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Technical Library

 

At RPR, we're great believers in not reinventing the wheel. Consequently, one of our most rewarding pursuits is collecting technical books and documentation from the golden years of the railway industry, with special emphasis on early 20th century U.S. electric railway subjects. Our library directly supports our consulting work in many ways, providing hands-on technical information that is still relevant today, and also documenting the evolution of the industry. By illuminating the past, our library helps us keep today's projects in perspective. 

 

Our library is by no means the most unique or the most comprehensive, but we have enjoyed building it over the years, and we're always on the look out for new titles to add. The listing is presented here as a resource to others. We hope that those of you with similar interests might spot some new titles to look for, and we also hope that if you have electric railway titles that are not on our list, you'll contact us. In cases where no copyright issues exist, (applicable to many of the books here due to their age), it is also practical to exchange electronic copies or ordinary photocopies. We're working more and more with scanned documents, and expect this to continue to be a growing avenue for exchanging technical data. From time to time, we also acquire duplicate copies, and these are occasionally available for sale or trade. 

 

The books are grouped into a couple of major categories, and listed alphabetically. The left hand column contains a reference number for original copies in our library. We also collect periodicals such as Electric Railway Journal, and publications such as the Car Builder's and Locomotive Builder's Cyclopedias, but these are fairly common items and as such are not listed here. 

 

We hope the list is of some use, and we look forward to hearing from you. Other useful railroad research information is found on our links page. Future projects include turning our library list into an actual database, reviews and excerpts from of some of our favorite books, and various compilation projects. Compilation we're interested in include all of the publications issued by the Association of Railway Museum over the years, (especially the many smaller run publications offered at the annual conventions). We're also interested in locating or compiling a listing of all the International Correspondence School (ICS) and International Textbook Company (ITC) railway subject books. 

 

 

 

Some interesting book links:

Association of Railway Museums Book Reprints (click on reprints)

Google Book Search 


Books which someone has reprinted are highlighted in yellow
Books which we are looking for are highlighted in blue
Duplicates for sale or trade are highlighted in gray
Books which we recommend as important references are in red

 

