Radio History Found In Railroad Union Archives

By
Frank J Lotito K3DZ

It continues to amaze me where one can find articles related to the history of electronics and radio! I am
talking about original publications, not the ramblings of some author (like me) who 50+ years after the
fact puts his own spin on history!
One particular set of publications where the original history of radio and electronics can be found is the
magazine that was published by the “The Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Engineers fn(1) ,” here
after referred to as the “B of LF&E.” I understand that it was quite common way-back-when for fraternal
and labor unions to publish magazines containing articles not only highlighting current events related to
their mission, but also containing articles pertaining to other interests of the members. One of the “other
interests” of the members was “radio” and its allied fields. Most definitely, beyond a doubt, radio during
the 1920’s through the WW2 era was experiencing its “Golden Era!” Everybody wanted in, except for
my maternal grandmother’s commandment of “no radio on Sundays! “Nyet!” followed by a stern look.
In my personal library I happen to have excerpts from a number of the B of LF&E organization’s
magazine titled “Radio Department.” The excerpts range in date from the mid-1920’s through the early
1930’s. The Table below lists, in summary, my holdings. If you are interested, this magazine might be
found in the library archives of footnote 2. The Cornel University archive may be a little difficult to
access. The Radio Department articles are primarily “how to build it yourself.” I can also be enticed to e-
mail you a scanned pdf of an article or two.
Where did I get these excerpts? A photocopy I made years ago from a friend and mentor’s [W3RLX(sk)]
personal semi-organized collection of memorabilia. He obtained this material as a youngster growing up
in the pre-WW2 Turtle Creek, PA area. My friend used to comment on how difficult and expensive it
was to find stuff (material for building and literature) on radio and electronics during the depression era.
To feed his growing interest in radio and electronics he would always have an eye out for radio and
electronics related materials. As I dimly recall, my friend obtained these B of LF&E publications from a
neighbor who belonged to that union.
So, bottom line, while snooping around at flea markets, yard sales, estate sales, charity shops such as
Goodwill/St Vincent dePaul/Salvation Army, keep an eye peeled for 1900’s through maybe 1970’s era
publications other than those obviously devoted to electronics and radio. You never know what you
might find! After all, part of the PARS mission is to preserve the written history of radio and its allied
fields. You never know, one of these literature finds, used as an adjunct, may push your entry into “Best
Of Show” during a PARS event! And, that material may be the God’s honest truth, and not the ramblings
of a self-ordained historian brought up during the post-WW2 era’s “land of plenty!”

[At this point in his original, Frank included a table of a superb set of references to radio articles in the railroad magazine called: Summary of Holdings at K3DZ for the “Radio Department” Section of the Magazine Published by the B of LF&E. Unfortunately we have no way to reproduce the table on the web site and retain its’ formatting. If you want to see the table, please email the webmaster for an email copy of it.]

Footnotes:

fn(1) from Wikipedia: The Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen (B of LF&E) was a North American railroad fraternal benefit society and trade union in the 19th and 20th centuries. The organization began in 1873 as the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen (B of LF), a mutual benefit society for workers employed as firemen for steam locomotives, before expanding its name in 1907 in acknowledgement that many of its members had been promoted to the job of railroad engineer. Gradually taking on the functions of a trade union over time, in 1969 the B of LF&E merged with three other railway labor organizations to form the United Transportation Union. In 1969, the union merged with the Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen, the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen and the Switchmen’s Union of North America to form the United Transportation Union.

fn(2) B of LF&E Archive Sources:

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000675974

https://libraries.psu.edu/findingaids/1453.htm

https://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/KCL05141.html

fn(3): Originally published in the “Radio News,” copy write:

(a) December 1929

(b) November 1930

(c) December 1930

(d) March 1931

(e) April 1931

fn(4) GE Company, Schenectady, NY

The most imortant skill you need to collect military radios is the ability to speak the lingo. “SCR”? “BC”? “TM?” Who or what was “COL”? The military had a huge nomenclature system that need not be mastered. But if you want to find parts for your “ATD” then it might help to know that it is a transmitter!  At the peak of the military surplus collecting frenzy of the 1980’s, there were many great guys involved in the hobby who wanted to help preserve their collections and even donate time to making sure the Smithsonian collection was in good order.

One of the big Smithsonian radio collecor/restorers was Mike Hanz. Among other things, he did significant work on the radio section of the Enola Gay. Another guy, whose contribution was more subtle but no less important was Ray Mote, W6RIC (now SK). Ray literally wrote the book on military radio nomenclature. In a huge labor of LOVE, he compiled the rosetta stone of WWII-era military radio manuals and terminology. 

I just did a search on the web and was disgusted to find hat Ray’s work does not seem to have survived intact anywhere. Bits and pieces of it are scattered over many web sites, mostly with Ray’s name removed (SHAME!). Part of this was Ray’s fault. As he completed each section of his work, he simply released it on the internet and interested webmasters could catalog it on their site or not, as they chose. Most of Ray’s stuff could be found on THEPORCH.COM. THEPORCH still exists and still has the archives of the BOATANCHORS site that it once hosted. If you want the files that Ray created, go to THEPORCH.COM, become a member of BOATANCHORS and get access to the archives. From there, you will have plenty to do for the next several months!  

I printed a lot of Ray’s work out in 1995 and have kept the printouts ever since to use as a reference. Copies of the front page of each section I have are shown in the gallery below. If you have not seen these references created by Ray Mote, then you MUST become a member of BOATANCHORS and go get copies of this stuff. 

In the second part of this post, I will discuss official US military references that you will find useful.

Top to bottom, left to right: Jacket patches for North Hills ARC and the South Hills Brass Pounders and Modulators; a sticker from the 1977 Dayton Hamvention; A program from the 1935 ARRL Southwest Convention; A program from the 1981 Warren Hamfest (40 years ago!!–hard to believe); The Monitor reporting on a 1932 experimental TV station; 3 issues of The Radial (newsletter of the Brasspounders); yours truly in his shack about 1995; two issues of the Triple States Newsletter–a Wheeling Amateur group; SPARKS magnet (this pre-dates me–I am not familiar with SPARKS–can anyone enlighten me in the connent section below?); An ARRL Window decal; Newsletter of the Western PA DX Associations; and finally an old newsletter from the Steel City club.

Rather than simply look back at the past, let me conclude by saying that our region is still rich in quality ham clubs full of quality people. If you’re interested, you should look up North Hills ARC, WASH or Skyview or WACOM. These are all strong clubs with active event schedules. Don’t pass up the chance to be part of any of these great groups.