Many, many years ago, I bought a set of steam locomotive manuals that were the course material from International Correspondence School of Scranton. I have eighteen volumes and a wall chart as well as two other manuals one from Worthington another from Franklin. Are these of interest or are there easily available reprints?

As far as I know, neither readily available nor reprinted. I know an electrical engineer that does with vacuum tubes, radio gear, etc. what we do with steam locomotives and trolleys, and he routinely buys the vintage books whenever they surface.

We have a couple editions on a couple topics in the technical section of the Maryland Rail Heritage Library. Not interested in donating your finds to a terrific home, are you? (^_^)

I am not an expert on these old books. But I did buy one ICS manual entiteled "Locomotive Boilers, Valve Gears, Breakdowns". Near as I can tell it is a 1905 copywrite. This paticular book is pretty rough in the cover, but the contents are very readable. I didn't pay too much for it, maybe $10. I bought two other manuals from "Science of Railways" series. These appear to me to be very similar. I was really watching Ebay hard now, and bought a 7 or 8 book collection of the same "Science of Railways"series for maybe $25. Seems like if somebody else wants it bad it will be worth a bit. If nobody happens to know about it or want it bad, they can go reasonable. I started out looking for "Locomotive Cyclopedia 1928" but those bring a premium. Watch Ebay for current prices. This is the only place I can think of where this stuff turns up on a semi regular basis and one can get an idea of value. Cheers, John.

I've been working on a list of all the ICS and ITC rail related booklet titles, this is what I have to date.
I hope to scan all of the titles that I can find, borrow etc. to offer the entire catalog on DVD either late this year or next. Anyone interested in working on this is invited to contact me and do what you can. I am trying to put this old information all together in one place and make it available before its all long gone.

I only own about 90 titles myself.


