I have beeb collecting Burlington Route keys for some time and from
what I've learned from other collectors is that the early keys were
stamped with either numbers or a combination of letters and numbers
which was actually the way a key was issued to an employee as an
identification mark. They also did the same with lanterns and rule
books. The S in the code stands for the type of lock the key goes in
such as Switch, Car, Rip Track, Maintainance of Way, etc. There is a
system to tell the time period a key was manufactured in. I think
the trademark that Adams & Westlake used around the turn of the
century was the hexagon, followed by the oval or football shaped mark
around WWI, later just the word Adlake plus numbers, and at the last
just the word Adlake. This seems to be the system used on the
Burlington. As many of you know, most of the keys were brass, but
some were made of steel. I don't think there was any connection with
the number of the key with the region it was issued in, but who
knows. Hope this sheds a little light on the numbered keys.
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