Electric Railway Technical Books   (see also ICS / ITC listing below)
# TITLE ED vol AUTHOR DATE TYPE PGS Notes
81 ABC of the Electric Car          Dean 1924 hard cover 83 Has dust jacket! 
37 ABC of the Electric Car DUPLICATE           Dean 1924 hard cover 83 duplicate, for sale or trade
193 AERA Proceedings 1911-Engineering Association-        AERA 1911 hard cover 974   
49 AERA Proceedings 1912-Engineering Association-        AERA 1912 hard cover     
183 AERA Proceedings 1913-Transportation & Traffic Association-       AERA 1913 hard cover     
60 AERA Proceedings 1914-Engineering Association-       AERA 1914 hard cover 555   
195 AERA Proceedings 1914-Engineering Association- DUPLICATE        AERA 1914 hard cover 555 duplicate, for sale or trade
61 AERA Proceedings 1915-Engineering Association-       AERA 1915 hard cover 623   
372 AERA Proceedings 1915-Transportation & Traffic Association-        AERA 1915 hard cover 306   
68 AERA Proceedings 1920-Accountants Association       AERA 1920 hard cover 102   
67 AERA Proceedings 1920-American Association       AERA 1920 hard cover 377   
70 AERA Proceedings 1920-Claims Association     AERA 1920 hard cover 144   
71 AERA Proceedings 1920-Engineering Association      AERA 1920 hard cover 450   
69 AERA Proceedings 1920-Transportation Association      AERA 1920 hard cover 190   
196 AERA Proceedings 1922-Transportation Association      AERA 1922 hard cover 481   
194 AERA Proceedings 1926-Engineering Association-      AERA 1926 hard cover 969   
158 AERA Proceedings 1931-Engineering Association-      AERA 1931 hard cover 969   
195 AERA Proceedings 1934-Engineering Association-      AERA 1934 hard cover 536   
157 AERA-Engineering Manual 1915      AERA 1915 hard cover     
405 American Locomotive Co., Electric Motor and Trailer Trucks     ALCo 1919 soft cover 58
33 American Transit Engineering Association 1934 Engineering Manual w/35+36 supplements     ATA 1935 hard cover 1203   
155 American Electric Railway Practice         Herrick / Boynton 1907 hard cover 403   
169 Brakes for Tramway Cars, The Electrician Series     Sayers 1907 hard cover 74  
380 Brief Outline of the Development and Progress of the Electric Railway Industry       Westinghouse 1923 soft cover 53 Special Publication 1675
377 Brill, order guide for parts of trucks, Catalog 200     Brill 1913 soft cover 72   
429 Car Curtains, Curtain Supply Company undated catalog     CSCo c1915 soft cover 46  
84 Catalogue of Parts, Thomson-Houston Electric Co.       1891 hard cover 128     
85 Catalogue of Parts, Thomson-Houston, Supplement No. 1       1891 hard cover 62    
174 Chicago Traction, Board of Supervising Engineers       1944 hard cover 125  
R Connecticut Co. Standard Practice & Specifications for the Installation and Maintenance of Electrical Supply Lines     Connecticut Company 1921 soft cover 60  "blueprint" page format, describing OCS construction
171 Crouse Hinds Headlight Catalogs 201 and 202       Crouse-Hinds 1917 soft cover      
350 Crouse Hinds Condulets for Railway Electrical Installations Bulletin 2068 Crouse-Hinds 1925 soft cover      
349 Cyclopedia of Applied Electricity- Railways    8 ATS  1923 hard cover      
354 Detroit Street Railway Traffic and Proposed Subway, Report on      Barclay Parsons Klapp 1915 hard cover       
226 Electric and Diesel-Electric Locomotives        Hinde 1948 hard cover 366   
376 Electric Car Operation  National Railway Training Institute     Griffin / Frick 1913 soft cover 38  
100 ICS Electric Lighting & Railways- 4 vol. Set           ICS    hard cover    duplicate, for sale or trade
242 Electric Locomotives, Questions & Answers Relative to the Operation of CM&SP Ry   soft cover       
197 Electric Motor and its Applications, The 3    Martin-Wetzler 1892 hard cover 315   
R Electric Railway, The     Whipple 1889 soft cover 259 Reprinted by OERM
30 Electric Railway 1899. Cassier's Magazine Electric Railway Number         1899 hard cover 400+ This book has been reprinted by someone
R Electric Railway Dictionary      Hitt 1911 hard cover 300+ Reprinted by Newton Gregg, 1972
73 Electric Railway Economics and Preliminary Engineering   Gotshall 1904 hard cover 251   
213 Electric Railway Economics and Preliminary Engineering (DUPLICATE) 2    Gotshall 1904 hard cover 251 duplicate, for sale or trade
5 Electric Railway Engineering 3   Harding / Ewing 1926 hard cover 489   
382 Electric Railway Engineering     Ferguson 1955 hard cover 416 UK publication
3 Electric Railway Engineering, Int. Library of Technology   361 Doane / Parham 1926 hard cover 375+   
371 Electric Railway Equip Co, Catalog F, Elreco combination railway and lighting poles   soft cover 61   
1 Electric Railway Handbook 2    Richey 1924 hard cover 798 This book has been reprinted by ARM
286 Electric Railway Handbook 1   Richey 1915 hard cover 832  substantially revised in 1924
56 Electric Railway in Theory and Practice, The 2   Bell/Crosby 1893 hard cover 416   
62 Electric Railway Instructor, the     Dixon 1917 hard cover 199   
180 Electric Railway Journal Maintenance Manual      ERJ 1929 hard cover 150 This book has been reprinted by ARM
7 Electric Railway Motors- Const, Operation, Maintenance       Perry 1894 hard cover 238    
375 Electric Railway Motormen & Conductors, Book of Instructions, two booklets, parts one and two 5   National Railway Training Institute 1916 soft cover     Correspondence school booklet, test removed from back
184 Electric Railway Practices- 1923      AERA 1923 hard cover 221   
185 Electric Railway Practices- 1924      AERA 1924 hard cover 180   
186 Electric Railway Practices- 1925     AERA 1925 hard cover 240   
82 Electric Railway Systems-Construction     Parham  1928 hard cover     
110 Electric Railway Transportation 2   Blake/Jackson 1924 hard cover 449   
390 Electric Railway Transportation- American Academy of Political and Social Science     American Academy 1911 hard cover 202  
6 Electric Railway Troubles and how to find them     Lowe 1909 hard cover 367   
51 Electric Railway, the 1   Buck 1915 hard cover      
324 Electric Railways     Gravath/Howe 1908 hard cover      
10 Electric Railways- Part I     Norris / Bearce 1920 hard cover 87  
11 Electric Railways- Part II     Norris / Bearce 1920 hard cover 87-161   
12 Electric Railways- Part III     Norris / Bearce 1920 hard cover 162-239   
21 Electric Railways- Part III (DUPLICATE)       Norris / Bearce 1920 soft cover 162-239 duplicate, for sale or trade
187 Electric Railways-Theoretically and Practically Treated      Ashe/Keiley 1905 hard cover 285   
107 Electric Railways-Theoretically and Practically Treated-Vol I, Rolling Stock 2 I Ashe/Keiley 1905 hard cover 285   
108 Electric Railways-Theoretically and Practically Treated-Vol II, Engineering Preliminaries 1 II Ashe/Keiley 1907 hard cover 282   
232 Electric Service Supplies Co. Catalog No. 10- Power, Railroad, Industrial ESSCo 1929 hard cover 919   
203 Electric Street Railways (green cover, "Electro-Technical Series")     Houston-Kennelly 1902 hard cover 367   
202 Electric Street Railways (red cover) 2   Houston-Kennelly 1906 hard cover 373   
179 Electric Traction 1   Dover 1925 hard cover 670 UK practice, excellent reference
428 Electric Traction

