Yesterday out of the blue we had an email offering us bell cord holders that were found in the basement of a house belonging to a engineer of the St Louis and Hannibal RR in MO. Needless to say we jumped at the chance. I have a page on the car 57 facebook page showing fittings we are looking for. If you have anything like any of these please consider giving them a worthy home.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Cheyen ... 535?ref=ts


Thanks

Mike Pannell

Mike, Your aquisition of the bell cord holders is fascinating.Since i know nothing about bell cords other than briefly hearing about them being used in passenger coaches and seeing your picture of the holders in your post i decided to "google" bell cords.The only thing i found was brief mentions of them and that they were an invention of a Erie RR conductor Henry Ayers back in 1842.

Does anyone else on RPN know anything about bell cords? All i know is they were a cord on coaches that could be pulled to communicate with the engine,or did it imediately put the train in emergency when being pulled? How long were they used,until what year? Was there any actual bells that would ring when the cord was pulled? if so were they in the coaches or on the engine?Sorry for all the questions,but this is something i'd like to know more about.

A few years ago while metal detecting along an abandoned LS&MS RR grade i found 2 small brass bells down in the ditch about 50 ft. away from each other.They are not sleigh bells but are very small bell shaped bells about 1 1/2" - 2" inches in diameter.Both were mising the little clappers.I've always been stumped as to what they might have been from and why i found them both near each other? There not the normal things you'd find while searching old RR grades.

If you look at the Pullman builder's photos you will clearly see the cords running near the ceilings on some of the cars. If I remember correctly they were cords for the emergency brake valve. The valve would be at the end of the car and the cord would run towards the center of the car. One PV that I am most aquainted with had loops like this and brass grommets that allowed the cord to run from the vestibule, down the service corridor and into the dining room of the car (but not beyond the dining room). On the other end of the car the cord ran from the vestibule into the observation lounge (but not through it).

I am guessing that before radios they wanted the train crews to be able to stop the train QUICKLY! It is an interesting subject that deserves more discussion.

T7

As I understand the use, each passenger car of the train had a cord running the length of the car, through end walls and bulkheads via thimbles, with guides as shown in the photo in the center of the compartment.

The cords ended with hooks, which when connected resulted in a single cord running the length of the train. They were attached to a gong mounded on the locomotive cab ceiling.

The cord was used by the conductor to signal the engine crew.

You may want to check some of the early Car Builder's Dictionaries (all available on Google books) You will find a wide variety of signal cord hardware including guides, thimbles, splices, and hooks.

We have a variation installed in our horse drawn streetcar to allow passengers to signal the driver, and I have seen a single car system in some of the interurbans at Union. As I remember one of the Hicks boys was splicing a damaged cord...

Before air operated communicating signals in passenger trains, a bell rope to the locomotive was used. An extra hard yank on the bell often meant "Train has come uncoupled", just as a continuous blast on the communicating whistle can mean the same thing. The same kind of cord and fittings are also used, even on more modern cars, to pull the handle on the conductor's emergency brake valve. Sometimes, there are warning or instruction signs about proper use.
In British comedies, old ladies use the cords as umbrella hangers, yanking hard in the process.