What Is It? - #46

[HINT] 4-4-2, dit-dah-dit [/HINT]

Really Phil, really, that's a hint ?!?

Ok I have looked up Morris code and got E T E

Then all I can get for 4-4-2 is a bunch of old Locomotives.

It's really not nice to torment old people!

And what the heck is a DDBR dbeyat ??​

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How about something the train engineer uses to pass on messages to the train conductor that is stationary on the platform of the station and the opposite where the conductor puts a message in the hoop and the engineer reaches out to grab the hoop with the message in it as he goes by without stopping ??? I have seen that used many times years and years ago..
 
Hey Phil ... can I have to date round the correct way on my certificate, please?

Smaller to larger: Day .... Month .... Year
What's this middle smaller larger thing all about: Month .... Day .... Year?

You Yanks get most things right, why not the date format? :confused:
 
Diwundrin said:
Too cryptic, ... got nuthin'. Gloat at your leisure.
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*reclining in leisure position*

GLOAT, GLOAT, GLOAT! :devilish:

Phantom said:
I got 4-4-2 as soccer formation and dit dah dit is R
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You're right as far as that goes, but sorry, no prize.

dbeyat45 said:
Hey Phil ... can I have to date round the correct way on my certificate, please?

Smaller to larger: Day .... Month .... Year
What's this middle smaller larger thing all about: Month .... Day .... Year?

You Yanks get most things right, why not the date format? :confused:
Click to expand...

When someone asks you verbally for today's date, do you guys say "It is 11 October '13"? No, you say "It is October 11, '13", right? So why write it the WRONG way?!?

Diwundrin said:
Most things DB? They even drive on the wrong side of the road.
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Well, if you guys would manufacture your cars with the controls on the correct side you wouldn't be HAVING those problems ...

Phantom said:
DD BR A Bra ??? AIt's a measuring instrument to measure boobs :p
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I like how you think ... :devilish:

Steve said:
How about something the train engineer uses to pass on messages to the train conductor that is stationary on the platform of the station and the opposite where the conductor puts a message in the hoop and the engineer reaches out to grab the hoop with the message in it as he goes by without stopping ??? I have seen that used many times years and years ago..
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DING! DING! DING!

We have a winna!!!

Steve has correctly identified this item as a Train Order Hoop. Before the days of radio communications and computerized control this hoop was used to pass routing orders from telegraphers or station masters to conductors or engineers while the train was still moving.

The train order hoop was intolerable. It looked like a big comma with an extra long tail. Moving aboard the train at great speed, the trainman ran his arm through the hoop, pulled it out of the hand of the telegrapher, took the order, and threw the hoop down alongside the track. Injuries occurred when the telegrapher was slow to let go of the hoop. Occasionally the telegrapher was jerked down on his back. Likewise, the trainman sometimes suffered arm injuries.
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Ozarks Watch

Congrats Steve on the big win, thanks all for playing (the hint "4-4-2" referred to a locomotive designation, specifically the arrangement of the wheels, and "Dit-Dah-Dit" referred simply to Morse code used by the telegraphers :eek: ) and sorry dbeyat45 but if you had the correct answer I was too dense to understand it.

If however you had the wrong answer, enjoy your wrongly-dated certificate! :devilish:
 
The 442 led me astray. This is the 442 I remember, a 1968 Oldsmobile.

18914907-170-0@2x.jpg
 
Well done Steve! Got him! :applause2::thumbsup:

Now:
"It is 11 October '13"?
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Yes, actually we do say it like that. "Eleventh of October 2013"... even though it's the 12th here already.

Our locomotives have 4 digit codes but we haven't got more of 'em, so how's that happen?
 
When someone asks you verbally for today's date, do you guys say "It is 11 October '13"? No, you say "It is October 11, '13", right? So why write it the WRONG way?!?
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I say 11th October 2013 ..... or I would have yesterday. Face it Phil, you guys got it wrong. Small / Bigger / Biggest. Logical !! :rolleyes:

PS: I did say that you get most things right ..... :)
 
Diwundrin said:
Yes, actually we do say it like that. "Eleventh of October 2013"... even though it's the 12th here already.
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dbeyat45 said:
I say 11th October 2013 ..... or I would have yesterday. Face it Phil, you guys got it wrong. Small / Bigger / Biggest. Logical !! :rolleyes:

PS: I did say that you get most things right ..... :)
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Seriously, that is truly unusual. I know the phrasing is correct both ways, but I wonder how it came to be that you folks put the day first whereas we generally put the month first?

Is it the same written as spoken?

I notice on a lot of sign-up forms on the 'Net that the date of birth entry area is often set as "Day-Month-Year", more so I think than "Month-Day-Year".

Great - another research project ... :rolleyes: Thanks for the stimulus, folks!
 
Thanks guys..
I actually remember seeing that method in use several times.. I remember seeing the train engineer with his arm outstretched to grab the hoop by placing his arm in the middle...
Later on they had a black plastic hoop with the message in a small box and the hoop was suspended from a sort of bracket that the engineer would grab as he went by...
 
SifuPhil said:
Seriously, that is truly unusual. I know the phrasing is correct both ways, but I wonder how it came to be that you folks put the day first whereas we generally put the month first?

Is it the same written as spoken?......
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Yes, 12/10/13 ... your 9/11 would be the 9th of November here.

But it's okay, we've been raised on US culture through the movies and TV so we're bilingual and make adjustments for your odd ways.
 
Steve said:
Thanks guys..
I actually remember seeing that method in use several times.. I remember seeing the train engineer with his arm outstretched to grab the hoop by placing his arm in the middle...
Later on they had a black plastic hoop with the message in a small box and the hoop was suspended from a sort of bracket that the engineer would grab as he went by...
Click to expand...


Still use that system to exchange staffs
 
As Steve mentioned they later went to a hoop style that wasn't so potentially dangerous -

mystery antique 46c.jpg

The later ones were shaped like a V with a staff on it. A metal clip at the point of the V held a string which was stretched across both ends of the V. The message was tied to the string between the two ends of the V. You held it up and the trainman would run his arm through the string loop, and that's how he got his orders. If the trainman failed to get the order he would have to stop and go back.
 

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