Alberta-MTC-Wire Project

Hello fellow Alberta Landline Telegraphers!

 
This is the first post concerning a new "pie in the sky" project proposal for the Alberta-MTC group, and the Calgary "CG" chapter of the main MTC.

The "pie in the sky" element will become clear pretty quickly I suspect :-)

Here is the 30,000' view:

The project is to create a working landline telegraph system that includes ALL (if possible) railroad museum displays in Alberta and potentially Western Canada.

The days when railroads had right of ways and telegraph lines alongside those right of ways to most places in Alberta are long gone. However we are no longer constrained by the existence of physical wires! The widespread adoption of the cellphone network coverage in Alberta and Internet access , even if only dial-up, means that it is possible to have telegraph connectivity pretty much anywhere!

Freed from the need for physical wires, the MorseKOB program and its associated server allow computers running MorseKOB to communicate across any Internet connection. Devices under development allow connection of tiny inexpensive computers to physical telegraph equipment and local circuits, thus putting that equipment into virtual circuits that mimic physical long distance wires.

Imagine walking into any railroad station display in Alberta and hearing their telegraph instruments click clacking away, and not just producing random clicks but actual traffic from other telegraph stations across Alberta and beyond.

It is likely that most museums that include railway station displays have old telegraph equipment as part of that display. My proposal is to hook it all up and get it working again.

This is a potentially big project and not something that can be done simply or, alas, that cheaply.

Subsequent posts to this thread will cover the various phases of the project and the target objectives of each phase.

In thinking about how to proceed, given our small numbers of telegraph "enthusiasts", and of course our very real budget constraints, I have sought to make the objectives of each phase worth while in themselves. So that even if the project never gets past the first couple of phases something useful will have come out of the work. I am also hoping that by keeping the objectives modest that they can be accomplished without stressing us out or putting a burden on our already constrained time and pocketbooks.

As we improve our telegraphy skills this project is also an opportunity to spread landline telegraphy to a larger group of people and perhaps inspire more people to learn! (If only so they can explain what is happening in their displays).

Keep an eye out for further posts and discussions about the #AlbertaMTCwire project on the Alberta-MTC email group Recent posts are highlighted in the box on the left of this page.

The name and hashtag for the project is "#AlbertaMTCwire".

Subsequent posts here on this page will be labelled with "AlbertaMTCwire" and will be available on the Alberta MTC Wire tab above.

This is an exciting project and there will be lots of opportunities to help out so stay tuned!

Thoughts and comments welcome as always.

73
Ciao
KJ 

Editor
and AlbertaMTCwire Wire-Chief

From the Chief Dispatcher!

 

MTC Calgary at Supertrain

 

The Calgary Chapter of the Morse Telegraph Club will be hosting a booth at Supertrain 2023 on April 15 and 16 at the Genesis Centre, 7555 Falconridge Blvd NE in Calgary, Alberta. The show is open to the public from 9 AM to 5 PM both days. The Calgary Chapter will be the focal point of a four station live telegraph circuit, a first for Supertrain. Other points on the line include two Alberta-based museums and a museum from BC. We will use the circuit to demonstrate the art and science of Morse code, the invention that “changed the world”, and how it became central to time table and train order operation on Canada’s railways for more than 100 years. We will also talk about how Morse code supported public communication through the use of telegrams. We will have on display some of the hardware and paperwork that was once common to virtually every train station in Canada and we’ll have a hands-on telegraph display for those who want to try their hand at “slinging lightning”.

 

For those unfamiliar with Supertrain, it is Canada’s largest annual model railroad show, attracting rail fans of all ages and stages since 1995.

You can get the latest on this event from their website here:
Supertrain 2023

 

 

MTC Calgary and First Canadian Collectors Club

 

The Calgary Chapter of the Morse Telegraph Club will be giving a presentation at the March 13 meeting of the First Canadian Collectors Club. The presentation is titled MORSE TELEGRAPHY AND WHAT IT MEANS TO CANADIAN COLLECTORS. The presentation will begin with a brief history of Morse telegraphy and its use in Canada before delving into how the increasing scarcity of once common hardware and paperwork makes collecting it fun, and profitable! It will include a demonstration of the craft and will conclude with a brief question and answer session.

More information on the First Canadian Collectors Club is available from their website here:
First Canadian Collectors Club

 

Mark your calendars and come and join the fun!
73

Ken Ashmead

President

Calgary Chapter of the Morse Telegraph Club

"CG"

The Train and the Telegraph

 This is a fascinating book with an interesting take on the relations between Telegraph companies and Railroads.
Definitely worth a read.

 

The Train and The Telegraph
by Benjamin Sidney Michael Schwantes, 2019

From the Amazon listing:

A challenge to the long-held notion of close ties between the railroad and telegraph industries of the nineteenth century.

To many people in the nineteenth century, the railroad and the telegraph were powerful, transformative forces, ones that seemed to work closely together to shape the economy, society, and politics of the United States. However, the perception—both popular and scholarly—of the intrinsic connections between these two institutions has largely obscured a far more complex and contested relationship, one that created profound divisions between entrepreneurial telegraph promoters and warier railroad managers.

In The Train and the Telegraph, Benjamin Sidney Michael Schwantes argues that uncertainty, mutual suspicion, and cautious experimentation more aptly describe how railroad officials and telegraph entrepreneurs hesitantly established a business and technical relationship. The two industries, Schwantes reveals, were drawn together gradually through external factors such as war, state and federal safety regulations, and financial necessity, rather than because of any perception that the two industries were naturally related or beneficial to each other.

Complicating the existing scholarship by demonstrating that the railroad and telegraph in the United States were uneasy partners at best—and more often outright antagonists—throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, The Train and the Telegraph will appeal to scholars of communication, transportation, and American business history and political economy, as well as to enthusiasts of the nineteenth-century American railroad industry.