Order Hoop

Operators at stations transcribed orders and instructions to engineers, and attached them to a long bamboo pole or hoop called an order hoop. As a train passed a station, the operator held out the order hoop to the engineer who in turn threw the empty hoops off the train to be used again.

Bamboo, metal. H 64, W 30.5 cm
Steamtown National Historic Site, STEA 7197