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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=verdana,geneva>Check with this organization if you have not done so:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></P><FONT face=verdana,geneva> <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><A href="http://rlhs.org/" mce_href="http://rlhs.org/"><FONT face=verdana,geneva color=#800080>http://rlhs.org/</FONT></A></P><FONT face=verdana,geneva> <o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=verdana,geneva>Also, the DeGolyer Library has extensive railroad photo collections:</FONT></P><FONT face=verdana,geneva> <o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><A href="http://smu.edu/cul/degolyer/" mce_href="http://smu.edu/cul/degolyer/"><FONT face=verdana,geneva color=#800080>http://smu.edu/cul/degolyer/</FONT></A></P><FONT face=verdana,geneva> <o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=verdana,geneva>It might be worth posting an inquiry here:</FONT></P><FONT face=verdana,geneva> <o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><A href="http://www.railroadforums.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=45" mce_href="http://www.railroadforums.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=45"><FONT face=verdana,geneva color=#800080>http://www.railroadforums.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=45</FONT></A></P><FONT face=verdana,geneva> <o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=verdana,geneva>Or here:</FONT></P><FONT face=verdana,geneva> <o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><A href="http://www.rypn.org/" mce_href="http://www.rypn.org/"><FONT face=verdana,geneva color=#800080>http://www.rypn.org/</FONT></A></P><FONT face=verdana,geneva> <o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=verdana,geneva>One thing that I have done is place an ad in local newspapers asking people if they have any old photographs of railroad subjects.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I have even offered a cash payment in the ad such as “up to $100.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This gets peoples’ attention and motivates them to respond.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The response has always been spotty, but almost every ad has yielded something.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Generally, I would conclude that there are a lot of old photos in people’s attics, and if you are determined, you can find almost anything you are looking for.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></P><FONT face=verdana,geneva> <o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=verdana,geneva>Another approach is to just go into small towns and ask around about who might have some old photographs.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I have not done as much of that, but it may be more effective generally than running ads unless you keep repeating the ads.</FONT></P><FONT face=verdana,geneva> <o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=verdana,geneva>The purview of <I>Classic Trains</I> magazine is a rather narrow timeframe roughly from 1930-1960, but not earlier.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The purview of <EM>Trains</EM> magazine is the entire history of railroading from the beginning to the present, however, within that purview, they guide their content according to public response to polls about their reader’s preferences for timeframes.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Preference for pre-1900 is 2% or less.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The majority of preference is either the present or the modern steam age.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>However, in reading <I>Trains</I> magazine today, I would not realize that they are focused on anything but the immediate present and the future.</FONT></P><FONT face=verdana,geneva> <o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=verdana,geneva>There are many historical societies dedicated to individual railroads, but many of those seem more focused on the modern end of the historical perspective from which they can showcase the aesthetics of modern photography in their magazine, rather than publishing imperfect photography for informational revelations of the earlier periods.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They might have such older material in their archives, however.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It sounds like you have checked the one that covers the IC.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>One thing to keep in mind is that some of the very old photography is VERY high quality if it is on glass plate negatives.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is not color, but the contrast and detail resolution can be far greater than much of the best color photography being produced today. </FONT></P><FONT face=verdana,geneva> <o:p></o:p></FONT> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=verdana,geneva>The other best resource for information of the early period are the old newspapers.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Many of these are on microfilm.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If you methodically look through them, you might find some of the things you are looking for.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>You will most likely find many interesting things that you were not looking for, but many of these discoveries will lead to further explorations.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Some of these old papers have been scanned and placed online with a searchable database, but the search engines can sometimes leave something to be desired in terms of performance.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If you spend all day reading newspapers on microfilm, you will start to feel like you are living in that time period. </FONT></P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><FONT face=verdana,geneva><FONT size=2></FONT></FONT></SPAN> </P> <P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><FONT face=verdana,geneva><FONT size=2>One other resource you might try to find is a collection of the <I>Railroad Gazette</I>, which was published in the early era.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Some libraries have it in their collections.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It has massive amounts of information, including illustrations and photographs.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It has articles and running monthly tabulations of train wrecks.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>These wrecks can be historical footprints that you can follow and cross-reference into the old newspapers.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The wreck coverage puts the entire railroad operation directly into the spotlight for that moment in time.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And it can reveal amazingly intimate details of train operation and the people involved with it.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
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