Re: Railroad phone patch board
Your description would certainly indicate it was a different type of board than the patch board. The only experience I had with Western Union was when I used to visit the GTW depot in St Johns, MI back in the early to mid-60's. They still had Western Union service there, but it was via teletype. They used to get telegrams for local businesses. St Johns had both an agent/operator and a clerk. I think the clerk used to deliver the telegrams. My main experience with telegraph was during the same time frame in visiting the AA/GTW depot in Ashley, MI. Both routes still had active telegraph lines -- the AA for messages and the GTW was still dispatched by telegraph! I miss that sound of the two sounders chattering away! The agent there (Bill Collins) was very proficient on "the key."
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