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Railroad Research
Historians needing to research railroads will find a virtual treasure trove of information awaiting them. Some of these resources will, of course, prove more reliable than others.
In the Washington D.C. area there are a variety of primary resources available. One unusual resource that have proven useful to studting the efffects of railroad constrcution and development on the communities they served are the Sanborn Maps. These maps, which were made for fire insurance purposes, provide detailed information about streets, building dimensions and construction materials, and industries. Many of thesse maps were first drawn in the 1880s, and were updated fairly regularly through the 1930s. Although the buildings and roads were updated, the railroad track arrangements, which had little effect on insurance rates, were rarely updated and hence are hightly suspect. A complete collection of Sanborn Maps, is maintained by the Library of Congress in the Map Reading Room. Another source of information on railroad routings are the U. S. Geological Survey "quadrangle" maps. These are far more useful for general topographice and track routing information than for specific track arrangement or railroad structure details.
Perhaps the most commonly used, and best, source of railroad information, is the tremendous photogrpahic record. Railroads and photography developed at the same time. In the lst 10-15 years hundreds of books, most amply illustrated with black and white and color photographs, have been published. Even small railroads, like the Central Vermont and the Rutland have benefited from this. A 14-volume set, covering every imaginable aspect of the equipment and operations of the Rutland is avaiable. The Central Vermont has had a seven-volume set published on it, and appears prominently in a number of New England regional rail photo-essays.
Another primary source, in addition to photographs, is railroad paperwork. Railroads were among the first "super-corporations" and they recorded everything. Luckily, most of these records can be found today. While researching the effects of railroading on the development of Essex Junction, Vermont, I came across a complete collection of "Form 852s" for a one-month period in 1953. These listed every car on every train (and, more importantly, what it carried and where it was heading).
While sometimes confusing , railroad research is a fascinating sub-hobby for many individuals who, although not formally trained historians, posess a tremendous amount of knowledge of their specific area of interest. Access to these individuals will ease the chore of railroad research, as they will likely already know where the information on a specific railroad can be found.
This page is my css assignment for HIST 697. To create this page, I started with a template from McFly. The changes I made to the template included:
- Insert a new header image
- Added my own content
- Floated two images
- Altered the background colors
- Changed the font style and size
- Added photo captions
- Added a list (this one)