I think I’ve finally determined the location for my layout. I have the Opsig industry files and have started whitling down to what I can manage in my modest space. What I would like now, is to find information on these 60’s era industries. Most of the are where many of them were located in Omaha has already been razed. I know the Omaha public library will be one of my stops, but can anyone think of some other sources? If I could find addresses of old industries, I might be able to find some evidence of their existance either still there or in photos.
Thanks
Ricky
Check the Omaha Public Library or the University of Nebraska Library for “Sanborn Maps”. If you are looking for industries in downtown Omaha, they have been virtually completely wiped out by redevelopment, except in the old market area.
Which railroad’s industries are you looking for?
Dave
Looking for the ones that the Burlington served, the list is pretty extensive and there are several that would provide interesting switching ops (including the Falstaff Brewery!). I was looking the other day for the Aermotor Windmill company, pretty sure they received them by rail and sold them. While I’d like to get things close, pretty close is close enough.
Do the Sanborn maps list the companies served as well as the track alingments? And I have heard the alignements aren’t always 100% which is fine.
I was thinking about going to the county to see if they have aerial photographs. I have some friends in Wichita and they were able to get some from several years that really helped with placement of track and industries.
Ricky
First of all, random searches on Google Images can turn up an astounding variety of stuff – interestingly, sometimes I have better luck searching on Google Images than on the regular Google text search, and selecting the images can take you to websites with still more images.
Let me give an example. on www.americadeclines.com I found this interesting image. The site is devoted to the loss of American industrial jobs, so a regular Google search might not find it quickly or at all. It has entries for lots of states.
Second of all, if you can get access to an Omaha street or business directory from your era in question – often very big city libraries have almost national collections of these documents. The kind of directory I am talking about is the kind that goes street by street and names what was at each street number, be it a residence, business, whatever. Often they organize in such a way as to mention railroad crossings as landmarks and some of them have maps in the back.
Third, depending on the railroad, sometimes directories of shippers are available on a state by state, city by city, industry by industry basis. There are good reprints available for the Milwaukee Road and C&NW; don’t know about UP or other roads that served Omaha.
This is not an exclusive list obviously.
Dave Nelson
Where did you get the Opsig stuff? It was suggested to me before in a post but that post is for ever lost. I don’t even remember where I posted it. For that matter I can’t even remember what it was about [#dots]
www.opsig.org/industrydb
It looks like they are updating the files, I already had a copy saved and covereted to excel for easier searching/sorting.
Ricky
Do the Sanborn maps list the companies served as well as the track alingments? And I have heard the alignements aren’t always 100% which is fine.
I have seen a few places that are identified by company or ownership on Sanborn’s maps, especially in major industries whopse buildings are unlikely to be used by a different company. But most places are identified by their TYPE OF USE- ie. “moving pictures”, “cleaners”, “grocery”, “foundry”.
Remember that the primary purpose of Sanborn’s maps, for which they were sold, was to identify the fire risk of a particular property for insurers. The type of business give more indication about the fire risk than the name of the owner.
Also, I have seen a lot of track alinements on Sanborn’s maps that are incomplete, partly blocked out. Most tracks were NOT a matter of fire insurance interest, so they were of secondary importance.
You might try “Tom’s 1938 Register” for many many industries all over the country. Some of the industries died but many others lasted into the 1960s.
http://www.thomasgloger.com/t38r.htm
Just wanted to post a thank you for the suggestions. The Omaha main library has the Sanborn maps on microfiche and the ability to either print them or down load them to a thumb drive and has them from the late 1800’s to 1962. I didn’t know about the register mentioned so I’ll be checking that out too along with the enhanced search techniques.
Ricky
I don’t know for Sanborn Maps but Underwriters Insurance Maps and Goad Maps frequently name the businesses on Canada’s maps, so I guess it’s the same for the States. As an architect working on heritage buildings, I use them extensively and is always surprised by their excellent precision. Information is easier to extract from it than newer CAD maps which are a mess in my area.
I’ve seen factory where they shown the boilers, installations on the roof and located the diverse functions in the building. They are invaluable sources of informations and I’d love to find of for the area I’m modeling. When you have access to at least a good photograph an insurance maps, you can virtually recreate any building precisely.
It’s good to watch all the different maps of an area since you can trace back the evolution of industries you want to model. Sanborn were updated quite often.
For the trackage, I agree they aren’t not always precise. I’ve ULC maps are quite precise about the rails, but better compare it with more authoritative railway source to makes sure.
Good luck!
Matt
Spend some days visiting local area Historical Societies. They are a treasure trove of information as I have found in researching my layout focus, which is GN circa '47-'50 from Everett, Wa up to the Cascade tunnel. I have gotten pictures and information about several of the industries that were in Monroe and Skykomish WA before, during, and after that period, including some which were shut down but the buildings, rails, etc. were still there. The research itself can be fun and rewarding as well as hard work, and learning what to dig for! John