Does anybody know if any of the old records from H. K. Porter still exists and if so where does the info reside? Our museum (the Georgia Agrirama) is starting to look into getting our Porter 0-4-0 (Builders No. 6932) restored and back to running again. While working on her, we would like to restore her back to as original as possible. As such, if by some miracle any builders records exist, such as blue prints, builders photos, specifications, etc., it would help us in documenting what she would have looked like originally. We know that the engine has been modified a lot over the years.

Anybody have any leads that I can follow?

Keith Rucker
Tifton, GA

Keith,
I think you are in luck. Talk to the people at Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, DE. I have visited their library a number of years ago and they had a lot of material on Porter. If you need someone on the ground in Wilmington let me know as I am about 3 miles from them.

http://www.hagley.org/library/

Thanks Tom. I am fairly familiar with Hagley but have never had a chance to visit there. A quick check of their catalog finds that they have several old Porter catalogs. I actually have an original 1908 Porter Light Locomotives catalog in my personal collection but would be very interested in seeing one closer to the period that our locomotive was made (1925).

I will probably be PM'ing you if you are willing to run over to Hagley for me. I would love to get up there myself some time.

Also, I just found that the National Model Railway Association in Chattanooga, TN has a pretty extensive collection of info on Porter locomotives:

http://www.nmra.org/library/collection.html



Chattanooga is only about five hours north of me and I am up in that area from time to time (in fact, I was there only two weeks ago - had I only known....) I am keeping my fingers crossed that they might have info on our engine in their collections. I will be contacting them on Monday!

If anybody knows of any other sources, by all means let me know!

Keith Rucker

Try the following for Porter drawings:

Jim Johnston
Director, Collection & Conservation Services
Canada Science & Technology Museum Corporation
collection@technomuses.ca

I was able to provide the c/n for our Porter and sure enough they had the drawings. Price was quite affordable.

J.R. May
Porter7197

Most of the Porter drawings are privately held by a collector in southern California. He is most helpful with owners of Porter Locomotives

There is also a significant collection of Porter records in a private collection in Southern California (name omitted to preserve privacy). It's not generally public, but the owner is preservation friendly and tries to help... He understands the significance of what he has, and is taking steps to assure the records long term preservation.

Early Porter order books exist (up to #1036), and have been published by Don Hensley of the "Taplines" website... at http://taplines.biz/CDs-Builders-Lists-C13744.aspx

I understand that the Candian collection is better for later records... there is a period in the middle where there are no known records....

Could you PM me some contact info so that I can see if he would be willing to help?

Keith Rucker

There is also a rather extensive microfilm collection of Porter drawings at California State Railroad Museum. The finding aid is rather vague but I have found a great deal of information pertaining to my locomotive here. Best of luck, these old Porters are neat little engines.

Stathi Pappas
Porter #4390
1909 45 ton 0-4-0T