Finding Aids

Founded in 1846, Pennsylvania Railroad Company (PRR) was a leading industrial and transportation force throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This collection features a cyanotype and a photographic copy print of an image depicting the first passenger car created for PRR, most likely taken in 1893 in relation to Chicago World's Columbian Exposition.

Founded in 1934, the Association of American Railroads is a leading railway organization that focuses on productivity and safety of the U.S. rail industry. Members include major freight railroads in North America and Amtrak. This collection is an educational kit composed of three parts created by the Association of American Railroads. There are two teacher's manuals and loose photographs.

The Alan Wood Steel Company was a small, family-controlled integrated steel company. The Upper Merion & Plymouth Railroad connected all the elements of the Wood steel-making complex. The collection includes three blueprint maps showing the layout of industrial buildings at Alan Wood Steel Company and the track of the Upper Merion and Plymouth Railroad Company. Also in the collection is a stereograph featuring a blast furnace plant in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Horatio Allen (1802-1889) was a noted civil engineer and inventor, who worked with the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company, the Croton Aqueduct, and the New York & Erie Railroad. The bulk of his the papers is personal correspondence (1818-1864), and biographical materials collected by his family. Also included is a small collection of Allen's business papers, particularly concerning his work on the New York & Erie Railroad.

Allen H. Tweddle (1949-) is a retired railroad conductor and avid collector of railroadiana. Railroadiana are artifacts related to current or former railways. This small collection consists of photographs, prints, and note cards related to railroad locomotives. There are photographs of train stations, train cars and engines and one stereoview showing an elevated railway street scene of New York City. There is an album containing many different Amtrak trains, several blotters from the Association of American Railroads, and a few series of note cards. Notably there is a large collection of railroad locomotive trading cards from the Topps Chewing Gum Company series called "Rails and Sails" published in 1954.

A collection amassed by a retired conductor successively employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad, Penn Central, Conrail and Amtrak. It consists partly of company publications and documents collected on the job, and partly of advertisements, timetables, brochures, maps and other railroadiana from many different companies bought from dealers and other collectors. It is particularly useful for the Amtrak manuals relating to things like consumer satisfaction, employee health and safety and equipment maintenance.

This collection contains two pieces of sheet music: "Volume for Victory," the song of the A.C.F. (American Car and Foundry Company) and "Hamiltonia," song of the Hamilton Watch Company. The American Car and Foundry, Company was founded in 1899 and is still considered a leading American manufacturer of railcars and railcar parts. The Hamilton Watch Company was founded in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1892. Among other milestones, it produced the first electric wristwatch in 1957 and the first digital watch in 1970. The Hamilton brand is currently owned and manufactured by the The Swatch Group out of Switzerland.

American Car and Foundry Company is a manufacturer of railroad rolling stock and railcar parts, founded in 1899. In 1901, the company began leasing the facilities of a railroad rolling stock and shipbuilding manufacturer, the Jackson and Sharp Company. The records include photocopies of a history of the Wilmington plant, incorporation papers, and deeds.

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) first began operations on May 1, 1971, following the passage of the Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970. Through the passage of the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976, Congress authorized the Northeast Corridor Improvement Project (NECIP), a comprehensive program with the goal of improving intercity rail passenger service between Washington, D.C., through New York City, to Boston, the most heavily used passenger train corridor in the United States. Records related to Amtrak's involvement in the NECIP include preliminary and ongoing technical and financial reports, leases and agreements, as well as minutes, agendas, and other working project files.

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Amtrak, is a passenger rail service in the United States. This item is a standard twelve-month calendar, with an image on the top portion of each month featuring an Amtrak train.

The Atterbury family, specifically brothers John Guest Atterbury (1811-1887) and William Wallace Atterbury (1823-1911), and John's son William Wallace Atterbury (1866-1935), were descendants of a London bank house representative and Huguenot family. John was a lawyer and later a Presbyterian minister, as was William. The younger William was a career officer for the Pennsylvania Railroad. The Atterbury family papers consist primarily of the personal papers of the younger W.W. Atterbury as preserved by his family, along with a few items from his father and uncle.

Baldwin Locomotive Works was a manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 until 1972. The company was originally located in Philadelphia and then later moved to Eddystone, Pennsylvania. This album contains twenty two photographs of Baldwin Locomotive Works train engines, train cars, and parts. The album appears to have been created by company President S.M. Vauclain for the Trades Exhibit at the Constitutional Centennial Celebration.

