Remember, someone jacked some CPL dwarfs at the Canton too.

I don't know about that area but if this were in North Carolina I would head straight for the local scrap yards. Odds are they would show up before long.

John Bohon

Has any more on this come out? I'm missing some number boards, a bell, a cab signal display, turtlebacks, head covers, and some seats from my units, as well as lots of copper. I haven't seen a list yet; I'm wondering if the authorities are ever going to release one.

Have you tried contacting them directly? It might be worth the call.

I will be calling the PD tomorow, good idea. In the meantime, I went to Google, and was directed to Trainorders. According to a poster there, they found over 60 (sixty) EOTS, with serial numbers and reported lost or stolen by the railroads!

(FWIW, I put a little piece about this over on Railroad.net, NJ forum).

60 EOTs? Just what on earth would someone do with sixty?

I have one, and that's enough!

One could ask what the heck you're doing with even one.....

As for the question, I've often used this book to explain, to myself and others, the literally astounding amount of everything from well-organized figurative "gold" to pure cr@pola that routinely shows up at railroadiana and toy train auctions, as well as stuff like Beanie Babies, beer bottles, and the like:

http://www.amazon.com/Collecting-Unruly ... 0156002531

Pardon my ignorance, but exactly what is an "EOT"? I hope I don't have one!

End Of Train device, also sometimes known as a "FRED" for F----ing Rear End Device.

Something NO museum needs.

"EOT" = "End of Train device".

That little box hanging on the rear couplers of most freight trains, with an occasionally-blinking flashing red marker light. Sometimes commonly referred to a "FRED" for "flashing rear end device" (with occasional substitutes for the first word).

They've evolved from just blinking lights into somewhat sophisticated telemetry devices over the years.

Well, not until your museum is (appropriately) displaying the changing world of railroad technology and telecommunications. Heck, forty years ago, I could just imagine someone saying "no museum/excursion line would EVER need radios!"

End Of Train device. Earlier versions were also known as FREDs for Flashing Rear End Device. In deference to Brother Storzek' and Brother Mitchell's comments above, I acknowledge that there is considerable dispute in the world of lexigraphy as to whether or not the first word is actually "flashing". These are the boxes hanging on the rear of a freight train which not only provide a marker light and transmit air pressure and train continuity data to the front of the train but also allow for an emergency brake application to be done from both ends simultaneously. The replacement cost of these is about Five Thousand Dollars each. While I have seen one or two of the earlier version on E-Bay I have some trouble with the idea that Sixty-some would have been acquired that way.

I can confirm from a reliable source that the number of EOTs recovered exceeded sixty and that there was a greater number of radios, both cab and hand-held, which have been identified by either engraving or serial number as belonging to the railroads.

The cast iron crossbuck in your garage is safe.

GME

I was told by a UP train crew that some EOT's have a GPS in them and send out a signal with their location. They didn't even know this until a crew from another railroad came to reclaim the one on their train .
Maybe that was this fellows undoing.
M. Nix