GC1DKWH Telltale on the P&D RR (Traditional Cache) in New Hampshire, United States created by trolleyfan

This cache has been archived.

trolleyfan: Well, sadly, this one has been hopelessly muggled, broken glass all around, and the terrain has been changed. Too bad - judging from the feedback it was a neat cache. Thanks to all who found it - it had a good run. They are working on turning this into a bike trail and who knows what this location will look like in the future. Farewell telltale - you were a good cache.

GC1DKWH ▼

A cache by trolleyfan Message this owner

Hidden : 6/27/2008

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

A "Telltale" on the abandoned Portsmouth & Dover Railroad (Boston & Maine) Highly camouflaged magnetic key holder.

A "telltale" was a way of warning a man on the roofwalk of a railroad car that an overhead obstruction was coming, in this case the Spaulding Turnpike overpass.

Roofwalks were a holdover from the days when a brakeman would run along the top of a train and crank down the brake wheels by hand in order to stop a train, usually in response to a whistle signal from the engineer. (I'm not kidding - when you wanted to stop the train you gave the signal for "set brakes" then waited!!)

After airbrakes came along they no longer stopped trains this way (thank goodness) but the roofwalks were still mounted on top of the cars. Beginning in the late '60's roofwalks on top of freight cars were no longer required and the brake wheels were lowered and the ladders cut down. That meant that telltales were no longer needed.
This telltale is missing it's hanging ropes that would brush against the brakeman to warn him to duck.

This stretch of railroad is on the old "Portsmouth & Dover" which early on became part of the Boston & Maine. This part of it lasted into the 1980's as a siding to some local industries. The rest from Sawyer's Mills to Newington has been gone a long time. It still exists from Newington to Portsmouth. Spur Road is the old right-of way. Passenger service ended in 1933.

Here's an article I wrote on the Portsmouth & Dover on Scott Currier's fine Railroad Archeology page: (visit link)

Park on Rutland St. near Central Ave. and the Spaulding Tpke overpass. There is a little trail that goes into the woods to a gas station on the corner.

Please no night caching - there is a house nearby. There may be muggles, which appear without warning, particularly when school is letting out. The cache is NOT to the left of the path as you face the gas station.

This is my first cache - feedback welcome. Enjoy this remaining artifact of bygone days. This is going to be a bike trail and I don't know if it will survive - I hope it does.

Check out the date on the rail used for the upright - "CARNEGIE XXXX"

trolleyfan

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

zntargvp, abg arne gur tebhaq.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)

This cache has been archived.

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Telltale on the P&D RR Traditional Cache

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