Railroad History Collection

undated, 1895-1976
1 linear foot
Photographs.
Collection Number: MSS 2003-0093

Don Ball Jr. (1938-1986) was a railroad consultant and photographer and author of books about railroads. The collection consists of several hundred photographic images, taken by Mr. Ball, of locomotives, stations, and railroad related scenes of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad and other New England and eastern United State railroad lines.

undated, 1885-1903
17 linear feet
Payroll vouchers, correspondence.
Collection Number: MSS 1997-0042

Payroll vouchers and correspondence pertaining to the Central New England Railway, the Philadelphia, Reading & New England Railroad, and the Hartford and Connecticut Western Railroad.

undated, 1889, 1913-1975
.75 linear feet
Publications, photographs, administrative records.
Collection Number: MSS 2003-0113

The Brooks A. Bentz Railroad Collection consists almost exclusively of materials associated with the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, including passenger and employee timetables, a parlor car wine list and dining car cafe menu, information about the railroad equipment provided for railroad employees, information about the railroad's merger with what became Penn Central in the late 1960s, a vehicle decal, a map of the railroad system (ca. 1925), and photographs of locomotives.

1978-1984
.25 linear feet
Correspondence.
Collection Number: MSS 1989-0052

The collection contains correspondence, photograph, diagram, and a copy of the article "How the ‘NH’ was put back on the ‘New Haven.’"

1966-1980
.5 linear feet
Publications, reports.
Collection Number: MSS 1989-0061

Publications, annual reports, and other reports used by Bongiorno for his paper "The Administration of the Passenger Operation Services of the New Haven Railroad."

1863-1885
4.25 linear feet
Legal records, correspondence.
Collection Number: MSS 1992-0007

Railroad chartered in May 1863 and reorganized in 1873 as the New York and New England Railroad Company. Collection consists of court and legal documents, correspondence, and financial records.

1910-1931
1.8 linear feet
Administrative records.
Collection Number: MSS 1989-0001

Union group established in 1899, affiliated with the AFL-CIO. Variations of the name include the Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employees, AFL-CIO; the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks; and the Railway Clerks of America, Order. Collection consists of business files, documentation about its internal functions, publications and correspondence to its members, and information on government regulation of railroads and railroad employees, focusing specifically on the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company and the Central New England Railway, and the Hartford Lodge Number 186

1908-1933, 1959, 1964
4 linear feet
Photographic prints, negatives.
Collection Number: MSS 2002-0105

The Harry F. Brown Papers consist of 478 photographic images in various media of railroad electrification equipment along electrified main line section of the Shoreline route of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad.

2003
.25 linear feet
Manuscript.
Collection Number: MSS 2003-0037

The collection consists of excerpts from letters written by Harry B. Chase to his son, Harry B. Chase Jr., from 1942 to 1943, entitled "’Boston & New York R.P.O Train 500,’ Letters from a New Haven Railroad Signal Maintainer to his Soldier Son in Wartime, 1942-1943." Excerpts from letters written by Harry B. Chase. Transcribed and edited by his son Harry B. Chase, Jr.

1865-1963
221.5 linear feet
Financial ledgers, timetables, ephemera.
Collection Number: MSS 1988-0051

This collection has not yet been organized for unassisted research use. Researchers wishing to access this collection must make prior arrangements with the Curator before visiting Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. Railroad association in eastern Connecticut who runs the Connecticut Trolley Museum in East Windsor, Connecticut. Collection consists of financial ledgers of unidentified railroads and timetables and ephemera of assorted railroad lines in the United States.

n.d., 1891-1986
20 linear feet
Blueprints, administrative records, correspondence.
Collection Number: MSS 1988-0024

Electrical power plant located in Greenwich, Connecticut, part of a pioneering venture in mainline railroad electrification. With the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad designed an efficient system using ac electrification that facilitated railroad traffic into urban areas after the New York legislature passed laws prohibiting the use of steam locomotives in New York City south of the Harlem River. Construction of the Cos Cob Power Plant was completed in 1907 and was the generating station for power to the trains. Collection consists of blueprints and wiring diagrams for the electrical systems of the New York to New Haven line, with architectural drawings, foremen's log books, records of coal received, and administrative correspondence.

