Help Needed!

[Bob Ellis]

Somehow I have been persuaded to produce a contribution to the Scalefour Digest on Research Techniques for Railway Modellers. I am compiling an appendix for this, in which I shall list national and regional archives, museums and libraries that have material in them that would be of use to anyone undertaking background research for their modelling. Inevitably, there will be gaps in my knowledge and I would appreciate help in plugging as many of those gaps as possible. If you know of an archive, museum or library in your area (or focusing on a railway that you are modelling) that has information that would be useful to other modellers, I would be grateful for an e-mail providing the details of the repository and an indication of the material it contains.

[Allan Goodwillie]

Hello Bob,

Up here in Scotland we have a number of places-
Edinburgh - Scottish Records Office - a mass of railway information , particularly good for NBR - requires a readers ticket and does take time to find things, but very useful , all Scottish Lines and up to BR period.
Glasgow - Mitchell Library - Excellent for railway photographs of pre-grouping Scottish and private locomotive builders.
Kilmarnock - Barclay - Locomotive builders - drawings and photographs.
Dundee Public Library - Early Dundee railways and locomotive builders.
Dunfermline Public Library - large catalogue on the Railways of the Dunfermline area.
Dunbarton Public Library - same for the local area
Kirkcaldy Public Library - same for the local area
There are also the line Societies - North British Railway Study Group , Caledonian Railway Society, Glasgow and South Western Railway Society and the Highland Railway Society, Great North of Scotland Railway Group. - all of which are excellent and have good collections of photographs and drawings.

There may be others that are up in Scotland, but many Scottish photographic collections are held in the National Railway Museum in York.

Allan

[Bob Ellis]

Thanks very much, Alan. Just the sort of thing I need. I was aware of some of the archives you have listed, but others have filled important gaps in my knowledge. Incidentally, I enjoyed our chat at Scaleforum about signals on Burntisland.

[williambarter]

Two that I have found useful are Gloucester Record Office which has collections from Gloucester RCW, and Stafford Record Office which has the Birmingham RCW collections.

From the former I had photos of SECR 44ft bogie and 27ft 4-wheel coaching stock, plus underframes of the 60ft 10-compartment 3rds. From the latter, a photo of one of those 10-compartment 3rds, but I also saw photos of Bulleid stock.

Presumably you have already included the Newspaper Library at Colindale (well it was when I last went there) which has copies of journals such as Engineering, Railway Engineering and The Railway Engineer, as well as a splendid greasy spoon to have breakfast while you wait for your requests to be brought out.

William Barter

[Dave K]

Bob,

There is the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham (also known as Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office). - http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/archives/

There is also the 'Access to Archive' web site http://www.a2a.org.uk

[Bob Ellis]

William: Thanks very much for the information: I already had Colindale and Stafford on the list, but the Gloucester Record Office was one I didn't have.

Dave: Thanks very much for the reference to the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre. I have had a look at its website from which it is clear that it has a good range of railway records, but they are not easy to summarise in a few words. Can you give me some indication of any railway colections it holds or of the most useful records for us as modellers?

[Rod Cameron]

Ashford (Kent) library still has an extensive collection of general books and others specific to Ashford's railway history.

Most reference/local history sections of main libraries have extensive map collections which, if they are 50 years old or more are exempt from copyright. Staff are often only too pleased to deal with specific inquiries for research purposes.

[Bob Ellis]

Thanks for the response, Rod. Most libraries of any size have a local history section or a local studies room with a range of books, maps, newspapers and other material pertaining to local railways, so I am including a general reference to them in the main text. I shall only include them in the list in the appendix if they hold some special railway collection or other relevant material over and above what one would expect to find in the local studies room of a typical library.

[Tim V]

You could refer readers to "Railway Records", Cliff Edwards, ISBN 1903365104. It's a guide to primary sources held cat the PRO.

[Bob Ellis]

Thanks, Tim. Yes, I have already made reference to Cliff Edwards' book in the appropriate places, although things have moved on to such an extent in the eight years since it was published that it could really do with updating.

[Bob Ellis]

The Oxford Companion to British Railway History (p.19) states that the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh holds a large manuscript collection related to Scottish railways, but there is no mention of this on the library's website. Can anyone provide any further information about whether there is much of interest to railway researchers in this library?

[Dave K]

Dave: Thanks very much for the reference to the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre. I have had a look at its website from which it is clear that it has a good range of railway records, but they are not easy to summarise in a few words. Can you give me some indication of any railway collections it holds or of the most useful records for us as modellers?

Bob,
As you might guess from its name and location I'm told its has a large collection of GWR material.

