Where did the records go? A guide for sleuthing railroad documentation

One of the biggest problems confronting individuals who are looking for railroad records is that of the consolidation of the railroad industry in the United States and Canada. As railroads consolidated many records were disposed of or simply lost. Other records were moved to the new owner's archives and disposed of from there, or in some cases, retained for historic or financial reasons.

In addition to consolidation among railroads, railroad equipment manufacturers also experienced a consolidation. Some companies like Pullman and Standard Steel Car have disappeared completely. Others like ALCO have been acquired by other industrial companies like General Electric.

This makes being able to trace corporate lineage a useful skill when researching for the records of defunct railroads and railroad manufacturers. This is particularly useful when seeking out information on railroads that were bought by larger rivals in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

The internet helps a great deal with overcoming this issue. Collaborative library catalogs such as WORLDCAT (http://www.worldcat.org) and other library catalogs that have been placed on-line allow researchers to search by the corporate author of a document or the subject of a document.

It's more useful to know corporate lineage when one is attempting to access documents in a museum archive or to contact a corporation directly. In most cases these records have no useful purpose for the current business of the descendant companies and have been de-accessioned. For example, the records of the Norfolk and Western Railway have been de-accessioned by Norfolk Southern Corp to the Norfolk and Western Historical Society (http://www.nwhs.org/.) This includes the records for many smaller railroads that was taken over by Norfolk and Western before it merged with the Southern Railway.

In addition to railroad companies, railroad related institutions have changed their focus over time. The American Association of Railroads once maintained an extensive research library in Washington, DC known as the Bureau of Railway Economics. The AAR changed to a focus on lobbying and less on internally produced research and donated the collection to the Barriger Library in St. Louis, MO (http://www.umsl.edu/barriger/collections/bre.htm)

In addition to the internet, you may find this book useful. It's out of print, but should be available via inter-library loan:

Railroad Names: a directory of common carrier railroads operating in the United States, 1826-1997 by William D. Edson.

It has some obscure railroads that may be flying below the radar of some web sites. It's especially useful when looking at images of or ledgers of rolling stock with unfamiliar reporting marks.

So keep the idea of corporate lineage in mind when constructing your search. It sure makes life easier!