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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: General » ARG: Find the Lost Ring
[ARTIFACT] Envelope - Western Maryland Railway Company
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sapagoo
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Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 1213
Location: Atlanta, GA

 		[ARTIFACT] Envelope - Western Maryland Railway Company
On a lark, I am creating a 4th thread to discuss the envelope.
mr.judkins wrote:
Whoah... here's the problem with jumping straight for the pdf and forgetting the actual artifact (which I was getting prone to do) - check out these photos of the pickup.

Everyone say hello to an envelope from the Western Maryland Railway Company. Somewhat out of place in Tokyo.

Here are some links about the WMR:

Wikipedia Article

Photo Tour of the Line

Book Scan of a History of the WMR

EDIT: And the WMR Historical Society


It was pointed out that the bottom of the envelope said:
B&O-C&O FORM X-10 NEW 10-74 MADE IN USA

per wikipedia, the oldest part of WMR was chartered in 1852, complete from Baltimore to Hagerstown by 1872, and renamed WMRRCo by 1872/73.
In 1964, B&O and C&O asked for permission to acquire Western Maryland. In 1987, it was merged into the C&O, which eventually became CSX.

So I see the B&O and C&O connection, but the FORM X-10 NEW 10-74 baffles me.

PostPosted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:28 pm
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riquardo
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Joined: 02 Oct 2007
Posts: 280

 		Good idea to make this thread. This "appearances" of the WMRC envelopes are indeed intriguing. Maybe we need everyone to got the artifacts to tell if there was an envelope in their cases, and if there was one (and if they did got the artifact from the location), post if that was a code in it also.

PostPosted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 6:01 pm
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Shad0
I Have No Life


Joined: 20 Jun 2004
Posts: 2180
Location: Southern California, USA

 		Re: [ARTIFACT] Envelope - Western Maryland Railway Company
Re: envelope SPEC
[SPEC]
Perhaps Jorge & Co. simply purchased all of their envelopes at the same time and from the same place, before preparing and planting the artifacts all around the world?
[META]And OOG, possibly the envelopes are all being prepared at a central location -- perhaps somewhere in the United States -- and then being sent to agents in their various cities with instructions on where to leave them for us?[/META]
[/SPEC]
_________________
These were the puzzles that would take a day, these were puzzles that would take a week, and these puzzles they'd probably never figure out until we broke down and gave them the answers. ... The Cloudmakers solved all of these puzzles on the first day.

PostPosted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 7:53 pm
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Elizabeth123
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Joined: 15 Mar 2008
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 		Re: [ARTIFACT] Envelope - Western Maryland Railway Company
Re: envelope SPEC
Shad0 wrote:
[SPEC]
Perhaps Jorge & Co. simply purchased all of their envelopes at the same time and from the same place, before preparing and planting the artifacts all around the world?
[META]And OOG, possibly the envelopes are all being prepared at a central location -- perhaps somewhere in the United States -- and then being sent to agents in their various cities with instructions on where to leave them for us?[/META]
[/SPEC]

But why not use a plain manila envelope? I have to believe it means something...but too much speculation at this point about exactly what that meaning is, probably doesn't make sense.

PostPosted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 8:02 pm
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Shad0
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Joined: 20 Jun 2004
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Location: Southern California, USA

 		Re: [ARTIFACT] Envelope - Western Maryland Railway Company
Re: envelope SPEC
Elizabeth123 wrote:
But why not use a plain manila envelope? I have to believe it means something...but too much speculation at this point about exactly what that meaning is, probably doesn't make sense.

Could be they wanted something that would have been around in 1920... but, as you say, just pure SPEC.
_________________
These were the puzzles that would take a day, these were puzzles that would take a week, and these puzzles they'd probably never figure out until we broke down and gave them the answers. ... The Cloudmakers solved all of these puzzles on the first day.

PostPosted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 8:03 pm
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mr.judkins
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Joined: 26 Feb 2008
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Location: Wellington, NZ

 		Great idea to give these envelopes their own thread. I've been having a bit more of a read about this here company in my lunchbreak...

According to this lawsuit, in 1908 the Western Maryland Rail ROAD Company became the Western Maryland RailWAY Company that we're talking about.

As noted in the already linked WMR wiki page, in 1973 the line became a part of the Chessie System, and has been controlled by other companies ever since.

So - it seems the envelopes belong to a company who existed from 1908 to 1973.


Additionally, here is one of their share certificates:




and here is a detail from it... is this what I think it is?