[Penrhos1920]

National Library at Aberystwyth Holds the Rokeby Collection of photos, contact Department of Pictures & Maps, map@llgc.org.uk

Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Wales Holds a list of aerial photos of Wales, industrial archaeology files, and maps. Aerials photos can be viewed, but can only be purchased from the Central Register of Air Photography for Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff, air_photograph_officer@wales.gsi.gov.uk

airphoto.jpg

Pontypridd library A good local history library with photo collections covering the Taff, Cynon and Rhondda. Most local history libraries are worth a try. Harrow Reference / Local history has a big file on the 1952 accident which happened next door to it.

The Collections Centre, Nantgarw, has a lot about Welsh Railways Has collection of Welsh artefacts including railway carriages and wagons. They have a collection of photos and notes by Eric Mountford of Welsh Rlys stock.
http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/collect ... h_sources/

[Jim Summers]

Bob,
You might like to consider including the International Railway Index, which lists over 225,000 articles on a CD available from Gerald Wildish, "Trees", 2 Worsley Road, Ansdell, Lytham St Annes, Lancs FY8 4DD.

True, it is only an index, but it is searchable by company, rolling stock etc., and is thus very useful as a pointer. The compiler says he has around 33,000 magazines and 2,500 books, plus over 100,00 negatives, and can sometimes help with photocopies. The international angle is not to be discounted either.

Jim

[Bob Ellis]

Thanks, Richard (Penrhos 1920) for the additional references. I had already included Pontypridd Library, the Collections Centre at Nantgarw and the National Library at Aberystwyth (which has several other railway collections in addition to the Rokeby Collection. I have now added the Central Register of Air Photography for Wales. The English and Scottish equivalents were already on my list, but the Northern Ireland equivalent is proving harder to track down. It appeared to be attached to the Ordnance Survey in Belfast, which has recently been subsumed within Land and Property Services. However, I can find no mention of Land and Property Services having taken over the Central Register of Air Photography for Northern Ireland, which appears to have vanished. I shall try again to locate this organisation tomorrow, unless any member in Northern Ireland can shed light on this for me.

Thanks also to Jim (Caleyman) for your suggestion. I have a copy of the International Railway Index and was somewhat disappointed in it when I bought it last year because I had assumed (erroneously) that it included details of primary source archives, when, in fact, it comprises only a searchable list of books and magazine articles. While this has its uses, I am reluctant to accept anything from a secondary source unless I can verify it from primary sources because so many articles in railway magazines are under-researched and littered with inaccuracies. One of the main purposes of the Digest I am writing is to point researchers in the direction of primary sources so that they can draw their own conclusions from the evidence rather than relying on the conclusions of others. Consequently, I am restricting the appendix to a list of archives and other repositories containing primary source material. Furthermore, if I were to include secondary sources, the list would become unmanageably large.

[williambarter]

In respect of Ashford (Kent) Library, I would recommend including them specifically as they have the Wakeman collection of Southern Railway era photos.

William Barter

[Bob Ellis]

Thanks for the information, William. I had already included Ashford Library on the list, but I have now added a specific reference to the Wakeman Collection.

[50022]

Bob

Apologies if these have already been mentioned.

The Railway Studies Collection in Newton Abbot
http://www.railwaystudies.org.uk/

The University of Glasgow Archives has a reasonable amount of railway related material in its business collection
http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/archives/ ... ssarchive/

Another useful source is the National Register of Archives where you can carry out a search by company name or place.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/default.asp

A problem that many archives face is the lack of resources to undertake detailed cataloging of material which they hold, so it always worth contacting the record office covering the area in which one is interested.

Mike

[Dave K]

Bob,

In the latest edition of Great Western Railway Journal there is an article of Reading West Jcn Yards. Some of the photos are copyright Reading Council Museum Service, including some aerial shots.

[Bob Ellis]

Thanks, Mike. Although I have already included all three of your references on the list, it is still reassuring to receive the information, because it means (I hope) that there are no glaring omissions, although I dare say some will come to light when the Digest sheet is published.

Thanks, Dave, for directing my attention to Reading Museum Service. I searched their website after reading your posting, but nothing much appeared relating to railways. Obviously, they have some photographic material, but I am only including county and city record offices in the appendix where they have something specific or a reasonably wide range of general material. I have already advised researchers in the main body of the Digest sheet to check their local record office as a matter of course.

[scfcphil]

The Kidderminster Railway Museum (http://www.krm.org.uk) has an extensive photographic archive

Phil

[Bob Ellis]

Thanks, Phil.

I was already aware of the KRM's photographic collection, but your e-mail prompted me to have a look at their website, where I was reminded of some of their other holdings and discovered that their photographic collection is now linked with another collection, so I have updated the entry in the appendix accordingly.