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C.P. Wahmann collection of railroad records

Creation: 1952-1994 Creation: Majority of material found within 1982-1994
 Collection
Accession: 2482

Abstract

Records collected by Christopher P. Wahmann during his career as a manager in the Operating Department of Amtrak between the mid-1970s and mid-1990s, including Amtrak documents and those of other railroads and commuter agencies over which Amtrak operates or that operate trains over Amtrak's lines.

Dates

  • Creation: 1952-1994
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1982-1994

Creator

Extent

7.5 Linear Feet

Biographical Note

Christopher P. Wahmann was a career officer with the National Passenger Railroad Corporation (Amtrak), retiring around 1994 or 1995 as Assistant Vice President-Transportation. As such, he managed the scheduling and running of trains, primarily in the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington.

Scope and Content

The C.P. Wahmann collection consists of official documents collected by Wahmann in the course of his administrative duties with Amtrak, and most deal directly with Amtrak operations or those of the commuter authorities whose trains run over Amtrak rails, although there are a few documents from the railroads that owned Amtrak properties prior to 1971.

Amtrak documents include track and interlocking diagrams showing changes and improvements made on the Boston-Washington Northeast Corridor between 1980 and 1994, as well as on the Philadelphia-Harrisburg "Keystone Corridor," the former Michigan Central Railroad main line running west from Detroit, and the extension of Amtrak operations beyond Boston to Portland, Maine. There are also employee handbooks and labor agreements for different classes of train service and maintenance of way employees, crew assignment lists, manuals for locomotives and cars, employee timetables and operating rules, manuscript versions of public timetables, and train consist books. There are special reports on the early version of proposals to build a new Penn Station in the James A. Farley Post Office, for the rehabilitation of 30th Street Station, and a track plan of Grand Central Terminal in New York. There is a memorandum on the wreck of the Colonial at Chase, Maryland, which led to the removal of most Conrail freight trains from the Northeast Corridor, and a National Transportation Safety Board report on the wreck of the Night Owl at Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1988.

Other materials unrelated to Amtrak include primarily timetables, track maps, and rulebooks for commuter authorities at Boston, Greater New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington and Chicago operating over Amtrak rails or in connection with Amtrak facilities.

Access Restrictions

No restrictions on access; this collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

Copyright restrictions may apply.

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Separated Material

Regular publications have been transferred to the Imprints Department and are now cataloged in Hagley's online catalog.

Related Names

Subject

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title:
C.P. Wahmann collection of railroad records
Author:
Christopher T. Baer & Rainer Naus
Date:
2013
Description rules:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description:
English
Script of description:
Latin

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository

Contact:
PO Box 3630
Wilmington Delaware 19807 USA
302-658-2400