1896-1999
.25 linear feet
Papers, photographs.
Collection Number: MSS 1999-0017

Cosier was an employee of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. Collection consists of information about the Cosier family and images of railroad accidents.

n.d., 1916-1982
3 linear feet
Blueprints, Correspondence, Bylaws, Financial Records.
Collection Number: MSS 2005-0078

Papers collected or created by Edward F. Donegan, a conductor for the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad from 1941 to 1967. The materials include labor contracts, conductor fare cards and instructions, safety bulletins, diagrams of the railroad's interlocking stations along the right-of-way, and photographs.

1952-1955
2 linear feet
Scrapbook and photograph albums.
Collection Number: MSS 2002-0080

Businessman involved with the development of the Mack "FCD" RailBus who served as president of the New England Transportation Company, a bus and trucking company based in Boston, Massachusetts, in the early to mid-1950s. Papers include a scrapbook of newspaper clippings featuring information about Dumaine's work for the NET Co. and a mechanic's strike in 1953; a proxy fight between Dumaine's brother F.C. Dumaine, Jr. and Patrick McGinnis for control of the New Haven Railroad in 1954; and a move by Patrick McGinnis, president of the NHRR in the mid-1950s, to merge the New Haven Railroad with the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1955. Also includes two photograph albums of photographs of a New Haven Railroad commuter car and a New England Transportation Company bus.

undated, 1966
.5 linear feet
Photographs, newspaper clippings.
Collection Number: MSS 1999-0032

Elmer F. Farnham was a resident of Norwich, Connecticut, and a features writer for the Norwich Bulletin. He was author of "The Quickest Route: The History of the Norwich & Worcester Railroad," published in 1973 by Pequot Press. The collection consists of photographs of locomotives and railroad scenes of the Norwich & Worcestor Railroad, the Central Vermont Railway, and other southern New England railroads.

n.d., 1946-1985
18 linear feet
Time tables, rules booklets, annual reports, bridge lists, valuation maps, photographs.
Collection Number: MSS 1993-0044

Employee of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad (New Haven Railroad), serving as Vice President of Planning and Research; as an employee of Penn Central he served as Assistant to the General Manager for the New Haven Region and Special Assistant to the Trustees; as an employee for Amtrak he was Special Assistant for the Northeast Corridor Improvement Project. Collection consists of time tables, rules booklets, annual reports, bridge lists, valuation maps, photographs, and reports associated with New Haven Railroad, Penn Central, and AMTRAK

undated, 1887-1897, 1911, 1915
.5 linear feet
Correspondence, Diaries, Manuscripts, Notes, Photocopies, Poems.
Collection Number: MSS 2007-0066

Louise Gaffney Flannigan (1867-1949) of New Haven, Connecticut, was the sister and wife of railroad brakemen, and frequently wrote poems and other writings about railroad workers, particularly those who were members of the Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen Elm City Lodge #201 in New Haven, in memorial to those who died while in service to the railroad, or in celebration of their good work and bravery. The Papers consist of poems and writings, including about train trips she took to Orlando, Florida in 1888, and to California in 1897.

2000-2002
.5 linear feet
Typescripts.
Collection Number: MSS 2003-0092

This collection has not yet been organized for unassisted research use. Researchers wishing to access this collection must make prior arrangements with the Curator before visiting Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. Typescript drafts of "The New Haven Railroad In the McGinnis Era", and "Dining on the Shore Line Route: The History and Recipes of the New Haven Railroad Dining Car Department", written by Marc J. Frattasio.

n.d., 1836-1979
4.5 linear feet
Photographs, train tickets, timetables.
Collection Number: MSS 1998-0175

Resident of Canaan, Connecticut, and collector of photographs, documents, and records associated with the railroads of southern New England, particularly the Central New England Railway. Collection consists of papers including train tickets, train orders, receipts, and timetables, and photographs of trains of various railroads, plus scenes of railroad stations and towns in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York.

n.d., 1834-2002
10 linear feet
Photographs, notebooks, publications, maps, administrative and financial records.
Collection Number: MSS 1988-0001

The Charles B. Gunn Collection consists of papers produced by and about Gunn, as well as materials he collected of historical information about the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, Penn Central, Amtrak, and Conrail. The collection includes photographs taken by Gunn when he served as official photographer for the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, in the mid-1950s.

ca. 1960s-1980s
3 linear feet
Photocopies.
Collection Number: MSS 2000-0041

This collection has not yet been organized for unassisted research use. Researchers wishing to access this collection must make prior arrangements with the Curator before visiting Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. Collected papers of Lyndon A. Haight of Auburn, New York, focusing on his research of the Central New England Railway.

