.......what is it, what would one look like, and how would you use it?

Reference comes from a Masonic/Railroad related bit of prose dating from about 1900 or so. "He was a RR man" is based on the rythm and style of the secret memory work that Freemasons use to identify one another.

HE WAS A RAILROAD MAN



Dispatcher Keys of the Rock Island who examines all applicants for positions in the train service, has the reputation of being very particular in the matter of employing trainmen, desiring only those who have considerable experience in that branch of service. The following is a conversation said to have been overheard in Mister Key’s office a short time since, between that gentleman and an applicant for the position of passenger conductor:





“Where did you come from?”
“From general manager St. John of the Union Pacific.”
“What did you come here to do?”
“To learn to subdue my energies and improve the railway service.”
“Then you are a railroad man I infer?”
“I am so taken by all officials who know their business.”
“How may I know you to be a railroad man?”
“By looking over my letters and examining me in the signals, try me.”
“How will you be tried?”
“By the punch.”
“Why by the punch?”
“Because it is the emblem of honesty and the principal working tool of my profession.”
“Where were you first prepared to be a railroad man?”
“In my mind.”
“Where next?”
“Upon a farm adjoining the right of way of a regular railroad.”
“How were you prepared?”
“By breaking in upon a thrashing machine for six months, after which I went to town and sought admission to the trainmaster’s office.”
“How gained you admission?”
“By three cigars placed in the open hand of the trainmaster’s clerk.”
“How were you received?”
“Upon the sharp gaze of the trainmaster applied to my physiognomy which was thus explained: As it is always a source of great pleasure
to the trainmaster to receive callers, I should drop in and chat with him a little upon every occasion possible.”
“How were you then disposed of?”
“I was seated in a chair near the trainmasters desk and asked if I put my faith in coupling devices.”
“Your answer?”
“Not if I know myself, I don’t.”
“What was then done to you?”
“I was lead up and down the yard three times to accustom me to the noise of a train, and then to the Chief Dispatchers office.”
“How were you then disposed of?”
“I was seated upon a break wheel before a train box and caused to take the following oath:
“I John Smith, do hereby and hereon most everlastingly and diabolically swear by the great horned spoon, that I will always remit
and never conceal any of the cash collected by me as a conductor, and that I will not cut, make use of, remit,
or collect any cash fares less than those found in a regular tariff book.”
“I will furthermore promise and swear that I will not carry on my train free any railroad man’s wife,
mother, sister, daughter, or widow or permit any other conductor to do so, if I can prevent it.”
“I furthermore promise and swear that I will freely contribute to all subscriptions circulated to buy my
superior officers a token of esteem so far as he may desire and my salary will permit.”
“To all of which I do solemnly swear, binding myself under no less penalty than that of having my salary cut from year to year,
all prerequisites taken away and expended for sand ballast to put under the McKinley extension, where the
trains come and go twice in twenty-four hours, so help me Bob Ingersoll and keep my back bone stiff.”
“What did you then behold?”
“The trainmaster’s clerk approached me and presented me with a Bishop’s Safety Coupling knife and instructed me to take it to the yardmaster
who would teach me how to use it.”
“How were the Bishop’s coupling knives used?”
“By sticking them in the left hand hip pocket with the blade turned up.”
Mister Keys here informed the applicant that he was satisfied that he was a railroad man and asked him if he would be off or from.
“I will be off from here, if you will give me a passenger train.”
“Have you any cigars?”
“ I have.”
“Will you give them to me?”
“ That is not the manner in which I got them and I cannot so dispose of them.”
“How can I get them?”
“I will match you, heads and tails for them.”
“I will go you, begin.”
“You begin.”
“No, you begin, you have the cigars.”
“Board.”
“All.”
“All-aboard.”
“You are OK. Come around tomorrow evening and if the road is not in the hands of a receiver I will send you out on
No. 7 in place of Conductor Reilly, who recently fell down while undergoing the examination.”

Through the courtesy of Mr. Lester W. Graves, retired City Passenger Agent, C.R.I. & P.R.R. 314 Perry St. Davenport, Iowa

c/o Lester W. Graves Travel Agency
I picked this up circa 1955...ddk

Absolutely priceless.
But, sorry, no idea what the aforedescribed instrument might be nor its use.

No. 7 was the Rocky Mountain Rocket, of which I was disposed to watch as a child, there being little else to do within small Kansas towns upon a Sunday.. Actually, it was the eastbound No. 8, as No. 7 passed pretty early in the morning. but still the same train.

I've never heard of the instrument, either, but can envision its use, having had some operational experience with Van Dorn couplers, which are basically an automatic coupling form of the old link and pin.

The feature of traditional link and pin couplers that made them so dangerous to trainmen is that there was very little standardization of the dimensions of the drawhead or the links; the links fit loosely in the drawhead, and tended to droop enough that they wouldn't enter the drawhead on the approaching car without manual assistance. That assistance was provided by the switchman placing his hand between the drawheads to raise the link and guide it into the opening, then quickly dropping his hand out of the way before the drawheads came together, hopefully not until his fingers were clear, still being mindful to drop the pin before the cars bounced apart. It is occasionally stated in old literature that the way to tell if a man was an experienced switchman was to see if he had all his fingers; if he did, he wasn't very experienced.

