Do you collect train stuff?... - Model Railroader Magazine
Years ago the railroads actually had public relations departments that would send all sorts of stuff if you asked -- and as a kid I asked. Timetables, pencils, maps, pads of paper, brochures -- all free for the asking. The Southern Railrod sent me a system map - from the 1940s! Those days are mostly gone, although Amtrak has promotional stuff and Operation Lifesaver has pencils and keychains. I have tried to organize all this stuff by railroad.
EMD used to do the same and years ago I asked for information about their then new engines. They send me beautiful color prints of their national advertising, very "modern art" looking. Classic Trains has an article about those ads. I might have a complete set thanks to EMD. And they even dug into their files and sent me stuff about the F3, which at that time had been out of production for nearly 20 years.
At a rummage sale years ago I lucked on to a box of employee timetables for the Milwaukee Road and Chicago & North Western from years earlier. They are fascinating reading and are a useful resource for a prototype modeler.
Back when the gift shop at the Rochelle Railroad Park was run by a local railfan and his wife I acquired a large number of interesting blueprint style track charts and maps from various midwestern locations -- also very useful and interesting for modelers.
And lastly as a kid my mom and cousin were cleaning out the estate of an elderly relative who was something of a recluse and packrat. All sorts of interesting stuff but the highlight was finding the wallet of her grandfather or uncle or great uncle who had worked for the Illinois Central. He had carefully kept and preserved, in pristine condition, his railroad passes, from the 1850s to around 1880.
The common theme here -- I have a fairly nice, although eclectic and unsystematic, collection of train stuff but I do not spend much money on acquiring any of it, nor do I spend money to make any part of it more complete or more well-rounded. If all I have of the Atlantic Coast Line is a public timetable and a drinking glass, so be it.
Dave Nelson
