What is this?

[egrand]

This is for sale on the St. Louis CL. Obviously it's a record player, but is it homemade? Did it have some special purpose?

I'm not wanting to buy it, but I'm curious.

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/clt/4763079429.html

 

[Sam Cogley]

Not home-made. It's some sort of self-contained device, but it's hard to tell exactly what it was for. Looks a bit like the devices that were used inside talking toy train stations.