Message Hoops:

These were important tools for a station master of the early 1900s. When there was a message for a person on the train, like a conductor, the station master would place the message in the wicker message carrier and then the conductor would stick his arm out the window and through the hoop and the message would be passed. After the conductor was finished with the message, he would throw the message carrier down from the train and the station master would have to go and pick it up before the next train came. Using the hoops was the only way to communicate with the train before it reached the next station The hoops were essential to the station master's work.