1868-1975
2 linear feet
Photographs, artifacts, publications.
Collection Number: MSS 2003-0059

The collection consists of a switchyard layout diagram, published materials, photographs, and a signalman's hand lamp belonging to New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad signal superintendent Clinton C. Hurlbut, who worked for the railroad from 1912 to 1961.

undated, 1974-1976
5 linear feet
Photographs, negatives, and slides.
Collection Number: MSS 1990-0036

Born in Greenfield, Massachusetts, and a resident of Connecticut later in life. Employed in various positions in the Connecticut state government and later as a photographer. In 1975 Klar received a grant from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts to photograph seventy-five railroad stations in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Collection consists of the 100 photographs taken by Klar in preparation for an exhibit of these photographs, entitled “Down by the Depot,” which toured throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts in the mid-1970s.

3 linear feet
Timetables, publications.
Collection Number: MSS 2002-0121

This collection has not yet been organized for unassisted research use. Researchers wishing to access this collection must make prior arrangements with the Curator before visiting Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. Timetables and other printed literature associated with Amtrak and the New Haven Railroad.

2000-2002
.25 linear feet
Documents.
Collection Number: MSS 2000-0125

Collection consists of two unpublished documents compiled or annotated by Mr. Levitt, "Station names used by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad and its Predecessor, Constituent, Absorbed and Operated Railways and their Successors" and "Chronological History of the New Haven Railroad, 1760-1951."

1980s-2000
3 linear feet
Research files, publications, maps, correspondence, flyers.
Collection Number: MSS 1999-0113

Historian of Brimfield, Massachusetts, and author of Titanic Railroad: The Southern New England, The Story of New England's Last Great Railroad War (Marker Press, 1998). The extensive research papers provide an in-depth look into Lowenthal’s methodical investigation of the failed Southern New England Railroad, also known as the Grand Trunk, which was to run between Palmer, Massachusetts, and Providence, Rhode Island, in the early 1900s.

1870, 1910-1969
.5 inear feet
Administrative records, drawings, publications.
Collection Number: MSS 2003-0099

The Peter E. Lynch Railroad Collection consists of materials almost exclusively associated with the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad (a.k.a. New Haven Railroad), including timetables, arranged package car service lists, and train order forms. Also includes a Western Maryland Railroad mortgage bond (1870) and a Penn Central timetable (1969).

1890s-1952
6 linear feet
Photographs.
Collection Number: MSS 2000-0039

Resident of Springdale, Connecticut, and railroad enthusiast. Collection consists of scrapbooks of photographs of trains of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad and other railroads in New England, trolleys, and scenes of Stamford, Connecticut, and various railroad related papers collected by Makowsky. Also includes two models of New York & New Haven Railroad coaches, built by Makowsky in 1936.

ca. 1890
.25 linear feet
Photographs.
Collection Number: MSS 2002-0023

The collection consists of 19 photographs of the construction of New Haven Railroad tracks and bridges in the Norwalk and East Norwalk area in Connecticut, from the 1890s.

1886-1970
linear feet
Financial records, administrative files, annual reports.
Collection Number: MSS 1998-0177

Association dedicated to preserving the history of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad (also known as the New Haven Railroad, or NHRR), a major freight and passenger carrier in southern New England. The New Haven Railroad was chartered in 1872 from the merger of the New York and New Haven Railroad and the Hartford and New Haven Railroad. Collection consists of the records of the NHRR collected by NHRHTA, and include records of the corporate secretary, trustees, accounting department, and operations (consisting of records of trains, equipment, bridges, and buildings), and annual reports to stockholders and the Interstate Commerce Commission.

undated, 1872-1930s
57.5 linear feet
Maps.
Collection Number: MSS 1998-0377

Maps and track plans of property in Connecticut, Massachusetts, eastern New York, and Rhode Island belonging to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company and its predecessors, including the Hartford & New Haven Railroad, the Housatonic Railroad, the Naugatuck Railroad, the New York & New England Railroad, and the New York & New Haven Railroad.

1915-1916
50 linear feet
Maps.
Collection Number: MSS 1998-0378

Archival and working maps of rail lines and real estate in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island, some originating with companies like the Old Colony Railroad.