ICS #158 Electric Railway Systems-Construction
ICS #159 Railway Calculations-Motors-Car Equipment
ICS #160 Speed Control-The Electric Car
ICS #281 The Roadmaster, and his Work
ICS #283C Trackwork, and the Section Foreman
ICS #485 Telephone Train Dispatching
ICS #501 Locomotive Boilers, 1941 part 1, 57 pages , part 2,
ICS #502 The Steam Locomotive, 1934 part 1,
ICS #502B The Steam Locomotive, 1934, part 2,
ICS #503B Locomotive Valves and Valve Gears, 1937
ICS #504C Walschaert and Baker Valve Gears, GEARS, 1940, part 1,
ICS #505 Locomotive Valve Setting
ICS #505C Locomotive Valve Setting
ICS #506 Firing of Locomotives, 1928,
ICS #507 Stokers, Grate Shakers, and Fire Doors
ICS #507B Locomotive Stokers
ICS #507C Locomotive Stokers, 1943, .
ICS #508-D Locomotive Boiler-Feeding Devices, 1937,
ICS # 508-D: Lubricators and Headlights
ICS # 509-B: Lubricators and Headlights
ICS #509 Lubricators – Headlights
ICS #509B Lubricators-Headlights, 1943,
ICS #510 Locomotive Management
ICS #510C Locomotive Management, 1942,
ICS #511 Breakdowns
ICS #511C Locomotive Breakdowns and Appliances 1943,
ICS #512 Train Rules
ICS #512B Train Rules
ICS #513 Canadian Train Rules
ICS #514 Compressors and Brake Equipments
ICS #514B Compressors and Brake Equipments
ICS #515 No.6 ET Brake Equipment
ICS #515C #6 & #8ET Brake Equipment
ICS #515D No.6 & No.8 ET Brake Equipment
ICS #516B Air Brake Troubles - Brake Rigging
ICS #517 Passenger Brake Equipment
ICS #517C Passenger Brake Equipment
ICS #518 Car Heating--Train Control
ICS # 518: Brake Equipment for High-Speed Trains
ICS #518N Brake Equipment for High Speed Trains
ICS #519 Automatic Control Equipment
ICS #520 Car Trucks
ICS #520B Freight Car Trucks
ICS #521 Draft Gears
ICS #521B Draft Gears and Box Cars
ICS #522 Stock Cars, Car Roofs, and Doors
ICS #524B Yard Inspection of Trains
ICS #524B Railway Car Lighting
ICS #525 Railway Car Lighting
ICS #526 Westinghouse Air Brake
ICS #527 Erecting Work, Shoes and Wedges
ICS #528 Locomotive Frame and Cross-Ties
ICS #529B Rod, Wheel, and Pin Work
ICS #530 Automatic Train Control
ICS #554 Railroad Track Circuits and Interlocking
ICS #557 Automatic Railway Signaling
ICS #558 Railway Electric Interlocking
ICS #559 Railway Car Retarder--Centralized Control
ICS #560 Steel-Car Repairs Car-Shop Millwork
ICS #598 Freight Car Brake Equipment
ICS #598-B Freight Car Brake Equipment
ICS #598-C Freight-Car Brake Equipment
ICS #623 #6ET Locomotive Brake Equipment
ICS #624 #8ET Locomotive Brake Equipment
ICS #636 Principles of Diesel Engines
ICS #637 Diesel Locomotive - Trucks & Draft Rigging
ICS #638 2-Cycle Diesel Locomotive Engines
ICS #640 4-Cycle Diesel Locomotive Engines
ICS #641 Diesel Locomotive Auxiliaries
ICS #642 Electrical Equipment of Diesel Locomotives - I
ICS #643 Electrical Equipment of Diesel Locomotives - II
ICS #644 Diesel Locomotive Operation
ICS #645 #8EL Diesel Brake Equipment
ICS #695B Boiler Attachments 2nd edition SC 1926 55 pgs
ICS #696 Heat & Steam edition 11921 28 pgs
ICS ? Reference Library NY Air Brake
ICS #700A Breakdowns Part 1 edition 2 SC 1905 67 pgs
ICS #700B Breakdowns Part 2 edition 2 SC 1927 68 pgs
ICS #713 edition 2 NY Air Signal & High Speed Brake SC 1925 39 pgs
ICS #708 edition 2 New York Air-Brake Pumps 1925 36 pgs
ICS #709 edition 2 New York Triple Valves & Brake Valves 1925 43 pgs
ICS #710 A edition 2 New York Air-Brake Troubles (Part 1) 1913 20 pgs
ICS #710 B edition 2 New York Air-Brake Troubles (Part 2) 1926 29 pgs
ICS #1299 edition 1 Oil-Burning Locomotives SC 1912 65 pgs
ICS #1428 edition 2 Locomotive Superheaters 1924 55 pgs
ICS #1535 edition 1 New York Type K Freight Triple Valve 1922 34 pgs
ICS #1536 edition 1 B3 Locomotive Brake equipment 1st ed SC 1920 22 pgs
ICS #1537 LT Automatic Control Equipment SC 1937 83 pgs
ICS #1537 edition 2 LT Automatic Control Equipment 1945 Edition
ICS #1538 New York Type J Pass. Triple Valves SC 1923 40 pgs
ICS #1539 New York Type GN Freight Triple Valves SC 1921 26 pgs
ICS #1586 edition 3 Manual of Information SC 1927 19 pgs
ICS #1638A edition 1 Electric Lamps part 1 1st ed 1914
ICS #1638B edition 1 Electrical Lamps part 2 1st ed 1914
ICS #1639 edition 1 Electric Heating 1st ed 1914
ICS #1641 Long Distance Transmission Elect energy
ICS #1643A edition 1 Interior Wiring Part 1 1st ed 1915
ICS #1643B edition 1 Interior Wiring part 2 1st ed 1915
ICS #1647 edition 1 Electric Substations 1st ed 1915
ICS #1957 edition 1 Air-Brake Compressors SC 1928 68 pgs
ICS #1957 edition 3 Air-Brake Compressors 1945 Edition
ICS #1958A-2 edition 1 Locomotive & Freight Brake Equip (Part 1) 1928
ICS #1958B edition 1 Locomotive & Freight Brake Equip (Part 2) SC 1928 96 pgs
ICS #1961 edition 1 Baker Locomotive Valve Gear 1921 Edition
ICS #1960 edition 1 Hand Firing of Locomotives SC 1927 70 pgs
ICS #1960 edition 1 Hand Firing of locomotives 1946 edition
ICS #1961 edition 1 Baker Locomotive Valve Gear SC 1921 36 pgs
ICS #1962 A-2 1st edition, No. 6 ET Loco Brake Equip (Part 1) SC 1928 66 pgs
ICS #1962 B-2 1st edition, No. 6 ET Loco Brake Equip (Part 2) SC 1928 40 pgs
ICS #1964-2 edition 1 PM & LN Passenger Brake Equipment SC 1943 49 pgs
ICS #1965A edition 3 Mechanical Principles part 1
ICS #1965B edition 2 Mechanical Principles part 2
ICS #1967A edition 1 Locomotive Boilers (Part 1) 58 pgs
ICS #1967A 3rd edition Locomotive Boilers (Part 1) 1945 edition