I can envision a flat sheet iron blade mounted in a knife handle, the blade being long enough to extend clear of the faces of the drawheads and having a hook on its end with which to raise the link. Being flat would make it less likely to be damaged if it were caught between the drawheads, and easy to carry in the pocket until needed. That shape mounted in a handle would look generally like a knife, which could have inspired the name.

So much for conjecture. Now, hopefully someone can find some actual information so I can see if I'm correct.

Plant your tongue firmly in your cheek, and read it again. For a primer, you might reacquaint yourself with "A Modest Proposal" by one J. Swift.

Art Buchwald is somewhere, laughing.

JAC

There are a couple of "coupling knoves" in the collection of the Museum of Transport. They have a handle and a blade shaped like a spatula about
6 or 7 inches long and about an inch and a half wide with a semi-circular cut-out near the end of the blade (as I recall).
They were indeed used to guide the link into the drawhead.
I've never heard them refered to as a "Bishop's Safety Coupling Knife."
I was a switchman and, thank God, I never had to use one.
Danska

Anyone remember an episode of Quincy M.E. where the victim, a senior citizen, had rust in in fingers and Quincy (Jack Klugman) deduced that he was once a railroad brakeman? Think any link and pin guys were still alive in the 1980's ?

I have to ask. Is "knoves" the spelling you intended? I Googled that spelling, and amidst umpteen citations with obvious misspellings, I found it in a list of what appears to be "knives" spelled in many languages, without any hint as to what language it might be. So, is this an indication of a link to a specific ethnic/culture/nation of origin, or simply a typo?

I remember woodcuts (old drawings) of brakemen using sticks to lift and guide the links. I should have realized that some entrepreneur would come up with a commercial product.
Some brakemen would tilt the pin in the top of the hole in hopes that it would come loose and fall when the drawbars hit. Of course, it still had to enter the hole in the bottom of the drawhead.

Typo

I'm with you JAC. Though there might have been such an instrument, the prose brings to mind the "left-handed monkey wrench." I just use a stick.

Bingo. The Emperor of the North has spoken. So let it be written, so let it be done.

Here's the original Freemason ceremony:

http://www.scripturecatholic.com/fellow ... osing.html

And here is yet another parody of the original:

http://www.linshaw.ca/omtp/vol6no13.html

A "Bishop's Safety Coupling Knife" may indeed be a real item - but I'm guessing it's as Steve says, and about as real as a "muffler belt" or a "snipe hunt."

“The trainmaster’s clerk approached me and presented me with a Bishop’s Safety Coupling knife and instructed me to take it to the yardmaster who would teach me how to use it.”
“How were the Bishop’s coupling knives used?”
“By sticking them in the left hand hip pocket with the blade turned up.”

Is that REALLY how a "coupling knife" is used? I don't think so.

JAC

I find no reason to doubt the existence of the Bishop’s Safety Coupling Knife even though the railroad man stated that its purpose was to be carried in his hip pocket. Earlier in the prose, the railroad man had this exchange with the dispatcher:

“I was seated in a chair near the trainmasters desk and asked if I put my faith in coupling devices.”
“Your answer?”
“Not if I know myself, I don’t.”

I like his quizzical answer, however, it is not clear whether the coupling device in question was the Bishop’s knife or actual couplers. If it were the device, it indicates that the railroad man did not believe in using them, yet they may have been required to be carried and used by trainmen. Therefore to this fellow, the purpose of the knife was to carry it in his hip pocket. He was wise enough to know not to trust the knife for use, and also wise enough to know that he had to carry it in order to at least symbolically comply with the rules. He also knew that if he put it in his pocket, it should be with the blade up.

I would guess that there were dozens of such specialty tools for trainmen, the records of which have virtually disappeared as lost history.

RTK

Any chance of getting any pictures of these up on site? Sure sounds like the safety coupling knives you have would fit the discription of the "great horned spoon" mentioned in the piece.

What I like, as both a Mason, ag history preservationist, and RRman, is that it perfectly fits the description of the itinerant railroader- breaking in on a threshing machine (likely a hand feed job-super dusty and miserable) next to the rr and knowing that something, anything is a better way to make a living than eating wheat dust. Lot of railroaders were former farmhands.

It also speaks to a time when the railroad were run by real human beings who liked to "have callers".

I agree. Just because the piece was written as a parody doesn’t mean that the writer didn’t incorporate actual objects from his everyday experience, and unless there is something in the actual Masonic ceremony (and I thought these things were supposed to be secret, so how do we know the cited text is the actual ceremony?) that makes a connection with the “Bishop’s” name, the name is indeed very likely to be the name of the actual item the writer was familiar with.

I also agree with Ron’s take on the line, “Not if I know myself, I don’t..” Sounds like my attitude about hard hats in my misguided youth…I’ll put one on when someone plans to drop something on me.

I’ll also take exception with the idea that it is a fabrication, like a “left handed monkey wrench”, since one could simply use a stick. The links are relatively heavy, and the chances of having a stout enough stick at hand whenever needed were iffy. To carry such a stick would be cumbersome. To insist that one could simply grab a stick to do the job was basically to admit that the link could be raised by hand if no stick were present, and given the statistics that lead to Congress passing the act that mandated automatic couplers, that said that the man would lose some fingers somewhere along the line. So, in a way the proper use of the coupling knife WAS to put it in one’s pocket, where it would be ready for use when needed.