1911-1964
1 linear foot
Floor plans, survey cards, photographs.
Collection Number: MSS 2000-0025

Abandoned Structures Collection, 1911-64. 0.25 linear foot. Collection consists of eighty-nine sets of floor plans, survey cards and photographs for structures that the New Haven Railroad either abandoned, sold, or razed between 1911 and 1964. Structures are located in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island. Survey cards list date, size, construction materials, and remodeling information, if available. The structures date from as early as 1845.

ca. 1969
1.5 linear feet
Track lists.
Collection Number: MSS 1991-0135

This collection has not yet been organized for unassisted research use. Researchers wishing to access this collection must make prior arrangements with the Curator before visiting Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center.Collection consists of 190 tables representing trackage in New England, with a record of the computations of capacity of bridges along various routes. Tables done for Penn Central Railroad, which succeeded the New Haven Railroad in 1969.

undated, 1914-1973
4 linear feet
Correspondence, blueprints, publications, photocopies.
Collection Number: MSS 2002-0016

The focus of the collection is on electrification, or the installation of overhead wire or third rail power distribution facilities to enable operation of trains hauled by electric locomotives, of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad.

circa 1900-1922
4 linear feet
Negatives.
Collection Number: MSS 2007-0055

This collection consists of 149 plate glass negatives of images of railroad cars, primarily those of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, from the early 20th century. Many of the negatives are exterior shots of coaches, dining cars, state room/sleeping cars, parlor cars, and freight cars. The collection also includes interior views of these various railroad cars. One image of particular interest is an overhead view of a gondola car with a locomotive in the background.

undated, 1900-1971
1.5 linear feet
Photographs.
Collection Number: MSS 1991-0132

Photographs of railroad equipment, stations, and crossings associated with the New Haven Railroad. Also include photographs documenting damage to railroad property in western Connecticut by a flood in August 1955.

ca. 20th century
.5 linear feet
Photographic negatives.
Collection Number: MSS 1991-0134

Photographic negatives of railroad stations associated with the New Haven Railroad.

1880-1910
.5 linear feet
Correspondence, administrative records, financial records.
Collection Number: MSS 1991-0136

Collection consists of journal entries, bills of lading, vouchers, receipts, invoices, correspondence, and other documents from fourteen southern New England railroads, including the Central New England Railway, the Housatonic Railroad, the New York and New England Railroad, and the New York, Providence & Boston Railroad.

1802-1980
linear feet
Administrative files, legal records, financial records, annual reports.
Collection Number: MSS 1991-0009

Railroad company formed in 1872 through the merger of the New York and New Haven Railroad and the Hartford and New Haven Railroad, which resulted in a rail link between New York City and Boston. Through its early history the New York, New Haven and Hartford (also known as the New Haven Railroad) grew through the consolidation and acquisition of dozens of small lines. At its peak in 1929 the New Haven Railroad owned and operated 2,131 miles of track throughout New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. The railroad also purchased a myriad of steamboat lines and trolley companies in its quest to dominate transportation in the region. A series of financial mismanagement and struggles for control weakened the company and put it into receivership. By 1969 the New Haven Railroad was absorbed in the Penn Central system and later, after the collapse of that system, parts of it were run by Amtrak, Metro-North Commuter Railroad, and the Connecticut Transit Authority. The collection contains the central administrative and financial records of the New Haven Railroad and approximately 300 predecessor and subsidiary companies.

1880-1889
.5 linear feet
Scrapbooks.
Collection Number: MSS 1991-0137

Four scrapbooks of newspaper clippings concerning schedule changes, accidents, stock sales, complaints about train whistles, associated with the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, and the attempted acquisition of the New Haven & Derby Railroad by the New York and New England Railroad. Clippings are predominantly from Connecticut newspapers with other New England newspapers.

1870s-1960s
.5 linear feet
Photographs, postcards.
Collection Number: MSS 1991-0133

Collection consists of ninety-four photographs of cars, trains, locomotives, and stations associated with the New Haven Railroad and the Central New England Railway. Most of the scenes are in Connecticut, but include some scenes in Massachusetts and New York.

1886-1964
295 items
Architectural drawings.
Collection Number: MSS 1991-0138

The collection consists of 295 architectural drawings of 36 railroad stations, engine houses, signal stations and towers, and auxiliary buildings built by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad from 1886 to 1964. The maps are organized by job number; following the description of each plan is its print number. It is worth noting that two of the stations were designed by prominent architects Henry Bacon and Cass Gilbert.

