seeking information on engineer and his engines

[NW Mailing List]

Thank you very much for your time and response.  I guess it is disappointing, but understand that looking for records that are nearly 100 years old, is questionable, whether they even have survived or still exist.

Chris Neff


 


To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Subject: RE: seeking information on engineer and his engines
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 2009 10:26:14 -0400
From: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org









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.  
 
The employee magazine probably does not have an article with him in it.  However these were not indexed completely, so a page-by page search is likely required to find anything about him.  Given that the first issue was written in June of 1923, it is mostly likely that no article was ever written about him.  This sort of article would have been extremely rare in any case.  
 
In short it is going to be very, very difficult to construct his history as for the most part the company records never had any of his details of work.  Think about what is in your employment files.
 
Gary Rolih
Secretary N&WHS 
 


 




From: nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
Sent: Sunday, July 05, 2009 7:31 PM
To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Subject: seeking information on engineer and his engines
 
I am starting a detailed geneology record of my great-grandfater, and he was an engineer for the N&W.  His name was James Cecil Neff.  I am seeking information on how to search for his employment records, and some history on the lines and engines that he worked on.  Also is there a way to find if he was the topic of any articles in the N&W magazine or any other of the companies documentation.  He lived in Rural Retreat, Va, Kenova, WV, and Portsmouth, OH.  I have some pass cards and engineer cards dated between 1905-1919.  He died in 1921.  He served at the Kenova sub-division during those times.
 
His picture did appear in a N&W magazine in July 1953(page 392).
I have two photographs that show the engine numbers he worked on.  They were 1136 and 1447.
 
Any information about him, his engines, or how to find this information would be greatly appreciated.
 
Thanks,
Chris Neff






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