Old Police Callbox
 

My neighbor showed me an old police callbox he got and is in the process of restoring. I noticed it has a dial you switched to call different locations. It looks like you could contact the "S Wagon",
"F Wagon", "Ambulance" "Station" and "Telephone". We figured F Wagon is fire wagon. Anyone venture a guess as to what the S Wagon was?

S Wagon possibility: Police emergency wagon is a North American term for a station wagon put into police use with police car variants. They are usually used as K-9 units, Bomb Squad units, patrol units, emergency units, or assistance units. By the 1980s, Police emergency wagons had begun to be phased out by most police forces by the arrival of the Police SUV and special service packages. Some police forces, such as the New York City Police Department and the Chicago Police Department, still use Police emergency wagons.

Thanks. The Station Wagon theory certainly works for me as they date back to the 1920's, anyway. Judging from the paper wrapped copper wire and cone shaped ear piece I would guess this call box dates back to the early 1900's, so I'm not sure how many SWAT or Bomb Squad calls might have been made. This particular box was made in Newton, MA.

More interesting info and support for the S Wagon be a call for "paddy wagon" :

Gamewell police call boxes. Pictures and descriptions

Do you know how the term "paddy wagon" came to be? ;)

They were padded?:smash:

because of Saint Paddy's day drinkin and brawling....lol

Is the police box marked MDC by chance??

http://www.yale.edu/glc/images/08.jpg

padded...
yep

or could be slang for the Irish cops that prevailed in NYC, where it supposedly the term originated...

or the Irish "patrons" that rode in incapacitated bliss, in the back of said wagon, after a night of ....
:gu: & :fight::fight::rumble:


;)

Most likely it is a ringdown box.

Most irishmen who have any knowledge of paddy wagons consider it extremely demeaning/bigoted to pigeon hole as patrons of the paddy wagon irish only.

Correct.... i have checked the word origin, and yes it does have offensive meaning to the Irish...

however, I did not "coin" the phrase...


I must go sell some of this now...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...dy_whiskey.gif

Brother Karl, I was by no means was making a slanted comment towards anyones post. I just grew up in an atmosphere where even other irishmen riduculed each other over thier abilty to drink, and be A$%*&%e's. Being irish, I never thought that an ability to drink much alcohol was something to be proud of.


Thier is a guy in Massachusetts somehwere that has an enormous collection of police and fire call boxes. He was on Chronicle some years ago. I am going to ask a buddy of mine what those different letters stand for. His father was on my department when we as a town had a working box in the center of town. I remember it as a kid, the different officers going to it and using it.