Log in or Sign up

1906 Railway Cipher Code

A list of 224 words by hernesheir.

About

Terms from the Standard Cipher Code of the American Railway Association, 1906. The terms were shorthand for common phrases used in telegraphic communications between station agents and Railway Association offices and departments.

For example:

abdominal = When will we receive abstracts of freight _____ for month of _____?

Definitions of these ciphers are relegated to the comments for each particular word.

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • ruzuzu commented on the list 1906-railway-cipher-code

    This is fascinating. Was it just for efficiency, or were they worried their messages could be intercepted?

    January 20, 2013

  • deinonychus commented on the list 1906-railway-cipher-code

    That's what I've been wondering too. And, will you be working these words into your telegraphic communications?

    January 20, 2013

  • hernesheir commented on the list 1906-railway-cipher-code

    I sent telegrams when I lived in Mexico. I was chargedbytheword, so I sentmanymessages composed of longwords. The cipher book cited here mentions efficiency and secrecy as well. I suppose those secrets ranged from corporate strategies to the protection of presidents, payrolls, and Pinkerton men.

    January 20, 2013

  • hernesheir commented on the list 1906-railway-cipher-code

    I apologize for flooding the Comments feed with repetitive citations from the Standard Cipher Code.

    January 20, 2013

  • bilby commented on the list 1906-railway-cipher-code

    Ha, you're suffering from annular!

    January 20, 2013

  • alexz commented on the list 1906-railway-cipher-code

    it seems to be a labour intensive code. You have to reverse lookup a dictionary of terms to get a shorter word.

    Any efficiency gained by typing 10 characters instead of 50 is offset by the lookup time. I'd guess that secrecy of business transactions is more of a motivator.

    January 20, 2013