On the PBS show History Detectives, season 7 episode 1, there was a video about a pocket watch fob from the Pancho Villa raid into Columbus NM. It was interesting, but after the show that had a little segment on Webb Ball & the railroads.

You can watch the video on line at;
http://www.pbs.org/video/video...3/program/1138014438

At the bottom of the screen you will see a thumb nail for the chapters, chapter 6 is the fob & 7 is the Webb Ball blurb.

Tom

Hey Tom,
Very interesting. Wish I had a job like his. Did you notice that in the Webb Ball segment,the photo of the watch inspector's office that is shown on another thread here?

Thanks, Tom. Both segments were very interesting. I haven't seen that show before but would enjoy watching it.

Something in the Webb Ball blurb caught my attention. Although I've read about the standards that he developed for railroad watches, the temperature range of 34 - 100 degrees didn't register in my mind completely. I know there were times when railroad employees worked in weather where the temperature was below 34 degrees. I don't know the science of what below freezing temperatures does to a watch movement but believe that it would affect the performance somewhat. Was there another standard for those kinds of conditions?

Hey Mary Ann, I doubt that their watches ever got that cold. I'm pretty sure they kept them in their pockets as much as possible in cold weather,or even in hot humid weather. Those guys were very careful with their watches. The watch was a very important part of their lives back then.

Mary Ann,

In answer to your question regarding below-zero temperatures affecting watch performance a few things come to mind.

Speaking as a "rail" (a professional railroader) let me shed some light.

In my working career that spanned 30 years in Midwestern climates that include some really nasty temperatures, working in freight and passenger service, in both train service (brakeman, commuter train collector, passenger trainman,and conductor) and engine service ( fireman, hostler (person that moves engines around the terminal) and engineer) I followed the standard rule in the book that reads, "Employees will report to work properly shod and clothed for the service they perform." I always carried a Hamilton railroad pocket watch.

If I'm working in freight service, during the worst of winter, I most likely will wear overalls. Over that I would wear a "Mackinaw," a heavy overcoat.
My watch would be in the safety watch pocket of my overalls and only exposed to the extreme cold for at best 20 seconds to check the time. That's not enough time for the watch temperature to cool down to zero degrees. As it rests in my overalls the watch is closer to my body temperature. More than likely my work environment would be in either the caboose or engine if I were in freight service where it was warm.*

In passenger service where I'd be wearing my uniform the watch would rest in my upper, left vest pocket. Said pocket in a 16oz wool vest would be an insulator in itself. When boarding passengers at the initial terminal the longest we'd be standing in the cold would be 25 minutes. Most of the time the watch would be in the pocket with the additional protection of the overcoat. In that span of time I would have the watch exposed to the cold perhaps 4 times. Each time it would go from the warmth of the pocket to the warmth of my gloved hand for about 5 seconds. The last time I would check my watch and have it remain in the cold would be for the last 90 seconds before departure. Again it would be cupped in my hand. That isn't enough time for the watch to become "flash frozen." Once I passed up the "highball" (signal to proceed,) I would be inside the warm train.

In all the above mentioned instances the watch is resting close to my chest which was proper body temperature. So if my watch became frozen, so would I.

There were times while switching cars I felt as if I were frozen to death, but in reality I wasn't.

Note * There was one time when receiving our power (engine) for a road freight job from outside Chicago to Milwaukee the cab of the lead unit didn't have cab heat. It was 20 degrees out that night. The yardmaster informed us we had the only lashup (a number of engines used to comprise the train's power) to make a change. He uttered the famous railroad admonition, "Do the best you can." The dispatcher wouldn't let us turn the engines so we could use the unit at the opposite end so we took the things as they were. We all put on all the spare clothes we brought with us, turned our coats around as blankets, and off we went. It got pretty cold but our watches never froze over.

Another note: I was composing this as Cecil posted above this one.

quote:

Those guys were very careful with their watches. The watch was a very important part of their lives back then.

Not everyone was carefull with their watch.

There was the case of Teddy "The Schnoz" Berdowicz (Hamilton Model 11 992B, single sunk porcelain dial) who when asked by a passenger if we would arrive on time would:

Yank his watch out, swirl it around in a big circle and say, "What the ****'s the differance? The pay is the same!"

