Train Conductor's Ticket Punch

The Bonney-Vehslage Tool Co. made this ticket punch that was used on the Southern Railway's Murphy Branch line during the 1920s. This punch makes an “L” shaped hole in the ticket. A conductor's punch cancelled the passenger's ticket stub and also cancelled the main portion of the ticket retained by the conductor. Each conductor had his own punch, which made a specifically shaped hole. The hole shape differed from punch to punch. In this way, if a passenger presented a stub and claimed his ticket had already been taken, a conductor could verify who in fact cancelled the ticket. A railroad conductor on a passenger train was (and is today) the supervising officer of the train and supervisor of the entire train crew. In addition to this supervisory role, the passenger-train conductor serves as the pursar, in charge of seeing to it that all fares are collected.