Please contact me by text, email or by phone at 905-410-4088. Text will get the quickest response. Cash only, pick up available in Oshawa.
I found this railroad baggage tag with my metal detector at a site in North Whitby last year. The fastest way to reach me is by text at 905-410-4088, as I only check my emails every few hours.
The letters "SUS.BDG." on this NYCRR - New York Central Railroad baggage tag that I found with my metal detector in North Whitby, stand for "Suspension Bridge," namely, the railroad suspension bridge between the U.S. and Canada at Niagara Falls. The bridge was in use from about 1855 to 1897. Although the tag does not appear to be maker-marked, I have seen other tags of the same unusual, bilobate shape that date c.1850's - 60's. Below you'll see a pic of the tag the moment I found it and a pic of the map of the site I found the tag on. Note: the railway line running through the east side of the property, which is now long gone.
Here's how the New York Central Railroad Bridge looked at the time the tag would've been in use. Notice that the train is above the carriages and pedestrians— an arrangement which author Mark Twain, after crossing the bridge, described as follows:
“Then you drive over the Suspension Bridge and divide your misery between the chances of smashing down two-hundred feet into the river below, and the chances of having a railway-train overhead smashing down onto you. Either possibility is discomforting taken by itself, but, mixed together, they amount in the aggregate to positive unhappiness.” - Mark Twain
As an added bonus, you will also receive a framed copy of an article that was written about this exact baggage tag in Western Eastern Treasures Magazine in December 2018
Feel free to ask any questions by text, email or phone at 905-410-4088. Thanks, Dave
