A nickel "Model of '53" Railroad LE Chiefs in the house

[two-bit cowboy]

I recently traded another forum member for this one. Honored to have it among my other Chiefs.

One lure for me relates to my childhood playing Monopoly with my family. I'd always barter for the railroads -- only seemed reasonable to barter for this Pennsylvania RR Chiefs. Now if I could find S&W police revolvers from the B&O, Reading and Short Line I'd once again own the railroad monopoly! Some guys just never grow up.

The Penn RR served Atlantic City (oh, maybe not my Atlantic City).

Spent the day with Flitz and a micro fiber cloth in an attempt to spruce it up a wee bit. More work to do I think. Thanks to pawngal for suggesting how to clean the pearls (dish soap & warm water). A soft bristled toothbrush got the dirt out of the corners and pits, too. Here are before and afters.

No sn on the pearls, but all the others match: 70354. Looks like it might have shipped in late '55 to early '56. I'll have to bug Roy for the month and year.

Cheers,

Bob

 

[Lightfoot4]

That is WAY cool!!! I collect old railroad lanterns (search google and you'll find me) and few other artifacts, but never thought about a railroad marked revolver. I'm SO jealous!

 

[Muley Gil]

That's neat! I lived with my grandmother growing up. The Penn Central tracks were at the end of the road we lived on. When the trains went by, our Venetian blinds would vibrate.

 

[DWalt]

I know a little about railroad police, but very little. My understanding is that they have jurisdiction any place in the USA, but only on railroad property (such as rail freight yards, etc.) and within railroad track rights-of-way. I don't know if individual officers were associated with specific railroad companies, but this gun suggests that they were.

 

[Muley Gil]

I know a little about railroad police, but very little. My understanding is that they have jurisdiction any place in the USA, but only on railroad property (such as rail freight yards, etc.) and within railroad track rights-of-way. I don't know if individual officers were associated with specific railroad companies, but this gun suggests that they were.

When I was a po-leece officer, our station was right next to the Norfolk-Southern tracks. Yes, each RR company had their own police officers and they do have jurisdiction on their RR property nationwide.

 

[apollo99]

I think you're on the right track with that revolver.

 

[two-bit cowboy]

... on the right track....

 

[brjr51]

Congrats, that is way cool. Trains are my other interest and never saw a RR marked firearm. The PRR was once the “standard railroad of the world”, and hence was a leader in all things railroading, so a company marked firearm for their RR dicks doesn’t surprise me. Wonder if any other roads had marked firearms.

 

[two-bit cowboy]

Wonder if any other roads had marked firearms.

I used my favorite search engine (not G******) to look for "railroad-marked firearms" and came up with a long list of old, old Winchester rifles, a few shotguns and one C*** revolver. I'm sure the list could change on any given day.

 

[les.b]

Wow!! Congratulations, Bob!! That has to be one of the coolest Chiefs yet. Really happy for you. And....thanks for sharing with us.

Best Regards, Les

 

[shouldazagged]

Oh, HELL yes. Great find.

 

[DWalt]

I remember reading a story in one of the gunmags maybe 10-15 years ago about railroad cops (often called Cinder Dicks). In some cities, theft from rail cars in freight yards, etc., is a serious problem, and shootouts between the RR cops and the thieves occur with some regularity. For some reason, I remember the story saying that the East St. Louis rail yards was perhaps the worst for such shootouts. No surprise there. The story said that for those cinder dicks who patrol inner-city rail yards, one of their favorite weapons is a .30 Carbine.

 

[Leroy Thompson]

Cinder Dicks

I think the article just mentioned was one of mine. As a kid my friends and I used to play around a railroad yard and got to know a lot of the railroad cops. We learned not to talk back to them or cause them problems--they were tough guys. As long as we didn't cause them trouble they treated us fairly well. In re jurisdiction: in some states railroad police also held state police commissions that gave them powers of arrest off of railroad property as well. Here in STL, the railroad police traditionally gave a large party every year for STLPD and other agencies that assisted them during the year. Because I have written a few articles on the railroad police over the years, I got contacted some time ago by a college professor who had a history project in the works but I don't what became of it. One last point for S&W collectors, some of the railroad dicks I knew as a kid carried S&W "Lemon Squeezers"--normally 3" ones--as backup guns in a pocket. Their blackjacks were normally in another pocket. One had a Colt Pocket Positive that he carried in a vest pocket. Another favored brass knuckles but may have had a blackjack as well. They sometimes used the knucks or jacks on hobos before they threw them off of trains but sometimes they just tossed them off.

 

[Lightfoot4]

The RPO mail clerks also carried a revolver.

From reading up on it a bit, I've learned you really have to be careful about frauds (firearms that were marked with railroad initials even though they had no association).

 

[two-bit cowboy]

I enjoyed a long conversation (I mostly listened) last night with a friend who's a retired Chicago LEO. His stories of the cinder dicks and their big personalities were fantastic. He learned early on in his career not to infringe on their railroad right-of-way: solely their jurisdiction and domain! He recalled their black leather holding 4 or 6" revolvers.

My friend will be back in Chi-town next month to visit one of those CDs who took him under his wing all those years ago. I'm sure they'll recount stories I'll never hear!

 

[Lt JL]

Lots of rail yards around here. Those old railroad bulls that were around when I was a noob were some bad dudes!!!

 

[DWalt]

I also grew up in a heavily railroad town (large coal train shipping yards primarily for coal coming out of KY and WV) and remember seeing some RR cops, but never had any interaction with any. Probably not too many coal thieves in those yards.

 

[Absalom]

Bob:

I found a couple of pictures of that Colt Official Police with the same marking I mentioned in the other thread. It was described as a 1931 vintage.