PostPosted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 8:54 pm
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Shad0
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Joined: 20 Jun 2004
Posts: 2180
Location: Southern California, USA

 		Re: [ARTIFACT] Envelope - Western Maryland Railway Company
Re: Hermes
mr.judkins wrote:
is this what I think it is?

I think it is Hermes, messenger of the (Greek) gods.
_________________
These were the puzzles that would take a day, these were puzzles that would take a week, and these puzzles they'd probably never figure out until we broke down and gave them the answers. ... The Cloudmakers solved all of these puzzles on the first day.

PostPosted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:40 pm
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HitsHerMark
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Joined: 22 Aug 2004
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 		Re: [ARTIFACT] Envelope - Western Maryland Railway Company
Re: Hermes
Shad0 wrote:
mr.judkins wrote:
is this what I think it is?

I think it is Hermes, messenger of the (Greek) gods.


Or it's Mercury though there's really not much of a difference...

It's definitely not Golden Age Flash though.
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:56 pm
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Rusty_nl
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Joined: 27 Mar 2008
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 		I am new here and new to these sorts of games, so bear with me and be gentle. It is just a brain wave.

But 10-74 is often used to describe one of Nostradamuse's verses that is around the games of slaughter that will happen around a change of the millenium.

Games of slaughter is assumed to point towards the olympic games. And obviously 2008 is around the change of the millenium.

PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:42 am
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Shad0
I Have No Life


Joined: 20 Jun 2004
Posts: 2180
Location: Southern California, USA

 		Re: [ARTIFACT] Envelope - Western Maryland Railway Company
Re: Form X-10
sapagoo wrote:
So I see the B&O and C&O connection, but the FORM X-10 NEW 10-74 baffles me.

Perhaps -- and, as usual, this is pure SPEC -- 10-74 is a date? October of 1974?

Wikipedia wrote:
In 1973, as part of the Chessie System, the Western Maryland ownership went to C&O and it was operated by the B&O.

Perhaps "FORM X-10" refers to the envelope itself, and "NEW 10-74" means that it's a newly revised envelope, effective October of 1974, as a result of what was going on with C&O and B&O?

[META]If so, then the envelopes obviously aren't from 1920. Oh, well, you can't have everything.[/META]
_________________
These were the puzzles that would take a day, these were puzzles that would take a week, and these puzzles they'd probably never figure out until we broke down and gave them the answers. ... The Cloudmakers solved all of these puzzles on the first day.

PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:40 am
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Mav-SA
Kilroy

Joined: 27 Mar 2008
Posts: 2
Location: South Africa
riquardo wrote:
Good idea to make this thread. This "appearances" of the WMRC envelopes are indeed intriguing. Maybe we need everyone to got the artifacts to tell if there was an envelope in their cases, and if there was one (and if they did got the artifact from the location), post if that was a code in it also.


I replied to your PM. But I dont know if you got it. The envelope I got, has exactly the same
B&O-C&O FORM X-10 NEW 10-74 MADE IN USA

Mav

PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 9:17 am
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RobMagus
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Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Posts: 469
Location: Vancouver, BC

 		My envelope also has

B&O-C&O FORM X-10 NEW 10-74 MADE IN USA

at the bottom left.
_________________
Of course! That's the only possible explanation!

PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:32 pm
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mr.judkins
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Joined: 26 Feb 2008
Posts: 393
Location: Wellington, NZ

 		Thanks to eBay...

Here is a used WMRC envelope from 1923:


eBay Listing


and here are six unused WMRC envelopes claimed to be from the 1950s:


eBay Listing


As you can see, at neither of these times did the envelopes bear the wording we've got at the bottom of ours, but the branding and style was exactly the same...

EDIT: As the likely date of origin of the specific envelopes we have don't currently fit into the larger story, I'd speculate that their main function may be to point us to the city of Baltimore - who by all accounts had the controlling stake in the WMRC.

PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:21 pm
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filipeacaeiro
Greenhorn

Joined: 27 Mar 2008
Posts: 7

 		I believe there's a connection between the envelopes and the graph on the site with the dots.

I mean, there's railway references all over the envelopes. On the other hand, in the graph there's a suddenly break around 1814/15, which coincidentally were very busy years concerning rail transport:
The first steam locomotive to be put in service in 1814 is just one of many events that happened around that date.

And I found that one very important Maryland railbridge builder was born in 1814 so these things might be something to be taken into account.

PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 9:53 pm
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