Baldwin Locomotive Works was a manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 until 1972. This image shows group of about forty male employes and fifteen factory visitors or managers posed on a 8-inch (?) railway gun mount in the Eddystone, Pennsylvania, plant.

Incorporated in 1830, Beaver Meadow Railroad & Coal Company transported anthracite coal mined in Beaver Meadow to Philadelphia markets. The company merged into the Lehigh Valley Railroad in 1864. Their records consist of stock transfer books in two volumes, dated 1833 to 1846 and 1861 to 1863, which list transactions of the company shares and changes in ownership.

The collection consists of a synthetic historical file assembled for public relations purposes at Budd Company's Michigan headquarters.

The Budd Company was a manufacturer of steel automobiles, passenger rail cars, and other transportation products. This collection’s photographs focuses on the Budd Company rail division with some images of automobiles and wheel products and manufacturing. The bulk of the materials date from the 1940s, 1950s and the 1980s. The collection is organized into five series: Company executives and employees; Plants and manufacturing; Products; Advertising; and Films and videos.

The Budd Company was a manufacturer of steel automobiles, passenger rail cars, and other transportation products. This collection of photographs include railcar interiors, exteriors, and construction progress images of vehicles for the Budd Company customers between 1931 and 1987. Fifty-four railroads are represented in the collection, but half consist of only a small number of images.

The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876 celebrated the one hundreth anniversary of American Independence. Held in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, it was the first major U.S. world's fair. This collection contains Centennial Exhibition photographs, albums, scrapbooks, and ephemera

The Central Railroad Company of New Jersey operated a main line between New York and Scranton with numerous branches within the state of New Jersey. It was one of the more important anthracite-carrying railroads, with important commuter and terminal facilities in the New York area. The collection primarily consists a set of incomplete minutes of parent, predecessor, and subsidiary companies.

World Fairs or International Expositions are large-scale exhibitions highlighting technology, agriculture, and other innovations of national or cultural significance. The Chicago Century of Progress International Exposition was held along Lake Michigan and Northerly Island Park from May 27, 1933 to October 31, 1934. The collection consists of forty-five identical gummed stickers. The stickers feature an image of an approaching Pennsylvania Railroad locomotive.

Charles Mattathias Jacobs (1850-1919) was a British tunneling engineer. This is a digital copy of a painting of Jacobs at approximately sixty years of age, in court dress.

The Chicago Railroad Fair was the last exposition that featured railroads as its theme. It marked the centennial of the arrival of railroads to Chicago and their role in westward expansion. The exposition was held in 1948 and 1949 in Chicago. This collection consists of souvenir postcards and miniature photographic views of the buildings and locomotives at the Fair.

Coal Lands Securities Co. was one of several mining companies owned in large portion by Thomas J. Foster (1843-1936), a publisher. Lackawanna Coal and Lumber Company and Highland Lumber Company were also part of Foster's holdings. The album contains photographs taken during an inspection trip made by a party from the Coal Lands Securities Company to properties in West Virginia owned by the Lackawanna Coal and Lumber Company and the Highland Lumber Company.

The Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) was incorporated in October 1974. It was formed under the auspices of the United States Railway Association, a quasi-public agency established for the purpose of solving the problems of bankrupt railroads in the Northeast and Midwest. The portfolio contains sixty-eight examples of proof copies of advertisements created by the advertising agency of Ogilvy & Mather, Inc. (later Ogilvy & Mather Partners, Inc.), between Conrail's start up in April 1976 and 1990. There are also two pages of proxy instructions that appear to date from the first CSX takeover bid in 1997.

The Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) was incorporated in October 1974. It was formed under the auspices of the United States Railway Association, a quasi-public agency established for the purpose of solving the problems of bankrupt railroads in the Northeast and Midwest. The Conrail photograph collection consists of a large number of images from its company files, but the majority of the material comes from its predecessor companies: Pennsylvania Railroad and Penn Central Transportation Company. These items are predominanatly composed of photographs, negatives, transparencies, lantern slides, and films.

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.

These photographs document the abandoned site where the Peoples Railway trolley car passed under the tracks of the Wilmington and Northern Railroad in Rockford Park near the Brandywine Creek. The Peoples Railway Company started in 1900 to bring visitors via electric trolley to the Brandywine Springs Amusement Park outside of Wlimington. The Wilmington and Northern Railroad Company was a branch of the Reading railroad system running in a north-south direction between Wilmington, Delware and Reading, Pennsylvania. Its object was to connect the various industrial plants located along Brandywine Creek with other railroads leading to the west and to the anthracite coal regions.

