Nice find.

Until about 1914, Western Union line forces were often housed in camp cars leased from the railroads they were working along, since Western Union telegraph lines nearly always paralleled railroads. There are no markings visible on these cars to show if they belonged to Western Union or not. Some of the first Western Union cars may have been converted from boxcars, before they began to use old Pullmans.. Thus there is a good chance this is a very early Western Union outfit.

One advantage of having their own cars was that they could be readily transferred from one railroad to another., which obviously could not be done with railroad-owned cars. Another reason was that railroad-owned camp cars of the time were often rather spartan. With their own cars, the company could provide better accomodations.

John C. La Rue, Jr.

Bonita Springs, FL

-----Original Message-----
From: Claus Schlund &#92;(HGM&#92;) <claus@...>
To: STMFC <main@RealSTMFC.groups.io>
Sent: Sun, Mar 31, 2019 9:15 pm
Subject: [RealSTMFC] a fun glimpse into the Western Union operation

Hi List Members,

 

We were recently discussing the Ambroid Western Union car.

 

For those interested in seeing the whole train, have a look at the image below.

 

Unfortunately the cars do not appear to match the Ambroid model.

 

Still, a fun glimpse into the Western Union operation.

 

https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM99918

 

Claus Schlund