Railway/Railroad Company Records

[NW Mailing List]

More a comment prompted by the exchanges on 'seeking information on 
engineer and his engines' in connection with what records may be kept in 
various jurisdictions.

UK National Archives hold limited information, and this, and also other 
sources, is detailed as follows

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=124&j=1

Many companies anway, and railway companies, deposited material with the 
local county record office and archives ..... these may include salary 
registers, staff registers and personnel records. Other possible 
research sources include 
http://www.scan.org.uk/researchrtools/railway.htm for Scotland.

Most post WWII records will have been kept within the rail industry (the 
nationalised transport industry including the railways as part of the 
British Transport Commission and then the British Railways Board 
........ and may still be in successor company archives.

 From the National Railway Museum York:

The best place to start is to look at a specialist book or join a 
specialist society. Was Your Grandfather a Railwayman? by Tom Richards 
(4th edition, FFHS, 2002) provides a useful general guide to the records 
and where they are kept. Railway Records: A Guide to Sources by Cliff 
Edwards (PRO, 2001) is particularly helpful regarding records at the 
National Archives and how they can be used. The Railway Ancestors Family 
History Society includes people with experience of searching for railway 
ancestors and might be the best source of practical guidance, especially 
when you have got stuck.

http://www.nrm.org.uk/research/railwayrelatives.asp

Is there anything similar in the U.S?

I also recall, from someone else on the list, inquiries about railwaymen 
serving in the armed forces during WWII and presumably WWI, and there 
were sources from the military that might help, especially those who 
would have served in the TRansportation Corps. I'll see if I can find 
what I researched then.

I noted on a search that some archive is kept of the Lehigh Valley - 
http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/RMM03362.html - and 
associated companies, tho' not directly it seems of personnel. And also see

A Guide to the Records of the

Eureka-Nevada Railway Company

Collection No. NC02

http://www.knowledgecenter.unr.edu/specoll/mss/NC02.html

State archives may be a possibility worth consulting e.g. 
http://www.nj.gov/state/darm/links/webcat/queries/prailroa.html and 
http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc14069.htm

And see http://railroads.uconn.edu/links.htm U.S. Railroad Retirement 
Board and Genealogical Information after 1936: 
http://www.rrb.gov/mep/genealogy.asp


I hope these might be helpful.


Dominic
London


<http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/columns/goerge/4532.asp%20>











NW Mailing List wrote:

>

> Chris; It is highly unlikely that any employment records can be found. 

> The N&WHS doesn’t have any and the Federal Privacy Act keeps the 

> railroads from releasing any. Most older records were discarded 

> decades ago. At any rate, the information about what trains he ran and 

> what locomotives he operated were never in employment files. For that 

> you would need his personal time books where he would record what 

> trains he operated and (likely) what locomotives he was using. Since 

> the engineer was paid by the run, this info determined how much he was 

> paid- weight of train and weight of locomotive being critical items. 

> This info was in the crew registers but this was usually discarded 

> after about 6 months. The Time book was the engineer’s way to check 

> what the company recorded and dispute any differences. These are 

> little ledger books, pocket sized. If you are lucky your family will 

> have them.

>

<snip>

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