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As part of the hobby, I enjoy collecting a wide variety of memorabilia. Materials such as timetables, rulebooks and manuals are very educational and fun to hunt for as I'm constantly surprised by the things I find. I feel as though I'm a caretaker for the items I'm lucky enough to acquire. They really help to tell the story of railroading.

 

Here's a rulebook currently in my collection:

    

chessi 001

 

This is Chessie System Form CDT-29 with an effective date of April 27, 1969 reprinted June 1977. Lettered for C&O/B&O, the book sets forth rules governing the operations of both railroads, not including lines in Canada. Mr. C.V. Cowan was V.P. of Operations at the time.

 

I'd be interested in hearing from others who have railroadiana of any type in their collections. Pictures of your items would be great if you can manage it.

 

Regards,

 

Bob 

 

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  • chessi 001
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It is a replica but 1 to 1 scale. I built it using plans, photos and old wooden car builder guides. I had the structural wood milled from logs. I work on it for two weeks in the summer or so a year for the last 7 years. It's not quite done. I built it on the old ROW it ran on in the Adirondacks 97 years ago. 
Here is a link to pics on my webpage.
http://www.andyestep.com/caboose.html
Last edited by Silver Lake

Speaking of railroadiana.

 

Did anyone see the article in the Philadelphia Enquirer about the post office finally delivering a 1950 PRR Railroad Calender to the news paper in Scranton PA. Seems it was addressed to the editor who is deceased.

 

Only took them 62 years to deliver it. Guess the sender did not put the right amount of postage on the mailing tube.

I collect railroadiana relating to the Atlantic Coast Line, Seaboard Air Line and Southern Railway. My main interest is the ACL, and I have lanterns, over 100 public and employee timetables, rule books, menus, china and other miscellaneous paperwork. I have much of the same for the SAL and Southern as well. I use these items to develop railroad characters at the NC Transportation Museum to give guided tours or special programs. My latest character is a RPO clerk, complete with grip box and badge.

A paper collection related to the interurban era. I have about 100 CNS&M forms documents etc, along with a collection of interurban postcards, pamphlets, timetables, tickets etc. probably the rarest thing I have is a large format old Niles Car Co catalog..of available interurban designs. I also have a PRR owned \framed Griff Teller calendar scene..etc

Railroadiana stuff; let's see.  Lanterns, switch keys, rule books, timetables, maps, tariffs, uniform insignia, insulators, the usual.  I have a lot of PRR stuff that came from a friend of my father's who was a PRR conductor.  He had hired out around 1940 and didn't appear to have ever thrown anything away.

 

My wife's great, great grandfather was a tower operator on the Big Four in Hamilton, OH in the teens and I have his old lantern along with 3 globes, one clear with no logo and a red and a clear, both with the Big Four initials.

 

When I do dig stuff out and look at it, I tend to spend more time on the maps and tariffs than anything else.  I was fortunate to have been working for a large rail shipper at the time of rail deregulation in 1980 and was able to retrieve quite a few boxes of what had become useless tariffs; all stuff that was being thrown out.  The mileage tariffs are the most fascinating to look through and normally include a system map for the issuing railroad on the back cover.  Some of the ones I rescued from the trash back in the early '80's carried mail department stamps from the 1920's.

 

Curt

One of the things I collect are old (1870s-1930s) stereoview cards. I focus on railroad, Christmas, children, and bathing beach subjects. I have some nice train views from the early 1900s, and NYC Elevated views from the turn of the last century. The 3-D images make these photos more realistic, although they are not in color.

I also collect "linen" era postcards (1930-1950). For some reason, the buses interest me more than the trains (maybe because Streamlined Train cards are very common).

I've never really collected Railroadiana items.  My dad's best friend and our next door neighbor while growing up worked for Southern Pacific for 42 years.  His name is Elmer Wright.  At one time he was the Yard Master for the SP Bayshore Yard in San Francisco.  He is now in his 80's.  He just recently gave me the following personal SP items:

Brass Switch Keys

Lantern

Railroad Watch Certification Card

SP Rules and Regs Manual

Safe Work Practices Manual

SP Gear Bag - Given out as a safety award

Switch Man ID Card

Yard Master ID Card

They're all on display in my layout room.

