06/01/2026
Highlight of the Collection: Denver & Salt Lake Phone Booth
Beginning in the mid-19th century, railroads and telegraphs formed one of the most important partnerships in the history of business—and in particular, transportation. First developed in the 1830s, as railroads were themselves still a budding industry, the telegraph would fill a need to help railroads conquer North America’s huge distances and increase efficiency and safety.
The first telegraph train orders were delivered in 1851 on the Erie Railroad. The technology was so successful that soon telegraph lines were strung beside most existing rail lines (as well as those being built) in the nation. Before the telegraph, single-track railroads were quite difficult to dispatch and prone to accidents, because there was no quick means of communicating delays and breakdowns. Telegraphs allowed dispatchers to use Morse code to route traffic, assign priority for specific trains (and reprioritize when necessary), and coordinate passing locations and timing on single tracks, greatly reducing conflicts.
Because every town set its own local time based on the position of the sun, telegraphs and railroad schedules ultimately led to the establishment of standardized time zones across the United States. The one handicap to the telegraph was that it required trained operators to send and receive messages. At a time when management held significant influence over labor, telegraph operators often worked long, sometimes extreme hours.
The federal Hours of Service Act of 1907 regulated how many hours a telegrapher could work. The practical effect was that perhaps double the number of telegraphers would be needed to fully comply. Luckily for major railroads, a new technology was available that would help with a very different transition: Many railroads would begin utilizing telephones for their train dispatching systems.
Telephones were faster, easier to use, and allowed dispatchers to bypass the need for highly specialized Morse code operators. And telephone systems (like telegraph lines) could be placed along the railroad with direct lines to dispatchers, letting them know quickly about breakdowns and track blockages.
All of which brings us to our Highlight of the Collection for May 2026: a Denver & Salt Lake Railroad (D&SL) phone booth! Built around the time of the Hours of Service Act’s adoption, the booth sat along the “Moffat Route” at mile marker 97.8 near Granby, Colorado. It remained in use into the 1960s, long after the line had been acquired by the Denver & Rio Grande Western.
This particular phone booth sported the D&SL’s original hexagonal design. Because these booths were later changed to a square design, this is the only known hexagonal D&SL phone booth to survive. Abandoned in the 1970s, it was rediscovered by D&RGW employee and Colorado Railroad Museum volunteer George Lawrence, who had it transported to the Museum for preservation. You can watch an old home movie of the booth being transported at https://heyor.ca/QAZcR2 .
At the Museum, the booth was placed northwest of the Train Ride boarding area, where guests might notice it. First restored by volunteers in the early 2000s, it remained on display for nearly 25 years. Over time, the booth aged and weathered until 2025, when it was restored to its former glory and original silver color. A team of Museum volunteers “adopted” the phone booth, and undertook scraping, painting, and wood replacement and replication. One of them, Trevor Lombardi, created hand-painted lettering using a stencil traced from an original door.
We can only imagine the types of communications that this phone was a party to over its more than 50 years of service—especially since its location near Granby was known for brutal snowstorms. This seemingly mundane but rare survivor serves as an important reminder of the need for electronic communication along rail lines. Imagine what it was like when “communication” meant sending a horse and rider ahead to warn of a delay with a locomotive!
Of course, the Museum also offers a complete telegraph office which features a “sounder” with Morse Code translations for those who want to “try their hand” (visit https://heyor.ca/QJoI3G for a Museum “Small Wonders” video for more information). Through mid-August (Thursday-Sunday), kids and adults can even practice the art of sending a message by telegraph!