ICS #1967B 2nd edition Locomotive Boilers (Part 2) 1945 edition
ICS #1967B edition 1 Locomotive Boilers (Part 2) 1927 Edition 60 pgs
ICS #1968 Stephenson Valve Gear 1st edition SC 1928 61 pgs
ICS #1968 edition 3 Stephenson Valve Gear 1944 edition
ICS #1969 edition 3 Locomotive Valves SC 1944 92 pgs
ICS #1969-2 edition 1 Locomotive Valves SC 1924 76 pgs
ICS #1979-2 edition 1 Ratio & Proportion SC 1921 22 pgs
ICS #2066 edition 1 Gauges & Safety Valves SC 1926 41 pgs
ICS #2068 Steam Grate Shaker & Coal Pusher 1st ed. SC 1927 31 pgs
ICS #2071A edition 1 Foundation Brake Rigging Part 1 SC 1922 40 pgs
ICS #2071B edition 1 Foundation Brake Rigging Part 2 SC 1928 48 pgs
ICS #2071B edition 1 Foundation Brake Rigging (Part 2) 1928 Edition
ICS #2073 Southern Locomotive Valve Gear 1st edition SC 1927 23 pgs
ICS #2073-C Southern Loco Valve Gear ed 1 1944 24 pgs
ICS #2073-2 1st edition Southern Valve Gear ? edition
ICS #2354 edition 1 Laying Off Shoes and Wedges 1944 Edition
ICS #2355 Type C-2 Locomotive Booster ed 1 1944 38 pgs
ICS #2357 edition 1 Laying Off Locomotive Frames 1944 Edition
ICS #2359 edition 1 Machining Frame Cross-Ties 1944 Edition
ICS #2443B Reciprocating Pumps part 2 ed 1
ICS #2501 edition 2 Locomotive Management 1943 94 pgs
ICS #2503 edition 1 Locomotive Steam-Pipe and Spring Work 1944 Edition
ICS #2504 edition 2 Heat & Superheaters SC 1942 68 pgs
ICS #2505 edition 1 Dupont Simplex Stokers 1937 edition
ICS #2508 edition 1 Automatic Train Control 1945 Edition
ICS #2510 edition 1 Locomotive Breakdowns 1944 42 pgs
ICS #2511 edition 1 A-1 Engine Equipment SC 1942 63 pgs
ICS #2511 edition 1 A-1 Engine Equipment 1945 Edition
ICS #2513 edition 1 Air-Brake Troubles 1945 Edition
ICS #2516A 1st edition, The Steam Locomotive (Part 1) 1944 128+pg
ICS #2516B-2 1st edition, The Steam Locomotive (Part 2) 1934
ICS #2516B-2 1st edition, The Steam Locomotive (Part 2) 1945 157 pgs
ICS #2517 edition 1 Loco Feedwater Heating Equipments SC 1941 79 pgs
ICS #2517 edition 1 Locomotive Feedwater Heating Equipments 1934 Edition
ICS #2877 edition 1 Heat 1931 Edition
ICS #3233 edition 1 Type K Freight-Car Brake Equipment 1946 edition
ICS #4000 Type D Duplex Stoker 1st edition SC 1922 or 1928 61 pgs
ICS #4001 edition 1 Locomotive Valve Setting SC 1928 92 pgs
ICS #4001 edition 3 Locomotive Valve Setting 1944 Edition
ICS #4002 A Steam Locomotive Part 1 1st edition SC 1927 97 pgs
ICS #4002 B Steam Locomotive Part 2 1st edition SC 1927 100 pgs
ICS #4003A Walschaert Valve Gear part 1 edition1 SC 1924 38 pgs
ICS #4003A-2 edition 2 Walschaert Valve Gear (Part 1) 1944 Edition 44 pgs
ICS #4003B Walschaert Valve Gear part 2 Ed 3 1943 58 pgs
ICS #4003B edition 3 Walschaert Valve Gear (Part 2) 1943 Edition 59 pgs
ICS #4004 UC Passenger-Car Brake Equip edition 3 SC 1942 80 pgs
ICS #4005A edition 1 Locomotive Injectors (Part 1) SC 1926 53 pgs
ICS #4005B edition 1 Locomotive Injectors (Part 2) SC 1927 50 pgs
ICS #5030 edition 2 THE TYPE K TRIPLE VALVE OCTOBER, 1911
ICS #5201 edition 1 No. 8 ET Locomotive Brake Equipment 1937 edition
ICS #5201 edition 2 No. 8 ET Locomotive Brake Equipment 1942 edition 91 pgs
ICS #5236 edition 1 Locomotive Injectors 1946 edition
ICS #5370 edition 1 Baker Locomotive Valve Gear 1944 Edition 60 pgs
ICS #5401-1 edition 4 Railroad Freight Classifications
ICS #5402-1 Rules of RR Freight Classification ed 3 SC
ICS #5403 Routing of Freight Shipments ed 1
ICS #5404B Special RR Freight Services ed 1
ICS #5406 edition 1 Making of Railroad Freight Rates
ICS #5413-1 Transcontinental Frt Rates South Coast ed1
ICS #5414 Transcontinental Frt Rates North Coast ed1
ICS #5415-1 edition 1 Rail and Water Routes & Rates
ICS #5417-1 RY Express Services & Class ed 1
ICS #5423 A-1 Regulations of Railroads pt 1 ed1
ICS #5423 B-2 Regulations of Railroads part 2 ed 2
ICS #5464 edition 1 Brake Equipment for High-Speed Trains 1945 Edition
ICS #5464 edition 1 Brake Equipment for High-Speed Trains 1945 Edition
ICS #5547 edition 1 Locomotive Stokers SC 1943 47 pgs
ICS #5548A edition 1 No. 6 ET Locomotive Brake Equipment (Part 1) 1945 edition
ICS #5548B edition 1 No. 6 ET Locomotive Brake Equipment (Part 2) 1944 edition
ICS #5549 edition 1 Locomotive Headlights 1944 72 pgs
ICS #5550A 1st edition, Train Rules (Part 1) 1943 84 pgs
ICS #5550B edition 1 Train Rules (Part 2) 1943 63 pgs
ICS #5552A edition 1 Design of Rigid Frames (Part 1) 1942
ICS #5552B edition 1 Design of Rigid Frames (Part 2) 1942
ICS #5604 1st edition Locomotive Lubricators 1946 edition
ICS #5620A 1st edition Locomotive Appliances (Part 1) 1946 edition
ICS #5620B 1st edition Locomotive Appliances (Part 2) 1945 edition
ICS #5642A edition 1 No. 8 ET Locomotive Brake Equipment (Part 1) 1945 edition
ICS #5642B edition 1 No. 8 ET Locomotive Brake Equipment (Part 2) 1945 edition
ICS #5667-1 Diesel Loco Trucks & Draft Rigging 1945 ITC
ICS #5685 edition 1 Diesel Electric Locos 1945 ITC
ICS #5699B edition 1 Diesel Loco Auxiliaries EMD part 2 1946 ITC
ICS 5702A-1 edition 1 #8 EL Diesel Brake Equip part 1
ICS #5774 edition 1 The “AB” Freight Brake Equipment 1947 edition
ICS ? Railway Express and Parcel Post Routes
ICS Reference Library NY Air Brake SC 1905 copyright
ICS ? School of Loco Running #28 Bagonnet Reverse Gears SC
ICS ? School of Loco Running #29 Young loco Valve Gears SC


