Outstanding Occupational Shaving Mug: Handcar with Two Workmen - Tom Close

Occupational Shaving Mug: Handcar with Two Workmen - Tom Close

Outstanding occupational shaving mug showing two men on a handcar. This mug is in excellent condition. The gilt is remarkably fine and distinct. Note the detailed work on the decorative framing. The scene itself is bright and clear showing the two men in typical dress standing on the handcar in a rich green landscape.

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I attempted to figure out what type of handcar it was. Using the extensive research from Dr Lary Shaffer's Rebuilding a Sheffield No 1 Railroad Handcar, the handcar on the mug seems closest to The "Buda" pictured above. Of course, the artist may have simplified the image and omitted many details. It could just as easily be a Sheffield, as far as I can tell.

For a more complete history of the Railroad Handcar, check out Railroad Handcar History by Mason Clark.

From Wikipedia: Handcars:

Handcars were critical to the operation of railroads during a time when railroads were essential forms of transportation in America, from about 1850 to 1910. There may have been handcars as early as the late 1840s but they were quite common during the American Civil War. They were a very important tool in the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. There were many thousands of them built. They were commonly assigned to a "section" of track, the section being between about 6 to 10 miles long, depending upon the traffic and speed experienced on the section. Each section would have a section crew that would maintain that piece of track. Each section usually had a section house which was used to store tools and the section's handcar. Roughly 130,000 miles of track had been constructed in America by 1900. Thus, considering there was a handcar assigned to every ten miles of that track, there would have been a minimum of 13,000 handcars operating in the United States. Motor section cars began to appear in the very early 1900s, or a few years earlier. They quickly replaced handcars. Those handcars that were not scrapped as part of the World War One, were probably scrapped for World War Two. It is not clear how many handcars survived. They can be found in railroad museums and some are in private hands.

Occupational Shaving Mug: Handcar with Two Workmen - Tom Close

Occupational Shaving Mug: Handcar with Two Workmen - Tom Close

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This is from an interesting account by Dr Lary Shaffer, who rebuilt a railroad handcar. He milled his own wood to replace the wheel inserts and planking, re-straightened bent axels and lovingly restored every minute aspect of his handcar. It was clearly a labor of love. Check out his site for a lot of information and photographs of railroad handcars.

When I was a kid in upstate New York, maybe 12 years-old, childhood buddies John Hine and Tom Loveday and I used to hike along the rails of our local short line railroad, the Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville RR Co. It was a friendly little railroad, where the train personel would wave and blow the horn, rather than call the cops. One day while we were taking a rest next to the collapsing Broadablin section house, I noticed some rusty metal in the grass. It was the remains of an old railroad handcar with the wood mostly rotted away and the metal spread out like a dinosaur skeleton. 

I went to the railroad offices and they sold me the pile of scrap iron for $2. I wish that I had been smart enough to take pictures of it before I moved anything, but, after all, I was a jerky 12 year-old kid. My dad kindly drove to Broadalbin in the station wagon and helped me load the metal into the car. I scrounged some pieces of track from a local leather mill and rebult the handcar with lumber yard 2 X 4s as best I could with hand tools and my 12 year-old skills. It worked. Friends and I played on it in the yard. I grew up and left home. The handcar sat outdoors for about 25 years until I had a home of my own with a cellar where I could store the parts. By then the lumber yard wood had rotted and I was almost back to where I had started in Broadalbin.

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Occupational Shaving Mug: Horse Drawn Steam Fire Engine for the New York Fire Department for George P. McKenna

Occupational Shaving Mug:
George P. McKenna N.Y.F.D.

The scene is intense and dramatic: three horses pulling a steam fire engine, a driver leaning forward holding the reins, two helmeted fireman on the back. Smoke and a hint of flame rise out of the boiler. There is a sense of dynamic action. They are on their way to a fire. The name on the mug is George P. McKenna. Beside the name are the initials,  N.Y. F. D. - the New York Fire Department.