4

  Dover 1963 hard cover 467 Revised version of original
384 Electric Traction       Calisch 1913 hard cover 116  
423 Electric Traction Handbook (Control)       Brooks 1954 hard cover 322 UK practice, excellent reference
236 Electric Traction (Section 13 from the Standard Handbook for Electrical Engineers) Armstrong 1909 hard cover 531   
204 Electric Traction for Railway Trains     Burch 1911 hard cover 583   
96 Electric Trains-Their Equipment And Operation- Supplement     Agnew 1937 hard cover       
94 Electric Trains-Their Equipment And Operation- Volume I     Agnew 1937 hard cover       
95 Electric Trains-Their Equipment And Operation- Volume II     Agnew 1937 hard cover        
80 Electric Transportation 1   ITC 1940 hard cover 427   
346 Electrical Engineering Papers (incl. Street Railway Motor in America)   Lamme 1919 hard cover 763   
274 Electrical Equipment for Railroad Diesel Motive Power     Candee 1940 hard cover 105     
162 Electrical Railroading     Alymer-Small 1908 hard cover 924    
207 Electricity in Transport     Andrews 1951 hard cover 183  
118 Electricity in Transport (DUPLICATE)       Andrews 1951 hard cover 183 duplicate, for sale or trade
36 Engineering and Electric Traction Pocket Book, The     Dawson 1906 hard cover 1027   
52 ESSCo Catalog No. 10       1929 hard cover      
275 ESSCo Supplementary Data Sheets to Catalog No. 7       1936 soft cover 166   
153 General Electric Railway Supplies Catalog 4725     GE catalog 1910 hard cover      
235 General Electric Railway Supplies Catalog 6002     GE catalog 1922 hard cover 505   
401 General Electric Railway Supplies Catalog 7601       GE catalog 1906 hard cover 233  
278 General Electric, Bulletin GET-111 Electric Locomotive Data      GE bulletin  1929 soft cover      
276 General Electric, Gears & Pinions for Railway and Industrial Haulage Motors GE bulletin  1928 soft cover 19 GEA-1054
370 General Electric Review, special issue on Electric Traction     GE Review 1920 soft cover 354   
160 How to Become a Competent Motorman 1   Livermore-Williams 1903 hard cover 232   
161 How to Become a Competent Motorman  2   Livermore-Williams 1908 hard cover 247   
199 How to Become a Successful Motorman      Aylmer-Small 1908 soft cover 312   
285 Illinois Central RR- Instructions for the Operation of Suburban MU Trains  ICRR 1926 hard cover 160   
R Inspection and Care of PCC Car Electrical Equipment     Westinghouse 1942 soft cover   Reprint for ARM convention
327 Keystone Electrical Material catalog     ESSCo 1943 soft cover 1163   
284 Los Angeles Railway Rulebook       LARy 1902 rule book      may be a reprint 
374 Los Angeles Railway- Manual of South Park Shops Organization & Operations     LARy 1926 rule book  125    
119 Maintenance Hints- Westinghouse     Westinghouse spiral 494   
223 Maintenance Hints- Westinghouse     Westinghouse 1942 spiral 221    
192 Making Transportation Pay 1926     AERA 1927 hard cover      
48 Making Transportation Pay 1926 (DUPLICATE)       AERA 1927 hard cover     duplicate, for sale or trade
58 McGraw Electric Railway Directory 1924 -reprint-     Wagner Car Co. 1924 hard cover      
R Miscellaneous Tests of Electric Car Equipment     Parham - Shedd 1910 photocopy 156 photocopy 
8 Modern Electric Railway Motors      Hanchett 1900 hard cover 200   
280 Modern Electric Railway Practice Vol I  N.I.P.M      Alymer-Small 1909 hard cover      
281 Modern Electric Railway Practice Vol II  N.I.P.M     Swingle 1909 hard cover      
282 Modern Electric Railway Practice Vol III  N.I.P.M     Swingle 1909 hard cover      
283 Modern Electric Railway Practice Vol IV  N.I.P.M.     Lowe 1909 hard cover       
27 Motorman and His Duties, the 6   Gutmann/Gould hard cover 195   
R Motorman and His Duties, the       Gutmann / Metcalfe 1903 soft cover 177 Periscope Film reprint
201 Motorman's Guide, The, A Practical Treatise on Street Railway Motors   Gayetty 1898 soft cover 113 Red illustrated cover
114 Motormen and Conductors Compendium of Valuable Information     Gayetty 1906 hard cover 113   
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