I’m posting some of the sites I know and use - I know there’s some interest in this stuff, so I’m hoping we can get a continuing thread started for those who are looking for resources for early railroading. Here are some sites I’ve found useful and interesting:
Glad to see this thread. I will save it for on-line and off-line use when it gets reasonably populated.
Most of my research comes from various books since I only started actually participating in on-line forums a year ago. I travel a lot, particularly to San Diego. When there, I stop in Reed’s Hobby Shop which has a pretty good used book section. Makes for enjoyable reading in the hotel room in the evening. Also have a collection of magazines - my MR collection started in 1962 when my parents gave me a subscription for my 8th birthday. I enjoy pulling out old issues on a regular basis.
One of my finds was at the Pt Reyes museum gift store. I found a small book on the dog-hole schooners and lumber trade on the Northern California coast. It inspired me to redesign the lower terminal on my version of the Gum Stump and Snowshoe plan as a narrow gauge service at a dog-hole port.
Another excellent find was a small book about the narrow gauge Klondike Railway, serving the gold mines near Dawson City, Yukon Territory. I bought that at the Dawson City Museum.
Internet sites of interest not mentioned so far:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HOn3/ A worthwhile group for any narrow gauger. Plenty of discussion as to when certain practices took place, and how to model things. Naturally tends to be a little Colorado-centric, but there are plenty of members who model other narrow gauge prototypes.
John White’s books are all interesting and useful for the late ninteenth century modeler (although A History of the American Locomotive stops at 1880: A History of the American Locomotive The American Railroad Freight Car The American Railroad Passenger Car
Period publications are often useful:
E.E. Russell Tratman’s “Railway Track and Track Work” was republished in numerous updates from 1900 through the 1930s. Each edition is a great description of prevailing practice for both track and lineside detail.
Road-specific books often contain interesting period information - here are some that are good sources:
Herbert Harwood’s Impossible Challenge (the eastern end of the B&O - lots of period photos and some maps)
Morris Cafky’s Colorado Midland (the Midland never really left the 1890s, technologically speaking, so this book is a goldmine)
John Signor’s books on the SP generally include sizeable sections on the construction and early operations, with good photographs: Donner Pass Tehachapi SP’s Shasta Division SP’s Western Division SP’s Coast Division
George Abdill’s Pacific Slope Railroads from 1854 to 1900 - an interesting picture collection
Guy Dunscomb’s “A Century of Southern Pacific Steam Locomotives” has some interesting pictures but little dimensional data
Kratville & Ranks’ “Motive Power of the Union Pacific” has both
