seeking information on engineer and his engines

[NW Mailing List]

Unfortunately, pretty much the same answer. I'd suspect most of the  
older union records would have gone the way of the trash after they  
were of any use to the union. With the privacy act that Gary  
mentioned, everyone is under the same general rules. I know a bunch  
of N&W employee records were tossed in the 1970s. Luckily for me, one  
of the people doing the tossing recognized my father's father name on  
a file, and knew my father, and asked if he wanted the file before it  
was tossed. That was lucky, as my grandfather had lost a leg about  
1909, and was last employed as a Crossing Watchman in the 1930s  
before passing away in 1943. So his record was closed for at least 30  
years when it was to be tossed.

I strongly suspect local union records are deleted fairly quickly due  
to lack of storage spaces, as most of the union offices are rented  
space, and primarily small.

One inquiry rail historians always seem to get is "my (insert  
relative here) worked for the railroad, can you tell me anything  
about his service?" It is rare anyone can provide an answer of much  
value on the question, unless by some tiny chance they had a mention  
in the N&W magazine, or a seniority list. For years, the N&W Magazine  
published "The Innumerable Caravan" which was a list of employees or  
former employees who had passed away in recent months, these listings  
usually included an address, their last job and the date of passing.

As Gary also said, the only hope might be some paperwork your family  
may have. For union stuff, a pay stub might list a member number,  
union card, correspondence might offer some clues. You are very lucky  
when you have a time book for a trainman, however, more often than  
not, I've discovered that many of them did not keep as detailed  
notes, engine numbers, cars as we'd like. My father, again, was a  
record keeper, I have all his timebooks from date of hire in 1948 to  
retirement in 1981. He kept amazingly detailed notes about engine  
numbers, engineer name, conductor name, number of cars, loads or  
empties. He even noted in the steam era when a canteen was used. Many  
others I've seen have only a date and time, and precious little else.  
I've got some from the Shenandoah Division from the 1920s that a  
jewels of detail, except it was when the locomotives were assigned,  
so it was virtually the same locomotive day in and day out.

Good luck

Ken Miller


On Jul 7, 2009, at 9:20 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:


> I've got a similar question, which will probably result in a  

> similar answer, but I'll ask it anyway.

> I have an old Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen identification disk  

> with a member number engraved on the back and want to find out if  

> it belonged to my father, grandfather, or great grandfather.  They  

> all worked for the N&W out of Petersburg, Virginia.  I made an  

> inquiry to the United Transportation Union, but never received a  

> response.  I've searched the internet and cannot find any  

> information about Virginia BRT Lodges.  I have no idea where the  

> BRT records would have gone after the merger with the UTU.  Does  

> anyone have an idea where I might go to match that number with a name?

>

> R. W. Vaughan

>

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: NW Mailing List

> Sent: Jul 6, 2009 10:26 AM

> To: 'NW Mailing List'

> Subject: RE: seeking information on engineer and his engines

>

> Chris;  It is highly unlikely that any employment records can be  

> found.  The N&WHS doesn’t have any and the Federal Privacy Act  

> keeps the railroads from releasing any. Most older records were  

> discarded decades ago.  At any rate, the information about what  

> trains he ran and what locomotives he operated were never in  

> employment files.  For that you would need his personal time books  

> where he would record what trains he operated and (likely) what  

> locomotives he was using.  Since the engineer was paid by the run,  

> this info determined how much he was paid- weight of train and  

> weight of locomotive being critical items.  This info was in the  

> crew registers but this was usually discarded after about 6  

> months.  The Time book was the engineer’s way to check what the  

> company recorded and dispute any differences.  These are little  

> ledger books, pocket sized.  If you are lucky your family will have  

> them.

>

>

>

> The employee magazine probably does not have an article with him in  

> it.  However these were not indexed completely, so a page-by page  

> search is likely required to find anything about him.  Given that  

> the first issue was written in June of 1923, it is mostly likely  

> that no article was ever written about him.  This sort of article  

> would have been extremely rare in any case.

>

>

>

> In short it is going to be very, very difficult to construct his  

> history as for the most part the company records never had any of  

> his details of work.  Think about what is in your employment files.

>

>

>

> Gary Rolih

>

> Secretary N&WHS

>

>

>

>

>

> From: nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org [mailto:nw-mailing-list- 

> bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List

> Sent: Sunday, July 05, 2009 7:31 PM

> To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org

> Subject: seeking information on engineer and his engines

>

>

>

> I am starting a detailed geneology record of my great-grandfater,  

> and he was an engineer for the N&W.  His name was James Cecil  

> Neff.  I am seeking information on how to search for his employment  

> records, and some history on the lines and engines that he worked  

> on.  Also is there a way to find if he was the topic of any  

> articles in the N&W magazine or any other of the companies  

> documentation.  He lived in Rural Retreat, Va, Kenova, WV, and  

> Portsmouth, OH.  I have some pass cards and engineer cards dated  

> between 1905-1919.  He died in 1921.  He served at the Kenova sub- 

> division during those times.

>

> His picture did appear in a N&W magazine in July 1953(page 392).

> I have two photographs that show the engine numbers he worked on.   

> They were 1136 and 1447.

>

> Any information about him, his engines, or how to find this  

> information would be greatly appreciated.

>

> Thanks,

> Chris Neff

>

>

>

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>

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