At a suggestion by Mr. Alexander D. Mitchell IV, I went back to the seller to see if any additional information could be obtained about the negatives.... So last weekend I stopped by the sellers location and met with the grandson.

We sat down in his kitchen and I showed his family this website and the interest everybody here showed towards the negatives and our desire to know more about them. To say the grandson was impressed is an understatement.. when I left he was still reading thru the pages of this website. I also gave him a thumb drive with files of all the negatives.

This is what I found out. At the family's request, I'll refrain from naming names.

- The B&O Railroad was the first employer in Cumberland to offer him a job. He worked at the railroad until 1956. At that point with a growing family he left the railroad and went to work at the Kelly Springfield Tire Company also in Cumberland.

- While on the B&O the grandfather was a brakeman on a train that was involved in a derailment. That derailment is one of the sets of negatives I purchased.

- The photographer of the negatives in question was a working photographer in the Cumberland area that did photography work for the B&O, WM, and other local businesses. The grandfather purchased a print of "his" derailment from this gentleman shortly after the incident. That print still exists in a family album.

Fast forward to the late 1960's / early 1970's.. the photographer had passed away and his family was selling off his collection. The grandfather wanted the other photos taken that day of "his" derailment and contacted the family about purchasing them..... The photographers family sold him a stack of negatives of railroad subjects from around the date of "his" derailment.....

- The grandfather had the remaining negatives of "his" derailment printed and those prints reside with the grandson in a family album also.... The grandfather never had prints made of the other negatives.

- The grandfather passed away in 2007 at the age of 80.....

That's about it.......

Tim W.

Nice research. Going the extra mile(s) made huge difference in understanding the provenance of the photos.

Thanks for following up on these negatives, and sharing what information could be released on the gentleman and the family that survives him today.

Every so often you find that you have made someone's day a little brighter. That looks like we did a bit of that today--and it started with someone seeing value in that which was to be thrown away.