Tool Checks

Tool checks are used in factories and machine shops. When a worker takes a tool out of a locker or off a shelf for use, this check is left in its place to show what worker has signed out the tool. Collecting tool checks is a fun hobby. These can be from world renowned shops, such as the PRR Altoona Shops (now used by NS) and B&O's Baltimore Mt. Clare Shops (now part of the B&O Museum Complex in Baltimore, MD) to unknown shops and tool sheds along the Erie and Lehigh Valley. For a collector, these can be put on key rings and such, making it fun to show these items off. Plus they take up very little room. I also have one from the Bethlehem Steel Plant in Bethlehem, PA. If these could talk, each one would have some very interesting stories to tell. I love collecting items with a personal connection, such as tool checks, an employees lantern or hat badge. Someone used these items to make America's railroads great.