Matt

SP Brass Switch Keys

SP Lantern

SP Railroad Watch Certification Card

SP Rules and Regs

SP Safe Work Practices Manual

SP Gear Bag-2

SP Switch Man ID Card

SP Yard Master ID Card

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Images (8)
  • SP Brass Switch Keys
  • SP Lantern
  • SP Railroad Watch Certification Card
  • SP Rules and Regs
  • SP Safe Work Practices Manual
  • SP Gear Bag-2
  • SP Switch Man ID Card
  • SP Yard Master ID Card

Since the E7 manual was mentioned above, here's one in my collection:

 

e7 001

 

 

e7 003

 

Note the inclusion of the PRR keystone on the cover. During the early years of dieselization, some manuals were published in railroad specific editions. My example was issued upon delivery to the Pennsy of the 5900 and 5901, the first two E7s purchased by the railroad. In fact, the title page references these two unit numbers specifically and the illustration of the 5900 and 5901 pictured above is printed on Page 2.

 

This is Manual No. 2300 with a revision date of January 1, 1946.

 

Bob        

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  • e7 001
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Lots of stuff here including a control stand from an SD24 and various locomotive maintenance and operating manuals. Eleven volumes of Marshall Kirkman's "Science of Railways" books circa 1900. EMD 645 cylinder head cut in half with valves and fuel injector. Broken EMD engine parts. GE FDL engine camshaft section. A couple cast builders' plates from Australian railway carriages. Some Trains magazines back to 1948. Misc timetables and rulebooks. A few date nails from ties. A spike puller. And a few track ties and rails and spikes and tieplates and brake shoes and brake hoses and busted knuckles and cast ROW signs ...

Last edited by Ace

My uncle in Michigan worked for Conrail (he now works under Norfolk Southern), so I have quite a bit of Conrail stuff, including:

 

-An employee hat

-Safety glasses

-Binder of operations manuals

-Coffee Mug

-Two lanterns: one regular and one "blue signal"

-I guess my O gauge GP38 could be considered part of this category, as he received it as an award from Conrail's safety program (and then I got it for Christmas). This was my first ever piece of O gauge equipment.

 

I also have plenty of other stuff, including several Amtrak timetables, brochures from train shows, calendars, newspaper clippings, the newspaper insert for Austin's "Capital MetroRail" service (still haven't been on it yet), Union Pacific map, Southern Pacific Timetable, handbook on oil-fired steam locomotives, some track parts, etc.

 

And... I have a genuine 1937 copy of Portraits of the Iron Horse. I don't know if it counts, but it's illustrated by the man responsible for the streamlined Hiawatha and Royal Blue locomotives: Otto Kuhler. No modern-day book can immerse you in the age of big steam and early streamliners like this one.

 

Aaron

 

I only have a few things, but what I do have mainly consists of Lehigh Valley Railroad stuff, from the part of the line between Slatington and Lehigh Gap. My Grandpa walks along the trail that they made out of this line, and he has brought me many spikes (including one with numbers on top). He also brought my two nails which he pulled out of ties. I know nothing about them. The one on the left has the letters "P", the center indent, then a "k". The other one has the number 20 on it. Any ideas?

 

IMG_2193

 

I also have a Lehigh Valley Railroad bond from 1950. The funny thing is even though my Grandpa lives right across the street from the old Lehigh Valley mainline, and I live about 3 miles from it, I found this while on vacation in Maryland!

 

IMG_1440

 

These I just bought last Friday, along with some Lionel ads and a bunch of car ads. If anyone has more information on these, I would appreciate that as well.

 

IMG_2190

 

 

IMG_2191

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  • IMG_2193
  • IMG_1440
  • IMG_2190
  • IMG_2191

The nail with the PK on it is called a PK nail named after the Parker-Kalon Company. The nails were used for surveying to mark a precise location.

 

Your other nail with the 20 on it is a tie date nail. These were installed in new railroad ties. The number indicates the year of install, in this case 1920. Many different forms of tie preservation were being experimented with early on so they would mark the ties with the nails and keep a log of how long they lasted and how well they held up.

 

Your last two items appear to be magazine advertisements for the American Locomotive Co. (Alco) and the Association of American Railroads.

Last edited by NJCJOE
Originally Posted by NJCJOE:

The nail with the PK on it is called a PK nail named after the Parker-Kalon Company. The nail were used for surveying to mark a precise location.

 

Your other nail with the 20 on it is a tie date nail. These were installed in new railroad ties. The number indicates the year of install, in this case 1920. Many different forms of tie preservation was being experimented with early on so the would mark the ties with the nails and keep a log of how long they lasted and how well they held up.

 

Your last two items appear to be magazine advertisements for the American Locomotive Co. (Alco) and the Association of American Railroads.

Thank you for the information!

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