I thought it would be helpful to create a thread for modellers to post and research real-life reference photos or links to photos of the transition era. Not just 1940s and 50s prototype locomotives and cars, but yards, engine houses, factories, main streets, vehicles, roads, country side, farms, homes, signs, people, real-life weathering examples, etc etc …
Anything from the era that would be of interest to, and help other modelers create more authentic 40s and 50s layouts; in one handy place.
I’ll start … here is a great article and photo from the early 50s right here on MRR that I found very helpful:
Glad you liked that, Shorpy is a great resource. Many of its images are pulled from the public record. Hey, we’ve paid for it, might as well use it. Here’s an example of what can be found through the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), where I searched for images of “railroad yards” and got 3,449 results:
Photograph of St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (Frisco Railroad) Tie Concentration Yards
From RG: 95
Historic Photographs
Original caption: Frisco R.R. Tie Concentration yards. 236, 014 in view.
National Archives Identifier: 2129632 Local Identifier: 435347
Creators: Department of Agriculture. Forest Service. Region 9 (Eastern Region). 1965-; Department of Agriculture. Division of Forestry. 1881-7/1/1901
As a historian, I have to also recommend sources that are kept alive by those keeping RR history alive, the many historical societies and other groups who preserve RR history.
One great resource discussed here before is the Barriger RR photo collection:
Barriger was a RR executive who took his camera everywhere and who like to ride the platform of RR private cars whenever he could. The combination produced thousands of images.
One RR that Barriger ran was the Monon, which has an excellent historical society. It’s website has a generous helping of photos: http://www.monon.org/pictures.php
Look up the societies for RRs in an area you are interested inand you’ll likely find other enormously helpful resources like these. And don’t forget to support these groups. Money’s been tight lately , so I’ve been pained to find I haven’t been able to do that recently, but I intend to resume memberships I’ve had to let lapse. Many societies nonetheless offer outstanding access to basic and badly needed infor without charge. Such work deserves our support because no one else is doing it, they do it well, and they help ensure ongoing near
The Denver Public Library has some awesome collections. Among my favorites are the many sections in the Western History Collection. Much is older than the specific transition era that prompted this thread, but if you look through things you’ll find material of worth for every era. A good place for local views are the various Denver neighborhood collections you can find by browsing through here:
Here’s a search result from "Silverton, " one of my favorite topics. Mainly, I’m interested in the 1880 to 1950 period, but everything is in there, like this view from 1979.
Maybe I’ll have better luck with the brackets? (It took two tries but I got it!)
Here is another archive worth digging into. Mesta Machine, P&LE Railroad, Carnegie Steel, Pennsylvania Railroad Pittsburgh area. MANY railroad related photos!
Within the Barriger Library is the Lewis Collection which is a treasure trove of photographs in it’s own right. Thankfully, Robert G. Lewis’ daughters made these valuable photographs available for all to benefit.