1890-1979
8 linear feet
Broadsides, correspondence, reports.
Collection Number: MSS 1988-0053

Associate Director in the Office of Policy and Analysis and Assistant Director of the Bureau of Traffic for the Interstate Commerce Commission. Collection consists of broadsides from the 1890s relating to railroads in the Pennsylvania and Maryland region, and correspondence, memos, and ICC reports about transportation regulation.

undated, 1924-1989
1.95 linear feet
Administrative Records, Ephemera, Photographs, Publications.
Collection Number: MSS 2006-0261

The collection consists of train passes, railroad memorabilia and photographs gathered by Mr. Quirk while he was a railroad employee.

15 linear feet
Photographs, maps.
Collection Number: MSS 1989-0073

This collection has not yet been organized for unassisted research use. Researchers wishing to access this collection must make prior arrangements with the Curator before visiting Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. Photographs of Connecticut railroad stations and railroad maps and documents of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad.

2002-2008
.5 linear feet
Photocopies.
Collection Number: MSS 2008-0043

The collection consists of tour guidebooks compiled by Bernard L. Rudberg of photocopies of photographs, maps, correspondence, and documents related to the history of the Central New England Railway, which ran from Maybrook, New York, to Hartford, Connecticut, in the period between 1898 and 1927, at which point it was taken over by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. Mr. Rudberg creates the books for the participants of an annual guided bus tour he coordinates, in April or May of each year beginning in 2002, that follows portions of the old railway line, and provides information about the towns on the route, train wrecks that occurred, old carbarns, turntables and roundhouses, and such features as the Poughkeepsie River Bridge.

1920-1999
5 linear feet
Photographs, timetables, maps, manuals.
Collection Number: MSS 2003-0035

This collection has not yet been organized for unassisted research use. Researchers wishing to access this collection must make prior arrangements with the Curator before visiting Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. Author of "Diesels to Park Avenue" (New England Rails Publishing Company, 1997). Collection consists of photographs, timetables, track guide maps, operator manuals, freight schedules principally of northeastern United States railroads, including the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, Penn Central, Conrail, and Amtrak.

1880s-1950s
3 linear feet
Photographs, negatives.
Collection Number: MSS 2000-0120

The Stickels Photograph Collection of Central New England Railway contains 639 negatives and black and white photographic prints. The majority of the images were taken between the 1880s and the 1930s, with just one from the 1940s and only two from the 1950s. A majority of the images are of steam locomotives from various New England railroads, although the Central New England Railway steam locomotives are the most heavily represented. Also in the collection are images of railroad stations and yards, wreck scenes, bridges, and work scenes. Some of the more unique images include a negative image of a map of the Hartford, Connecticut, to Springfield, Massachusetts, rail line, as well as a promotional photographic print displaying the interior of a new passenger car.

1880s-1960s
168.35 linear feet
Property records, financial records.
Collection Number: MSS 1988-0038

This collection has not yet been organized for unassisted research use. Researchers wishing to access this collection must make prior arrangements with the Curator before visiting Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. Railroad property leases and documents associated with the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad.

undated
2 linear feet
Correspondence, Galley proofs, Photocopies, Manscripts.
Collection Number: MSS 2006-0251

The J.W. Swanberg Papers consist of chapter and caption drafts, galley proofs, correspondence, and other materials associated with Mr. Swanberg's book "New Haven Power."

1886-1910
21 linear feet
Annual reports.
Collection Number: MSS 1988-0062

This collection has not yet been organized for unassisted research use. Researchers wishing to access this collection must make prior arrangements with the Curator before visiting Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. Annual reports of eighty Connecticut railroads.

undated, 1848-1993
35 linear feet
Publications.
Collection Number: MSS 1997-0041

Publications pertaining to railroads.

undated, 1886-1965
.1 linear feet
Photographs.
Collection Number: MSS 2002-0002

The collection consists of 42 photographs of railroad locomotives and scenes related to the Monadnock Northern, the New Haven Railroad, Grand Trunk Railroad, and the Central Vermont Railroad.

circa 1930-1980
2 linear feet
Photographs.
Collection Number: MSS 1993-0062

Collection consists of photographs of railroad cars, cabooses, engines, depots, tracks, and yards, many associated with the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and the Central Vermont Railroad. Also includes photographs taken during Wall’s military service in World War II.