Selling obsolete switch keys, etc (was: For Sale)

Have for sale a Susquehanna & New York brass A&W switch key, stamped S & NY RR on the front of the bow. Pocket wear only and the only letter worn is the left arm of the Y. The reverse side of the bow has the hex A&W CHICAGO logo, top portion not showing for light stamping and not wear. Also stamped on the reverse 1027 and S. Inquire for price.

Hello Paul I am intrested in purchasing your S&NY key, how much do you want for it?

David MV

Key is withdrawn from sale in accordance with federal anti-terror laws which prohibit the sale of RR switch keys. No allowance is made for antique items. No comment on that.

TBD- Can you show where you found the restrictions on selling obsolete switch keys?

-otto-

Put my foot in my mouth as I have since been informed that keys from defunct lines are exempt under the law. That being said, the key has been sold.

What law ? The only restriction that I have seen regarding switch keys is that E-bay won't allow them listed.

I'm not so sure that eBay won't allow them to be sold, what with the 200+ I have personally sold, over the last few years. Current High security keys can't be sold, and of course, if a railroad contacts eBay, and indicates a key is still used, it will be pulled. Words like "obsolete, defunct and antique" describing the keys, help assure they stay listed.

You will not see any switch keys being sold on Ebay in which the item is listed as a "switch key". If you have sold these keys as you say, I can either guarantee that you have not used the term "switch key" in the listing, or it was some time ago. I recently had a set of Penn Central RR switch keys on Ebay, a RR that ceased to exist approximately 30 years ago. This fact was noted in my listing. Ebay cancelled my listing and wrote me an explanation that they do not allow such listings. An Ebay search of "railroad switch key" on 9/24/07 @ 12:48 AM disclosed 0 items.

Might have changed recently. My last auction sold the remainder of my railroad keys, as one giant "collectors lot', with over 40 keys in it. I did this, as I was tired of individually shooting, and listing them. Every auction was listed as "XYZ railroad switch key", or "XYZ switch key and lock set". The only keys I couldn't sell, were modern ones, and ones that were from pre-CSXT roads, thanks to a certain KKB, at the Atlantic Beach Law Firm........ , a "hired goon" for perusing eBay, looking for CSXT items being sold. There are members here, that bought keys from me, as well as TT's, AB&TH's, Rule Books, Mechanical Manuals, etc. It's possible things have changed, but my "power-seller" status came from 90 days of solid sales, with keys making up a decent portion of the ranking.
As far as those PC keys go, Conrail used them, right up until the end, on gates, derails and switches not on the mainlines, so to say those were defunct, obsolete or antique wouldn't be correct. Regards

My observation indicates a general ban on all "switch keys" (so named) on Ebay.
By the way, my congratulations to CSXT's "hired goon" as you have referred to him/her, for maintaining vigilance and control over a device which has the capability to kill scores of innocent persons, contaminate large areas of property, and damage thousands of dollars worth of property.

I certainly wasn't giving KKB her "props". She has pulled auctions, of items like old B&O/C&O Timetables, operating manuals, WM/SCL/L&N obsolete manuals, maps, etc. I might agree that some keys don't belong in circulation, but the AB Law Firm routinely pulls all auctions, with pre-CSXT materials in them. I DO have a problem with ephemera being pulled, and obviously obsolete items, with no chance of a modern day application being made. Kind of like when CSXT sued CSX-SUX. They lost that suit, and now have to support (host) the websight they tried to shut down, with a lawsuit. There comes a point, when a giant Fortune 500 or 100 corporation should stick to making shareholder dividend payments, and stop trying to micro-manage every last sheet of paper being sold. As I told KKB, when she pulled some pre-1970 TT's from eBay on some of my auctions, the "after banning" sales were much higher in price, then I could have sold them for at auction, so actually, as I explained to her, she was driving prices up, and creating a bigger market for "blackmarket' goods. I thanked her profusely, of course............. Of course, if all the roads simply went to high security locks, there would be no issues with any keys. (Leatherman sales would skyrocket, but that's another story...... ) When you look today, you will see more LVRR lock and key sets for sale, again with the words "obsolete, defunct and no modern day use" being in the auctions. We all should know how to buy keys and locks and lanterns, if we looked in a periodical, whos' name escapes me currently.........

[moved to the Equipment discussion so it wouldn't be automatically deleted from the For Sale forum - omv]

Today, 10-24-07, there's a nice LV switch lock & key combo, for sale.

3rdrail wrote:My observation indicates a general ban on all "switch keys" (so named) on Ebay.

It's not listed as a switch key.

FYI, one type(the most common) of the old PRR/PC/CR brass barrel switch keys are still used today for various locks, including some crossing signal keyboxes and telephone boxes. Most though have been converted to the S&G high security 1xx locks, but they're still out there......

I bought some old Adlake brass coach keys for next to nothing that I still use today at work on eBay years ago.... Those days are gone.