Daniel Cauffiel (1867-1930) was a merchant, real estate developer, and entrepreneur of Johnstown, Pennsylvania and Wilmington, Delaware. The Daniel Cauffiel papers depict his career as a small business entrepreneur and as an agent or employee of the du Pont family and in their various businesses.

David Harrison Cope (1913-2001) held a lifelong interest in railroads and, in particular, steam locomotives. He began collecting photographs at an early age. This collection primarily consists of black and white photographs and negatives of steam locomotives from a variety of railroads, but it includes some other rolling stock, station photos, related railroad items such as coaling stations and some street railroads, interurbans, and trolley images.

The Chicago Railroad Fair was the first exposition after the Second World War and the last exposition that featured railroads as its theme. It marked the centennial of the arrival of railroads to Chicago and their role in westward expansion. This is a postcard of the narrow gauge Deadwood Central train that carried visitors around the fairground.

The Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad Company was incorporated in 1874, for the purpose of forming a second railroad route between the cities of New York and Philadelphia. Their records consist primarily of basic corporate documents such as minutes, account books, annual reports to the I.C.C., and agreements.

The Delaware Coach Company was originally incorporated as the Wilmington & Philadelphia Traction Company on June 25, 1910, and operated an electric street railway line from Wilmington, Delaware, to Chester, Pennsylvania, and to Philadelphia. Throughout the early twentieth century, the company purchased stock in and leased numerous electric railway, transportation, and utilities companies in the Wilmington and Chester areas. In 1941, it changed its name to the Delaware Coach Company as trackless trolleys and buses replaced electric streetcars. Included are official documents and correspondence; personnel and financial records; public relations files; land deeds; legislation; labor agreements and contracts; equipment, fare, and route policies; ordinances; minute books, and other miscellaneous material created by Delaware Coach and its predecessor electric streetcar companies.

The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad was one of the largest and most prosperous anthracite mining and transporting companies in Pennsylvania. Their records consist of minutes of the DL&W and its two direct predecessors.

Dowling & Kennedy were railroad contractors. The partnership of Dowling & Kennedy and its predecessor, Reynolds, Dowling & Company, were typical of the many small firms that subcontracted to grade sections of railroad rights of way for large general contractors. This collection contains account books, vouchers, and statements covering the receipt of monies from the general contractor and its expenditure for labor and supplies. There are also timebooks, payrolls, and correspondence.

The major portion of a collection of railroad public and employee timetables amassed by railroad enthusiast and historian Edward H. Weber (1934-), best known for his systematic photography of railroad stations and structures. Although the oldest date from the nineteenth century, most cover the period of decline and restructuring of North American passenger service that began in the Depression and accelerated in the years after World War II.

Edward R. Stickel (1928-2008) worked for the Penn Central Transportation Company, Amtrak, and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). His collection consists of copies of official documents relating to the commuter rail operations of SEPTA and its predecessors.

The War Department of the United States Government contracted with the DuPont Company to build and run a smokeless powder plant called the Old Hickory plant on the Cumberland River near Nashville, Tennessee during World War I. These panoramic photographs show overall views of DuPont Company's Old Hickory smokeless powder plant, also views of exterior and interior details.

Elliott, Johnson & Co. was a well-known banking and brokerage firm of Wilmington, Delaware, in the late nineteenth century. Henry du Pont (1812-1889) was an American military officer and son of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834), founder of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., and Sophie Madeleine Dalmas du Pont (1775-1828). The collection consists of two letters from Elliott, Johnson & Co. regarding the purchase of bonds in two Florida railroads, the Sanford & Lake Eustis Railroad Company and the Jacksonville, Tampa & Key West Railway Company.

Errett McLeod Graham (1877-1974) was a civil engineer for various railroads. He was married to Helena "Lena" Washburn Graham (1881-1970) for nearly sixty-six years. Helena Graham was a homemaker to the couple's three children. The Grahams spent the early years of their marriage in remote railroad construction camps and small towns in Tennessee and West Virginia before settling in Rensselaer, Indiana. This item is a single-volume diary handwritten by both Errett and Lena Graham in 1910 while living in Tunnelton, West Virginia, were Errett was working for the Baltimore & Ohio Railway Company. The diary would be of interest to those researching women's studies, railroad history, and civil engineering.