Schnoz's watch had a plastic crystal that was mostly cracks.

Thanks Mitch and Cecil. If I had thought it through some more I would have realized that the watches were not kept out in the open that much and were pocketed most of the time. That's why they are called pocket watches! Duh!

Mitch, I would have liked to see "the Schnoz" in action. It sounds like he was a hoot.

Schnoz was one of those interesting class of '46 post war guys that were a riot to work with in 1971. That crowd was amongst the last "steam era", post WWII group I would find myself working with.

He was shorter than I (I'm 5'9",) and quite skinny. He was always in motion even when he was stopped. He could never complete a sentence without starting a whole new one. He could collect tickets in 3 double-deck commuter cars in the time it took us mere mortals to collect one.

But that blower of his was remarkable. He never trimmed the interior which made him look as if he had a miniature bird sanctuary caught in it. Once, while preparing to load our train at Chicago he got himself a bag of popcorn. As he was giving his usual pre departure instructions to the crew he kept shoveling the popcorn into his mouth. An entire kernel became lodged in one of his nostrels but he kept on blabbing and shoveling. The stuck kernel kept going up and down, up and down in his beezer as he talked. It was fascinating. Like a science fair exhibit.

I'm not sure what to say about that.

It's one of those railroad stories.

All of us who work, or have worked on the railroad have our share of incidents and characters that go along with them.

The reason I like to bring these stories forward is that I can only imagine what it's like to love railroad watches yet not be associated with railroads or the people. From what I have read of threads written by people on other forums, and what reporters from the papers write there seems to be a mystique and elevation to a different plateau that should get some light shed on it.

For each of the Hamiltons, Balls, Howards, Elgins, Illinois, and their cousin railroad watches we see pictured here there's thousands of stories and colorful people that stand in the backdrop of time that go along with them.

There was Randolph "The Haberdasher" Brundt on the South Shore Line. I saw him in action when I was a kid, but he had retired before I worked there.

He was an un-promoted trainman (a trainman that won't or can't pass the conductor's exam and remains a trainman. They were known as a "drone," or "professional door slammer" on some lines.)
He worked morning rush-hour commuter trains. He got his nickname as he would outfit the insid eof his uniform jacket with hooks. He carried cheap wrist watches and gift items on them. He would sell them on the trains he worked. He was always short of cash.

Mitch....thanks for telling the stories, both here and on other threads. You and other members do have a lot of good ones over many years to share! It's a wonder some of these guys were able to keep their jobs. The Haberdasher would not be allowed to do what he did in today's world, at least while in someone's employ.

I have absolutely no background in the railroads and only a very small one with railroad watches. But I don't think the railroads are much different than other fields where unique "languages" and/or technical terminology is used. What about attorneys and their legalese or doctors and their medical terms? I will admit that railroad shop talk is much more colorful than most. And as with any gathering, there are people who have more "character" than others. Those characters inspired the stories you probably remember most. So please continue to tell us so that we non-railroad people can get a feeling of what it was like on the rails.

For the rest of us, there is a certain romanticized mystique about the railroads. After all, they were and still are, an integral part of our country's growth, history and economy. Where would we be today without the rails?

There's also a mystique about our favorite watch manufacturers.

Like every industry in the day the employees were linked by that fabulous institution, where the news of the Company day was found, and where everyone gathered...That would be the Credit Union.

Just think that at the Hamilton plant in Lancaster there were probably some characters, in- house romances, and un-printable language from time to time. I'd like to know if there was slang for certain tools and proceedures.

In printing, when letterpress (where the steel letters actually touched the printed surface)a make-ready (the steel type locked in a chase for printing)was good only if the letters touched the surface, or lightly "kissed" the paper. Can you imagine if the imprinting of a dial was known as "kissing a face?"

The guy that placed the hands on watches could be another example. Would some of the other employees refer to him as "Mr. Hand-Man," and then go on to sing a chorus with the melody of "Mr. Sandman?"

In unlacing the mystiques we can better understand just what we're looking at.

For instance an outerbox label that has the initials code for one dial, and the inner box that has the code for another. Perhaps a typo? Or worse...an inside joke? We'll never know the specifics for sure, but give it a thought as we worship at the altars of Hamilton, Waltham, Elgin, et al.

All of our most revered operations were merely people, just like you and me.