Wabash Cannonball (Was: Old Chicago Numbering)

(Much snippage...

I recall you mentioning the Wabash office ("The Wabash Cannonball") > being SxS at one time. Which part of the city did that serve, and do > you have any idea when it was replaced? > All info will be passed on to help reconcile old memories! > Thanks, > -Paul. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The 'Wabash CannonBall' a/k/a Wabash > central office was one of the first, if not the first, central offices > in Chicago, dating from the early 1900's;

(Much additional snippage)

For younger readers and not particularly Telecom related ... The nickname for the switching machine at the Chicago-Wabash CO undoubtably comes as a reference to a very popular tune dating from the Mid-1930s - "The Wabash Cannonball". Written by A.P. Carter, the chorus line probably brought to mind the sound of the CO machine on a busy afternoon:

Listen to the Jingle The rumble and the roar As she glides along the woodlands Through the hills and by the shore Hear the mighty rush of the engine Hear those lonesome hoboes squawl While traveling through the jungle On the Wabash Cannonball!

The song relates a steam locomotive trip on the Ireland, Jerusalem, Australian and Southern Michigan Railroad. Legend has it that the I, J, A and SM was built by Cal S. Bunyan, a younger brother of Paul.

So there you have it!

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That is indeed where the phrase originated. The old fashioned cross bar Sxs offices were very noisy day and night. One not too far away from my house when I lived in Chicago was 'Kenwood Bell' (i.e. the Chicago-Kenwood central office at 61st and Kenwood Streets in the Hyde Park neighborhood. On a hot summer evening when the workers there had all the windows wide open (air conditioning was not all that common in the 1950-60's) you could hear 'Kenwood Bell' clacking from a block away. Wabash was the same way. PAT]