Eugene du Pont Jr. (1873-1954) was a director of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company from 1917 until 1954, and a great grandson of company founder, Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834). The collection contains the personal papers of Eugene du Pont, Jr., and the records of the Kinloch Gun Club, a private shooting club which he founded. It also contains a separate collection of correspondence between his brother Alfred I. du Pont, vice president and general manager of the DuPont Company, with his assistant Frank L. Connable, which is an important source for the history of the company in the early 1900s.

Frank A. Weer (1932-2019) was an employee of the Reading Company and an enthusiastic photographer of all things related to railroads, specifically in Pennsylvania. Fascinated by trains from a young age, Weer spent time taking photographs of the passing rolling stock. He developed his own photographs, and over time, he established a vast collection of photographic prints of steam locomotives and other rolling stock, as well as the railroad tracks and structures with which the railroad was affiliated. The Reading Company, where Weer worked for thirteen years, was an influential railroad company that served the economic development of the Greater Philadelphia area for over 100 years. Before it became a booming passenger railroad, the Reading Company began transporting anthracite coal. The passenger "ridership" of the Reading Company reached its peak in the 1950s. The company went bankrupt in 1971, and the passenger services were taken over by the South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority by 1974. This collection documents the construction and expansion of the Reading Railroad and the company's tangible property and human resources throughout the twentieth century. The collection consists of negatives (glass plate and film), photographic prints, and color slide transparencies. The creator established a chronological order, which has been maintained. The collection is arranged into five series: Structures and objects, Passenger stations, Rolling stock, People, and Frank A. Weer's personal slides.

Frank A. Weer (1932-2019) was a white-collar railroad employee who spent most of his career with the Reading Company, and after the transfer of railroad operations in 1976, with Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail). This collection is a small portion of a much larger collection of official railroad company documents, maps and drawings. Documents are primarily those of the Reading Company, Pennsylvania Railroad Company, Penn Central Transportation Company and Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail).

General Railway Signal Company supplied railway signaling equipment, systems, and services. In 1904, it was formed by the merger of three companies and was headquartered in Rochester, New York. This small collection of photographs showcases the company's work installing centralized traffic control systems, light signals, and car retarder systems.

The Geo D. Whitcomb Company was a manufacturer of coal mining machinery and industrial locomotives. The album is a factory salesman sample photograph album for the gasoline powered Whitcomb mining and switching engines. There are two Whitcomb catalogs and an original offprint from the 1932 Railway Age.

Harry F. Brown (1886-1980) was an electrical engineer and his entire career was devoted to railroad electrification. The collections consists of materials collected by Brown relating to American railroads outside of New England and primarily includes engineering reports and memoranda relating to railroad electrification and electric locomotives and cars.

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. Harry Richmond Hippler (1875-1958) was a pharmacist in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and an avid amateur photographer. This collection contains negatives primarily of Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) train cars, both interior and exterior views. There are also images of train tracks, bridges, construction and other railroad related images. The bulk of the photographs date from the 1910s through the 1940s. It is possible that Harry R. Hippler was the photographer of some of the photographs in the collection.

The Transportation Act of 1920 required railroads to file with the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) for permission to eliminate tracks from their system. The collections consists of index cards to finance dockets involving the Pennsylvania Railroad, Penn Central Transportation Company, and Conrail.

The Jackson and Sharp Company, a manufacturer of railroad passenger cars, was incorporated in Delaware on February 24, 1869, as the successor to the partnership of Jackson & Sharp. This collection consists of blueprint floor plans for eleven cars built between 1901 and 1905, primarily for narrow-gauge lines in Maine.

The Jackson and Sharp Company, a manufacturer of railroad passenger cars, was incorporated in Delaware on February 24, 1869, as the successor to the partnership of Jackson & Sharp. The drawings comprise materials salvaged from the plant. Most are detail drawings of brake rigging or of parts such as couplers, locks, ventilators, and plumbing fixtures. The projects include standard and narrow-gauge railroad cars and streetcars for both foreign and domestic customers. The materials date from 1895 to 1930.

The Jackson and Sharp Company, a manufacturer of railroad passenger cars, was incorporated in Delaware on February 24, 1869, as the successor to the partnership of Jackson & Sharp. This collection contains copy photographic prints of the company plant.