About this Guide
This guide represents a selection of resources available through Northwestern University's Transportation Library. It is not intended to be all-inclusive, but a starting point in helping to guide your research. Please contact a librarian for additional assistance or inquiries about collections, items, or subjects.
Collection Highlights: Digitized Resources
- Streamliner Passenger Trains Album
An album of promotional photographs documenting the introduction of Streamliner passenger trains in the United States. Also includes photographs of Westinghouse electric locomotives and steam locomotives operated by railroads in the United States and Canada. - Ira Silverman Railroad Menu Collection
The Ira Silverman Railroad Menu Collection consists of 238 items: 227 menus and eleven pamphlets. 35 United States and Canadian railroads are represented in the collection. - Atlas of Freight Facilities
The Atlas of Freight Facilities, published in 1971, mapped the locations of gas pipelines, petroleum pipelines, electric transmission, motor freight, rail freight, waterborne freight, air freight and other terminals in the Chicago region based on data obtained by the Chicago Area Transportation Study.
Collection Highlight
- Official Guide of the Railways byCall Number: Transportation Library PeriodicalsPublication Date: 1900-1973 (not inclusive)
Digital and Archival Collections - Rail
- David V. Woolf Bus and Train Collection, 1950-2009The David V. Woolf Bus and Train Collection consists of 154 transportation-related postcards primarily related to buses and bus lines. The collection ranges in publication date from the 1950s to the early 200s. Text on the postcards is primarily in English; Dutch, French, and German are also representated. The collection measures .5 linear feet in one box.
- Gary Gelzer Transportation CollectionThe Gary Gelzer Transportation Collection consists of 411 postcards, timetables, menus, and other materials related to 20th-century railroads, ships, and other modes of transportation.
- George M. Foster Timetable CollectionThe George M. Foster Timetable Collection is a companion to the Transportation Library Menu Collection. It provides contextual depth for that collection, as many of the timetables include Foster's notes as to flight date and time, and can be matched to his annotated menus. The collection consists of 1766 timetables issued between 1929 and 1991. There are 1695 airline, 56 railroad, and 15 ship and ferry timetables. The collection is international in scope, reflecting the scope of Foster's many years of travel.
- H.H. Copeland Maps and TablesThe Transportation Library's collection of H. H. Copeland and Son's maps consist of 76 maps and tables on U. S. railways dating from the early 1930's to the mid 1950's. The Copeland maps consist of traffic density maps and tables on ton miles, freight density and traffic distribution and other railway related tables and calculations.
- Ira Silverman Railroad Menu CollectionRailroad menus in this collection date back from 1968 to recent Amtrak excursions. The collection addresses menus from the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and all of Western Europe.
- John A. Swider Timetable CollectionThis collection consists of 919 rail and bus timetables from the United States and Canada collected by Mr. John A. Swider, of Mount Prospect, Illinois. The collection comprises timetables issued 1880 through 2006, with the majority dating from the 1930s through the 1990s. It includes timetables focused on the Chicago metropolitan area, and on travel to the San Francisco, Chicago, and New York World’s Fairs.
- William R. Hough Timetable CollectionThe William R. Hough Timetables Collection consists of 812 timetables issued between 1907 and 2016. There are 753 railroad, 20 ship, 9 bus, and 3 airline timetables. The collection is primarily North American in scope, while also including some European and Australian content.
Selected Early Rail Periodicals
The Transportation Library holds several nineteenth and early-twentieth century railroad periodicals in our collections. A selection is below; to find additional titles, search our catalog.
- The Railway AgeCall Number: Main Library Transportation Library Periodicals (Shelved by title)The library's holdings date back to 1878.
- Railway Age GazetteCall Number: Main Library Transportation Library Periodicals (Shelved by title)The library's holdings date from 1910 to 1917.
Directories
- The Biographical directory of the railway officials of AmericaCall Number: HE2723 .W628Publication Date: 1885;1887;1893;1896;1901;1906;1913;1922
- Manual of the railroads of the United StatesCall Number: HE2721 .P823Publication Date: 1868/1869-1894
Search Our Collections
Search our collections by railroad name to find all of our holdings on a given railroad.
- NUsearch This link opens in a new windowNUsearch is the main search tool for Northwestern University Library, combining the library catalog with a wealth of other databases and online collections.