S&G environmental lock and hand made key.

[Squelchtone]

I made the key out of a large cotter pin, thus getting around the whole debate on whether the keys are illegal to own.
The lock is an "05" type, and apparently the keys are hard to find, as I haven't seen any on Ebay that are reasonably priced. ($60+ for a key that is still produced is just nuts!)

The key works flawlessly in the lock, and the lock is indeed a monster! I forget where I found the cotter pin, but I've seen railroad workers use hand made keys like this, and that's where I got my idea from. Any half round piece of metal that's the size of the keyhole will work, as long as the cut(s) are correct.

I have seen vids of these locks being picked easily, and must admit that the security lies in the fact that the lock itself is tough and would be hard to cut/break/etc. The mechanism is very similar to an Abloy, but only uses 3 discs on this model.

[LockDocWa]

Anything stamped on the top of that padlock?

[femurat]

Using a cotter pin is a great idea, you don't need to file away half of the key, you just need to file the cuts.

Cheers

[phoneman85]

LockDoc, it's an old Burlington Northern lock, it has "BN" and "05".
And Femurat, I got the idea from a railway worker who did the same thing. He told me there weren't enough actual keys at one time for all employees, so improvised cotter pin keys were made.

[shatar]

Guessing this must have been the lock for the manual override on a switch somewhere. Looks like a cool lock.

[phoneman85]

It was probably used on a switch to switch tracks. Most of the switches that aren't on main lines are all manual.

[Squelchtone]

Here's a photo I found on Flickr of an enviro padlock in use:



link to hi-res full size image:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54690684@N07/5614928180/sizes/o/in/photostream/
*notice old rusty enviro padlock sitting in the rocks:

Squelchtone

[phoneman85]

Squelchtone, that's where I've seen these locks the most. And yes if you walk the tracks alot you can sometimes find a cast off lock that's still good. I found mine where a line once ran that was ripped up for a hiking trail.

There's a youtube video by S&G of them torture testing these locks, they froze them, soaked 'em in salt water, beat on them etc, and they pulled through. pretty bad ass.