The camera is standing in Allen Ave., Portland Maine. Deering Jct is about 250 yards behind the camera, you are lookng northeast, time table east. The Victoran building is a wounder. I love that finial. The track crossing the MEC Main Line is a Trolly Line. Note; not 1 or 2 telegraph pole lines, but 3 sets of poles, two on the north side of the tracks and one on the south, all together there must be 20 to 30 pairs. Lets see. He must be a telegrapher. He'd monitor the 'chatter' on the sounder, copy a message that a train has passed an adjacent tower, then keep track of the trolly, lower the crossing gate, raise or lower the ball and perhaps watch what the other ball on the other on the other side of the Jct, was doing. Or perhaps he'd looks down the tracks at the semiphores at the Jct itself... Humm. Must have been a great job for the first few weeks. I expect this post was manned 24 & 7 every day of the year. He plby worked 12 hours a day 6 or 7 days a week almost every week. I doubt they had paid vacations in those days. But still it must'a been a great job esp, IF you loved railroads....

Everyone who would like to spend an afternoon setting on the signal man's front porch listening to 'war' stories, and watching some of the 20 or 30 trains that went thru every day, get in line right behind me.

Thanks to the nameless someone who sold this to a dealer to sell on eBay. I guessed at the date. If anyone can place it to another year please let me know. I wounder if he'd let me run crossing gate up an down a couple 'a times. !! /DL

Photographed by Unknown, January 1, 1890.
Added to the photo archive by David Larrabee, July 19, 2006.
Railroad: Maine Central.

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