The New York Fire Department is one of the oldest in the country, tracing its beginnings as far back as 1648. From a brief mention in the Fire Protection Service, Volume 79, 1920 , George P. McKenna worked as a Battalion Chief for the Fire Department in the 1920s. And seeing as The New York City Fire Museum states that "the last horse-drawn engine was put out of service in December of 1922," this dates the mug accurately.

It is one of the finest mugs in the collection, not only for the quality of its craftsmanship, but for its prestigious history.

Occupational Shaving Mug:
George P. McKenna N.Y.F.D.

Engine No. 8
Horse-drawn Steam Fire Engine
for the New York Fire Department

"Until the mid-19th century, most fire engines were maneuvered by men, but the introduction of horse-drawn fire engines considerably improved the response time to incidents. The first self-propelled steam-driven fire engine was built in New York in 1841. It was the target of sabotage by firefighters and its use was discontinued, and motorized fire engines did not become commonplace until the early 20th century." 

- Wikipedia: Fire Engine

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"The 20th century saw a change in how the FDNY fought fire. When New York City was consolidated in 1898, the Department went from being led by three commissioners, to one, John J. Scannell, and the incumbent Chief of Department, Hugh Bonner. These two men took command of 989 paid firefighters from Brooklyn and Long Island City, 3,687 volunteers from Queens and Staten Island, and controlled 121 engines, forty-six trucks, a hose wagon, and a water tower. 

"With a greater number of people and square mileage to protect, the FDNY had to adapt new firefighting strategies. The Croton Aqueduct had provided New Yorkers with plenty of water for drinking and bathing, but there wasn’t enough pressure for the demands of high-rise firefighting. During the first decades of the 1900s, the city built four high-pressure pumping stations. As technology improved, these stations were replaced, during the 1950s, by apparatus that could pump 1000 gpm of water. 

"After the tragic Triangle and Equitable building fires in 1911 and 1912, the Department aggressively inspected buildings, enforced fire codes, and investigated arson through the Bureaus of Fire Prevention and Fire Investigation. This also marked the time when the FDNY recognized the equal importance of fire prevention and suppression. 

"Just as the volunteers were slow to give up their hand-drawn pumpers, the paid department was slow to make the transition from horses to the internal combustion engine. Motorization of the department began in 1911 and the last horse-drawn engine was put out of service in December of 1922. This, like many other department changes, was necessary to keep up with the demands of the growing city."

- The New York City Fire Museum

Source: Public Domain Review

Fire Protection Service, Volume 79, 1920

"RANK OF ACTING CHIEFS 

Proposed Alteration in Organization of New York Fire Department
A committee of battalion chiefs and captains of the New York Fire Department called on Commissioner Drennan recently to place before him the proposition of abolishing the Acting Chiefs Battalion, in the interests of uniformity and permanent rand and also to show Mr. Drennan how it can be done economically.  

The committee consisted of the following: Battalion Chiefs James W Hefferman, Patrick Walsh, Richard Marshall, Luke Flanagan and George McKenna, and Captains John J. T. Waldron, Edward Flaherty, Ferdinand Buetenerhorn and James Purdy. The committee was told the matter “would receive due consideration at the proper time.” 

- Fire Protection Service, Volume 79, 1920

Occupational Shaving Mug:
George P. McKenna N.Y.F.D.

Occupational Shaving Mug:
George P. McKenna N.Y.F.D.

Occupational Shaving Mug:
George P. McKenna N.Y.F.D.

Occupational Shaving Mug:
George P. McKenna N.Y.F.D.

Occupational Shaving Mug:
George P. McKenna N.Y.F.D.

Occupational Shaving Mug:
George P. McKenna N.Y.F.D.

I also discovered this for a younger McKenna, perhaps a son?

"First Grade Fireman George McKenna receives the William H. Todd memorial medial of valor from James Herbert Todd, Jr., grandson of the founder of the Todd Shipyards Corporation, for his heroism in attempting to frustrate the suicide leap of John Warde from the Hotel Gotham, Manhattan, last July. Fireman McKenna was lowered by ropes from the 18th floor in an effort to catch Warde. The presentation was one of many made at the World's Fair to members of the Police and Fire Department who performed conspicuous acts of bravery during 1938." 

- Brooklyn Eagle, June 2, 1939