Finding Aids

Mendes Cohen (1831-1915) worked for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company, chiefly in the Motive Power Department, from 1851 to 1855, where he adaptated wood-burning locomotives to coal-burning and devised the method for handling traffic on the 10% temporary grade over the Kingwood Tunnel. The report covers a series of tests and improvements conducted in 1853 and 1854 with the aim of reducing flue wear and tear and fuel consumption in the large coal-burning engines

The Pennsylvania Railroad Company was the largest railroad in the United States in terms of corporate assets and traffic from the last quarter of the nineteenth century until the decline of the northeast's and midwest's dominance of manufacturing. This collection consists of two items. One is a copy of a report from 1959 by General Electric Company, Locomotive & Car Equipment Department containing an electric motive power study. The second item is a menu with a cover design by industrial designer Raymond Loewy (1893-1986).

William McKinley Keller (1901-1974) was a railroad engineer and executive who worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Association of American Railroads. The collection of papers relate to his engineering career working for the two companies as well as a consultant to the railroad industry and some personal correspondence throughout his career.