Antique Railroad Poling Pocket Bumper Wood Boxcar Freight Car Switch Yard Train

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Antique Railroad Poling Pocket Bumper Wood Boxcar Freight Car Switch Yard Train:
$70.00

Original Railroad Freight Boxcar and Caboose Switch Yard Wood Car Corner BumperPoling Pocket

Made of 5/16\" thickness x 9\" wide steel stock

Long leg 12 - 3/4\", short leg 10 - 3/4\"

Weighs15 pound.

There is no brand name or makers mark.

The origin of thispocket -Inmy little town, the Illinois Central had a siding, where theycontracted dismantling ofinterurban trolleys and train cars in the 1930\'s, the local

towns people could buy or get free,boxcar material, and whole boxcars for storage sheds, a few people actually lived in them.

My neighbor built his whole house out of the boards from boxcars, this and the otherpocket, I currently have listed, came from that salvage.

This info was shared to me, by a fellow er, many thanks -

Thissteel angleand the other one, I have listed,are poling pockets. Found on all 4 corners of freight cars and engines, even steel cars. One or two trainmen would hold a pole (8\"dia X 6/7\' long) up and as the engine advanced on an adjacent track the pole would engage the pockets and the engine would push the car along on its track. This procedure saved time in engine moves. Every steam engine carried a pole,hung on the side of its tender, many freight right up until the demise of steamers in the mid 50\'s. Some large yards even had poling cars to speed up sorting freight cars.

See pictures for detail.