Inside is a magneto and a phone. This is how stranded trains/passengers called in for rescue (or plow-out) in the severe Colorado winters. A stick-phone was also carried in the train allowing people to call in to a operator. The stick-phone was a regular magneto, a phone, and the stick, to allow a connection to the open-wire.

On the next pole is a amplifier/repeater for two pairs of Telephone leads.