Locations of Major Traction Research Collections?

K.R. Bell · **Posted:** Sun Mar 28, 2004 11:17 pm

As a follow-up to my posts of last week, could the traction guys comment on surviving trolley research collections in the U.S.? I'm less familiar with this area than the railroads--we all know about the Brill negs at HSP, but where do other trolley research collections/builder's records reside? Does anybody care to share?

Ted Miles · **Posted:** Mon Mar 29, 2004 1:12 pm

i think that in general there is not as much out there on traction as there is on railroads.And what there is seems to be very regional.

i have been working in the Library and Archives Department of the Western Railway Museum since 1988.

Highlights of what we have are related to Western traction subjects on about 200,000 photos.

Nearly complete runs of the journals like electric Railway Journal, Electric Railroad Review, Street Railway Jorunal etc.

Books on most traction subjects, especially the 100 or so

ted_miles@nps.gov

Ted Miles · **Posted:** Mon Mar 29, 2004 1:26 pm

> i think that in general there is not as much
> out there on traction as there is on
> railroads.And what there is seems to be very
> regional.

> i have been working in the Library and
> Archives Department of the Western Railway
> Museum since 1988.

> Highlights of what we have are related to
> Western traction subjects on about 200,000
> photos.

> Nearly complete runs of the journals like
> electric Railway Journal, Electric Railroad
> Review, Street Railway Jorunal etc.

> Books on most traction subjects, especially
> the 100 or so Interurbans titles that range from the Portland red electrics to the Pacific Electrics.

Dispatcher's Sheets from the Oakland, Antioch & Eastern, later the Sacramento Northern. As yet uncatalogued but someday!

Plans collected from area railroads. For example the SN was owned by the Western Pacific.

A large magazine collection which contains both commercial publications and fan related news letters.Also museum publications.

Sadly little from the local car builders,except for their ads in the journals mentioned above.

Does anybody know if any plans from Niles Car are out there anywhere?

Perhaps someone from Seashore Trolley Museum can comment on their holdings.

Ted Miles

ted_miles@nps.gov

Frank Hicks · **Posted:** Mon Mar 29, 2004 1:28 pm

Harold Cox, who is a prolific traction author and also I believe a board member at the Electric City Trolley Museum, has a very large collection of information on manufacturers' order lists and company rosters from across the country. Just within the past three months he has begun putting some of these material online, free to anyone with a computer, at the below website.

Frank Hicks

www.railrosters.com
F-Hicks@wiu.edu

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Mon Mar 29, 2004 2:31 pm

The Maryland Rail Heritage Library at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum, a joint effort of the Baltimore Chapter NRHS and the BSM, retains a LARGE quantity of research and reference material relating to Baltimore Transit Co. and its predecessor United Railways, and UR's predecessors--company documents, records, drawings, photographs, etc. There is also a healthy amount of general traction information as well relating to other Maryland traction companies such as the Baltimore & Annapolis, the Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis, the Hagerstown & Frederick, etc. We are also fortunate enough to have working relationships with other traction museums, mainly through joint members. We're also taking relevant material from modern-day Maryland MTA--everything from bureaucratic reports to "how to use Metro" videos.

Oh, yes, we also cover heavy-rail railroading--anything of any gauge in Maryland and surrounding states, making us a sort of "interdenominational" outfit between B&O, PRR, WM, CSX, CR, NS, and short lines.

LNER4472-NOSPAM-@bcpl.net

Phil Mulligan · **Posted:** Thu Apr 01, 2004 2:01 pm

Kurt,
Please use the link to see what we have in the VanDePoele Library in Scranton.

Electric City Trolley Museum Association

K.R. Bell · **Posted:** Fri Apr 02, 2004 12:08 pm

Phil,
I'm impressed--very nice on-line inventory. If we have any traction collection offers, I'll be sure to send them your way!
K.R. Bell
RR Museum of PA

> Kurt,
> Please use the link to see what we have in
> the VanDePoele Library in Scranton.

Brian Norden · **Posted:** Mon Apr 05, 2004 11:13 pm

> As a follow-up to my posts of last week,
> could the traction guys comment on surviving
> trolley research collections in the U.S.?
> I'm less familiar with this area than the
> railroads--we all know about the Brill negs
> at HSP, but where do other trolley research
> collections/builder's records reside? Does
> anybody care to share?

A couple of throughts:
1. Washington University in St. Louis has some material from St. Louis Car Company. http://library.wustl.edu/units/spec/arc ... mpany.html

2. Several additional trolley museums have manuscript collections that they are either holding awaiting better facilities or are slowly processing. Some of these may not be easily accessable at this time.

Brian Norden

bnorden49@earthlink.net