“International Textbook Company” steam era railroad titles;

ITC #460C Engine Management & Installation HC $15 1935 62 pgs
ITC #518N Brake Equipments for high-speed Trains HC $15 1940's
ITC #583 Steam Engine Testing HC $15 1939 ed 38 pgs
ITC #623, parts 1&2, No. 6 Loco Brake equipment 1942.
ITC #624, parts 1&2, No. 8 ET locomotive Brake Equipment 1944
ITC #710B edition 1 New York Air-Brake Troubles (Part 2) 1926 Edition
ITC #1428 edition 2 Locomotive Superheaters 1924 Edition
ITC #1535 edition 1 New York Type-K Freight 1922 Edition
ITC #1958A-2 edition 1 Locomotive And Freight Brake Equipments (Part 1) 1928 Edition
ITC #1962A-2 edition 1 No. 6 Locomotive Brake equipment (Part 1) 1928 Edition
ITC #1962B-2 edition 1 No. 6 Locomotive Brake equipment (Part 2) 1928 Edition
ITC #1967B edition 1 Locomotive Boilers (Part 2) 1927 Edition
ITC #2071B edition 1 Foundation Brake Rigging 1928 Edition
ITC #4001 edition 1 Locomotive Valve Setting 1928 Edition

I purchased a book on ebay not long ago which I believe is possibly one of this series but the publishing date is 1928.

