Here is a great album of historical photographs for some of your favorite railroads. Unfortunately most of the photos are not labelled as too location, and some are mirrored, but never the less, pictures of the prototype from days gone by. (transition era)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/sets/
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
Gidday, thanks for the link, looks like a good reference site.
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
I just spent a good deal of time looking over the collection. It's an absolute treasure trove. Some of the problems seem to be the result of having the work done by some folks who were in a hurry or not very knowledgeable. That's not a crime; just a fact. Go through everything because items that you care about migh be misfiled. I've noted NKP and N.P. stuff in with the NYC material; an Erie 2-8-4 in the B&O material (taken from a B&O train in Akron). The Montour material includes a P&LE GP7, and an L&N steam engine shows up in the NKP secttion. Watch for photos that are flopped. Sometimes a sign in the photo will tip you off because it's obviously backwards; but in other cases you just have to know the location, and it's not always obvious. Some photos are evidently shown more than once. Did Barriger take all of these himself? Is it possible that some were taken wih a stereoscopic camera? If so, two similar images might not be identical. There are enough duplicates that I wonder. There are photos taken on the PRR as early as the early 1920's (PRR N2s before modification to N2sa), and quite a few taken in the 1950's, with a lot in between. As I said, it's an absolute treasure trove.
Some Milwaukee Road Northern Montana Division are posted under Northern Pacific. I beiieve your are correct, the folks who scanned were not the actual photographer.
Cool. DRG&W, D&SL. Monon (under CI&L), Rio Grande Southern, Ontario Northland...great stuff!
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Thanks for posting the link to this collection.
I remember reading about John W. Barriger III in the '60s. He was quite an admirable railroader. As President of the P&LE, I believe he was the person who commissioned Howard Fogg to do all those beautiful watercolors along the P&LE route!
This is a guy I'd love to sit and have a chat with. He was from the era when the railroad executive climbed up through the ranks and not picked from a law firm or investment house.
I personally treasure the dozens of photos of the Cleveland Union Terminal under wire (pre 1952) and the Collinwood and Linndale scenes.
Thanks again, Ed
ACYWatch for photos that are flopped. Sometimes a sign in the photo will tip you off because it's obviously backwards; but in other cases you just have to know the location, and it's not always obvious. Some photos are evidently shown more than once. Did Barriger take all of these himself? Is it possible that some were taken wih a stereoscopic camera? If so, two similar images might not be identical. There are enough duplicates that I wonder.
Went through a few. In some cases, the seeming reversal may simply be him traveling one way on the line and then returning in the opposite direction, taking pics both ways.
In the Ontario Northland set, he goes on a wild goose hunt -- literally. They cross a long bridge with tele lines hanging off it. They're on one side going up and the other going back. Makes sense for them to be turned around.
I pretty sure it's Barriger taking the pics. In one case with the Monon pics, he catches his shadow and it's just him (I guess) and a tripod mounted camera. Looks big enough to be a press size unit, not consumer grade. Many of the pics are from the platform of his business car. What a job to have.
I was familiar with many locations in the Monon set I've seen already. Whoever would've thought the Monon hosted ore jennies, but there they are
John Walker Barriger III (1899-1976) was the photographer. He was a famous railroad president and travelling salesman.
I'm helping to identify some of the Cotton Belt album.
Great pictures from all across the country. One I recognized right away is this one:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/12224803735/in/set-72157640329416244
Public Service Co of Colo's(now Xcel Energy) Shoshone Hydro-Electric plant on I-70 east of Glenwood Springs.
Another perspective:
http://www.historic-structures.com/co/glenwood_springs/shoshone_hydro.php
What a terrific resource. Thanks,Geared Steam, for posting this.
Mike
We're glad you all are enjoying these photos. Mr. Barriger is indeed the photographer for nearly all the shots (save for those where he is in the shot.)
We're almost done uploading the scans of the copy negatives from this collection and will be uploading scans from the prints soon. In some cases these print scans will replace the negative scans. We are also flipping, correcting and cropping the images that are already online. The comments we are getting have been very helpful with providing additional caption information about each image.
So keep an eye on the flickr page every weekday, we will be adding more images regularly.
Take Care
-Nick Fry
Curator
John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library
Nicholas Fry We're glad you all are enjoying these photos. Mr. Barriger is indeed the photographer for nearly all the shots (save for those where he is in the shot.) We're almost done uploading the scans of the copy negatives from this collection and will be uploading scans from the prints soon. In some cases these print scans will replace the negative scans. We are also flipping, correcting and cropping the images that are already online. The comments we are getting have been very helpful with providing additional caption information about each image. So keep an eye on the flickr page every weekday, we will be adding more images regularly. Take Care -Nick Fry Curator John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library
Thank you for making these publically available.