thanks for sharing!

I hijacked your photos, pasted your name on them, and showed them to our regular volunteers, to hopefully inspire and motivate one of them to touch up our own displays.

Thanks,

James Hinman

It's not a line breaker. Here are a couple of pictures of a restored one which is now on Sacramento Northern 1005 at the Western Railway Museum, with an additional clue.

You've done well and stumped me! It's a device I haven't seen on any of the streetcars I've run. The markings on the second one make me think perhaps it's related to varying voltages on different parts on the line.

Your display looks fantastic! I can't wait to hear what the mystery thing is!

Excellent answers so far, but no one has attempted to go after the timetable test. It is an attached PDF, but it has only been downloaded a handful of times. I suspect many did not realize it was there. So here is what is in the PDF.

In July of 1930, where could you travel to on an Interurban Train?
See what lessons in Mathematics, History, and Social Science could be taught using this
Cleveland, Southwestern and Columbus Timetable.
======================================================
1. How many trains stopped in Medina each day?
2. How many stops were there before you would arrive in Cleveland?
3. How long did that trip take?
4. How long would it take you to get to Columbus? How many times would you need to transfer?
5. Approximately how long would it take you to travel from Medina to Seville?
6. What time does the last train to Cleveland leave Chippewa Lake?
7. How would you get to Akron from Cleveland via Medina?
8. How would you travel to Cleveland from Wooster?
9. What is unique about the second stop out from Cleveland?
10. What information would knowing the train number give you beside the schedule?


Now to address the "What is it" answers.

Numbers 1 to 4: Application correct, but hoping for the given name. Hint, looking in an old Ohio Brass Co. catalog would give them to you. The catalog is on line at http://www.impulsenc.com/pdf/catalog_76_ohio_brass_products.pdf. Due to the catalog being newer versions of some of the items, they will look a little different, but clearly be recognizable.

Number 5: Correct. The map is actually of Medina County, Ohio and shows where the Cleveland, Southwestern and Columbus interurban ran in the county until abandonment in 1931. The system was actually much larger than the counties borders. Where it shows a Northern Ohio logo in the bottom right corner of the map is indicating a Northern Ohio Traction and Light interurban line coming west from Akron and terminating in Wadsworth, Ohio. This line was planned to continue further west to meet up in Seville, Ohio with the Southwestern, but it never happened. The sign in front of the map and the angle of the photo block the actual line on the map.

Number 6: Wrong. Hint, think $$ and keeping it secure on a trolley.

Number 7: Thanks to the Western Railway Museum for a better appearing artifact. Hint, do not think voltage, instead think amperage.

Numbers 8 to 12: Correct

Thanks everyone for playing along. Now its time to go do the timetable test. All the answers are in the timetable. If the attached picture of the timetable is not clear enough, go back to the second post in this string and download the PDF.

Steve

From memory:
1. Double eye strain insulator
2. AGC hanger
3. Barn hanger
4. HS clamp

Items 2 and 4 will be found in the trolley coach section of the OB catalog, as they were originally designed for trolley coach overhead applications, and are not historically appropriate for electric railway use before the mid 1930's.

Thank you for the compliments on the look of the display.

Mr. Hinman from Bluegrass is correct, they are not high buck productions nor do you need really expensive equipment to do it..

I have an PC running Windows 10. Text items are just MS Word files. I do have Adobe Photoshop and use it extensively with photo files that are used alone or inserted into word files. Also the system has a flatbed scanner for capturing pictures and other items that are scan able. A high quality digital camera rounds out the acquisition gear. For printing I have a Epson - WorkForce WF-7110 Wide-Format Ink Jet Printer. Now a wide format printer will take paper up to 13x19 inches in size. They are more expensive than a printer that does only letter and legal size paper. But they are not as expensive as you may think, I got mine for less than $200 at Best Buy. Having this printer is a key item since printed items need to be big enough to be used in a public display.

I print all public display materials on glossy photo paper. The detail and clarity on this medium is better than ordinary paper. For rigidity these printed items are then mounted on foam core. The photo paper in the larger 13x19 size, foam core and the spray adhesive to mount it can all be found in craft stores and your favorite office supply store.

That covers the technology used. Here is the harder part. You need someone who can write in a style that John Q. Public will comprehend. Incorporating a lot of technical babble may be interesting to the rail enthusiast, but it turns off the average person out there. Also have multiple proofreaders and some of them non rail fans. Perhaps a coworker, family member or neighbor with absolutely no interest in trains. If they can comprehend and understand what you have drafted, then you have done it right.

Also you need to find someone with a flair for the arts. This person needs to be able to learn the Photoshop program and be able to lay out pages and graphic art work in a aesthetically pleasing manner. Most times a good photographer will have these skill sets lurking within them, they are already using them to take well composed pictures. Just need to channel that ability into a slightly different form.

What you saw in the library pictures is what is done for displays taking place in a climate controlled environment. Now what do you do in an unheated space such as a carbarn or outdoors? For that lamination is your friend. For our displays at the museum I laminate everything. I get the laminating done at my local office supply store. They can laminate items to any length and up to 30 inches wide. These items are not mounted on foam core, and are just the glossy photo paper. Initially the staff at my local store didn't think they could laminate photo paper, but I said try it. It worked fine. I have had hundreds of items laminated to date with no problems.

I have attached a style sign we use at the museum. We have signs by each car in the museum. Each has a couple pictures of the car, statistical info on the car for the technically minded and a brief text that describes the car. Each narrative tries to have something in it that would appeal to the general public and make this car memorable for some reason.

We also have a series of signs we call "Ask NORM". Each "Ask NORM" sign asks a question and then answers it. Again all the narrative is kept brief. John Q. Public is only going to read about this much material before wanting to move on. If they really want to know more, they can ask our docent about it.

Making these all signs are pretty easy and cheap. These signs are made from 2 11x17 sheets taped together on the back with a cut out header carefully glued across the top of the two taped together sheets. All this material is glossy photo paper. Then it gets run through the laminator. Now I have a sign that is protected from the forces of nature, to a degree! It certainly stands up to Mother Nature in an unheated carbarn. Also the plastic used to laminate them has a UV blocking feature, so it protects them for indirect sun exposure. I have a couple laminated signs that are signs restricting entry to certain museum buildings. One of these signs is in direct sun when we are open. After 3 years I had to replace it due to sun fading.

You wonder why 11x17? That is the size paper originally being sold in the office supply store by me. Later they discontinued carrying that size and only carried 13x19. I just trim the larger size down after printing. If I was starting fresh today, I would just use the 13x19 and size everything accordingly.

I hope this gives a basic primer on how to do some signage on the cheap, If anyone has further questions, reach out to me and we can correspond privately and I'll try to offer what help I can.

Steve

Steve, congratulations on your excellent display work.

PC