A friend that collects locks / safe / etc. received a small safe that was used in a railroad caboose. On it it has the following . . .
S.R.Co. ( could be S.P. ,for Southern Pacific ??? ,but looks like S.R. )
Comsy Dept.
Any idea what this means ?
The only thing I can find on Comsy is it is short for Commissary,also used in military
like Comsy Sgt. John Smith ,but what does that mean ?
Any ideas ,what this indicates on the safe ,related to a railroad ?
First, I’d ask the question where he got the info that the safe “was used in a railroad caboose.” If it’s just the initials, I’d have doubts as to the accuracy of any part of this claim. Even if it has a railroad emblem on it, I’d question the “caboose” part.
“SR” could easily be Southern Railway Co.
Railroad dining cars were stocked from a building called the commissary. Most railroads had a charge for the meals in the dining car, a safe may have been needed for the receipts.
Could be a payroll safe.
Back in the day, lots of railroads paid in cash, no payroll check and lots of workers did not even have checking or bank accounts.
S.R Co. sounds like Southern Railroad to me too.
Railway Express baggage cars and Railway Post Office cars all had a safe for carrying valuables and the express agent and postal employees were usually armed.
As others have stated, the railroad was most likely the Southern Railway and not Southern Pacific, and the safe was probably not out of a caboose. I know of no reason a caboose would need to have a safe aboard. A dining car might have one for the cash received for meals.
As the other posters have indicated, the best ssible guess would be a safe assigned to a Southern Rwy Dining Car. Generally, all transactions were cash, ‘back in the day’- Ask for credit would get you laughed out of the car, and or thrown off the train.[8o|]
Safes in the Railway Express Cars were pretty large and afixed to the individual car, the key was entrusted to the car’s express agent. Baggage car safes, could with a lot of trouble, be moved from car to car as needed, and were necessarily pretty good sized to preclude someone with evil intents from making off with them and or their contents.
A safe in a caboose would be a very unusual application of a safe. As stated Pay
The original poster says he thinks the initials are SR, but could be SP. I won’t presume either way, but I do have a Adlake switch lock that is marked, “SP Co.”
I’ve always assumed it to be a Southern Pacific lock.
Jeff
Speaking of our original poster, we seem to have lost him. I’m especially interested in the basis for the claim that the safe “came from a railroad caboose.” It may not even be a railroad safe.
Hello,
I’m the original poster . . .
On the claim that the safe came from a railroad caboose,the person that told me this was told this by the person that originally had this old safe ,maybe they knew nothing about railroads and it really came from a railroad dining car . . . for those that got all wound up on where this safe really came from I’ll try to check this out closer.
It’ll ease your minds !
I was told by the collector of safes ( who knows nothing about railroads but much about safes and came to me because I know alittle about railroads ! ) that it came from a railroad caboose.
I appreciate the people that came up with the answer that seems to make the most sense . . . it looks like it was from a railroad dining car,explaining the Comsy part . . . which in this world is short for Commissary.
Thank You to all that replied !
Al
Here is more on the safe used on a railroad in some railroad car . . .
The person ( safe collector ) received the safe from a lady whose father worked for the railroad, most likely Southern Pacific ,she was told it came from a caboose , maybe it did ,maybe it did not . . . from your help here in the forum this safe may have come from a rail dining car instead. The Comsy Dept. = Commissary Dept.
The safe collector also noted after checking more that the safe company might be , S.R. Co. ,so maybe S.R. Co. on the safe has nothing to do with a railroad but simply the name of the safe company.
Again the rest of the printing on the safe would seem to indicate a rail dining car is where it may have come from ,suggested by the response here on the forum.
This printing is in large letters on the front of safe near the combination lock.
Again thanks to those that responded.
Al