Book Number 441B
Title: Stoker, Superheaters, Headlights, Train Rules
Publisher: International Text Book Company
Scranton, PA, 1928

I gave $128 dollars for it and received some very vital information for the Sunbeam 1018 headlight and Sunbeam Turbo Generator which I am building in 1 1/2" Scale for my live steamer.

So yes, these books are valuable. I believe more valuable as a set and I suggest keeping them together.

Happy New Year Everyone,

JD Johnson, Morehead and North Fork Railroad Historian

M.Magliaro has an excellent CD for sale with 14 of the ICS steam locomotive manuals. I bought several for our members' lending library and highly recommend them.
- Doug Debs

Copied from M.Magliaro's post on Sept 14, 2007:

Author: mmagliaro
Post subject: Steam Loco design, training, illustration book set CD
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 11:42 pm

Joined: Fri Sep 14, 2007 1:15 pm
Posts: 1
This item is a CD containing 14 .pdf files that are scanned from the International Correspondance School (ICS) steam locomotive training series.

These books were used from the 1930s-1950s to train locomotive engineers. There are volumes on boiler design, valve gear, injectors, locomotive operation and more. The publisher has granted me permission to have the books electroncally scanned, and offer CDs of the scanned books for sale.

The price is $20, complete (no additional shipping charge in the U.S.)

What you will get: One CD containing 14 .pdf files.

There is one file for each of the 14 books in the set. Each book is 100-150 pages. They are FULLY TEXT SEARCHABLE. The CD works in a PC or Macintosh. The files are readable with the standard Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is already present on most computers. You can download the reader for free from Adobe if you don't have it.

The images in this ad were displayed from the actual .pdf files. I screen-captured them, converted them to JPGs, and posted them here. This gives you a good idea of the quality of the text and images in
these .pdf files.

How to get one?
Send an email inquiry directly to
maxvox15@gmail.com

I will send you instructions on how to buy one. Understand I am just burning copies of this at home and mailing them out.

There is some discussion, sample pages, and feedback from people who have bought this CD over at these forum links:

http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=40492
http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=40567

Thank you.

For those of you who have not discovered it, abebooks.com, now a subsidiary of Amazon.com, is the premier site for finding books of this nature. I have rarely been disappointed when searching for something on their site and generally, you will find reasonable to bargain pricing. Out of curiousity I ran a quick search under the book title "I.C.S. Reference" and got nearly 900 listings. A more refined search on railroad and locomotive related topics should yield results that weed out their other offerings on Poultry Farming, Arithmetic, etc. Good luck searching.

Not to be eager to revive an otherwise dead topic, but I JUST acquired several MORE ICS volumes in the series that relate specifically to ELECTRIC railways--i.e. streetcars, interurbans, and their controls and motors:

ICS 1653 Railway Motors 36pp
ICS 1654 Electric-Car Equipment 68pp
ICS 1655 Speed Control 40pp
ICS 1656A Design of Direct-Current Machines, Part 1 64pp
ICS 1656B Design of Direct-Current Machines, Part 2 48pp
ICS 1656C Design of Direct-Current Machines, Part 3 64pp
ICS 1657 Design of Transformers 56pp
ICS 1658A Design of Alternating-Current Machines, Part 1 72pp
ICS 1658B Design of Alternating-Current Machines, Part 2 56pp

There are also a few other courses on mechanical drawing included in this ICS binder as well. All of the above date from the early 1920's and are first editions.

I have tentatively designated this set to the Maryland Rail Heritage Library at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum, but I am willing to offer them for scanning and redistribution as deemed legal and appropriate for sharing of information among ARM, TRAIN, etc. members. If any of the earlier posters on the topic are willing to work with me and/or others, please contact me through RyPN channels for information, addresses, etc. Ideally, I would like to trade the originals for searchable CDs or DVDs of them and any other sets made available.

A few more to add,

#2516B3 The Steam Locomtive, Part 2, Edition 1, 1934
#5036 Westinghouse Sinlge Stage Compressor Manual, March 1923
#5026 Cross Compound Air Compressors (WABCO) , October 1922
#5002 Motor Driven Air Compressors for Electric Railway service , May 1946