A few years back I was out off roading with some friends over in AZ, and we came upon an old abandonned ATSF "box", with a disconnected/disused phone inside. I cautioned them to be careful of snakes, when one of them opened the door, and sure enough found the rattler that was curled up inside...

How did you know?

We had concrete phone booths down on the Sunset. And back when dirt was still rock, and when I was firing on the Old Colton helpers, you had to go, as the fireman on the helpers, to one of those booths, to get permission from the dispatcher, to pass red A signals, and tie onto the trains you were helping...

And, I was taught always, and especially at night, when the boxes were nice and "warm", to open the door, and stand way back. And wait to enter, until you checked it out for rattler's. And to always carry a fusee to throw in to make them want to clear out... You could often find quite a few burnt out fusee's around those concrete phone boxes...