Research, What your favorite site?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Don’t have my old links. Old computer needs work to recover.

2

Library of Congress. www.loc.gov

3

I bought a Barnes and Noble Nook Color this weekend and there is a lot of free stuff about trains on there, most of it from back in the steam days written when was current not now we remember it being. Also I am finding NTSB reports through the NOOK very interesting and I find it relates some to MRR… we have derailment due to a misthrown switch not biggie but in real life, how a few cars going over can cause a lot of damage.

4

Some I came across…

http://cnlines.ca/

http://www.locophotos.com/index.php

http://cnlines.ca/CNcyclopedia/loco/dbook.php

For general historical photos I came across a 1,215+ page thread that has all kinds of photos that can be of some use…

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=428585

5

My favorites are:

http://www.railserve.com/

http://www.trainweb.org/

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/

http://carendt.us/

6

My research tends to focus on one particular town, its industries and development. No one website features it. A few of the industries have their own sites and at least one has a small “our history” section which has been invaluable. Unless you also model South Milwaukee WI in the late 1960s the site would be of no value to you, but strictly as an example of what might surprise you I mention it.

http://www.luetzowind.com/history.html

But for general information, not necessarily photos, but info, searching key terms into Google Books has been extremely informative. It can be tantalizing too since sometimes Google offers the whole page, or nearly the whole book, but other times just a brief excerpt. But even that gives me a bibliography for brick and mortar (library) research. Just by way of example, typing the names of key industries came up with magazines that had their advertisements, which listed products, but also court cases some of which involved disputes over rates with the railroad, and those cases are themselves a goldmine of data.

Another website which i turn to often, is historical aerials. http://www.historicaerials.com/

I was astounded to find a 1963 aerial photo of the county I model, and while the detail is soft I was able to exactly realize the ground plans of two oil depots and a coal dealer about which I maintained only the fuzziest memories, as well as the roof appearance and footprint of a number of structures. In at least one case my memory was totally in error – but I had yet to start chopping at the Evergreen styrene fortunately!

The website of the Chicago & North Western Historical Society has a wonderful photo archive that i turn to a lot – many rr historical societies also have nice photo sections. For photos of just about every railroad there is, Don’s Depot is a huge s

7

I have several-around 75 not including google.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/railroadList.aspx

http://www.railpictures.net/

http://www.trainweb.org/csxphotos/html/nojava.html

http://www.trainweb.org/chessiephotos/

http://southern.railfan.net/

http://www.nslocos.com/main.html

http://www.nslocos.com/main.html

http://www.railcarphotos.com/index.php?

Plus google and Bing maps.