A Collection of 400+ Pieces of Original Railroad Correspondence and Ephemera, Spanning Four Decades between 1919 and 1959, in Both Text and Manuscript, Relating to the Business of Former Erie Railway Company Mechanical Engineer George W. Armstrong and Other Erie Railway Mechanical Engineers

Various: Various, 1919. Manuscript. Very Good. No Binding. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. George W. Armstrong was a railway mechanical engineer who spent a number of years working for the Erie Railroad Company prior to 1919, and with the Bethlehem Steel Company during the period of this collection. Part of Armstrong's work as an engineer led to at least two articles for the Railway Mechanical Engineer journal (currently known as Railway Age), in which he discusses centralized and standardized production of locomotive services and repair parts. There's also mention of Armstrong's photography hobby in the collection, of which there are some public images available on the internet. He spent these years living in Ridgewood, New Jersey with his wife and children. Little public information is available of Armstrong and his fellow mechanical engineers and railroad men. This is a rich railroad archive of material spanning four decades, including predominantly correspondence between Armstrong, just after his departure from the Erie Railway, and other Erie mechanical engineers who had become close friends of his. There are also business-forward letters between Armstrong and a fellow engineer he attempts to recruit for new jobs. Many of the letters are on railroad letterheads, and the bulk of the collection includes conversations about the mechanical business of the locomotive era, latest developments on mutual acquaintances and personal lives, and railroad men discussing the general passage of time in relation to the railway industry as they get older and closer to retirement.in the mid-20th century. Included: Correspondence with George Sentell, an Erie Railway Company Mechanical Engineer of Meadville, Pennsylvania and close friend of Armstrong's. Includes 150+ individual leaves of predominantly manuscript correspondence between 1929 and 1932, pinned together with the original split pin. Correspondence and ephemera with John Tanis of Cleveland, Ohio, another Erie Railway Company Mechanical Engineer and close friend of Amrstrong's. All of their correspondence dates from 1950 to1959. Included are 50+ leaves bound with a split pin and 120+ leaves bound with a split pin (170+ individual leaves all together) of mainly typed letters, freight and passenger train schedules, rosters and retirements of steam and diesel locomotive builds, notes and postcards from travel destinations. Correspondence with M. J. Van Woert, another mechanical engineer of Cleveland, Ohio. In this shorter string of letters, Armstrong recommends Van Woert for a job as a mechanical engineer at B&M (Boston & Maine) and then also for another engineer position at his own Bethlehem Steel Company, in connection with the Auxiliary Locomotive design. Included are 13 leaves, manuscript and type, that are dated March and June of 1927, bound together with a gold split pin. 32 individual pieces of loose letters in both type and manuscript, many on vintage railroad and hotel letterheads, all dating from 1919 to 1949. Included are items such as one unfinished letter addressed to an unknown Mr. Kemper, presumably written by J. McMullen, whose name appears printed on the letterhead with his title, mechanical superintendent; and letters to and from William G. H. Brehmer, who charmingly nicknamed George "Army"; one Erie Railroad Co. letterhead discussing numerology and the presidential election of FDR in 1932 sent from E. A. Geoghegan, accompanied by the details of the "E. A. Geoghegan system of Numerology"; a permission letter for Armstrong to take "motion pictures" at the Erie Railway Co. facility in Jersey City, New Jersey; a few letterheads written in Armstrong's hand regarding retired locomotive models by year; and letters to and from Armstrong's railroad comrades including H. L. Burrhus, William White, F. W. Rosser and H. J. Bordwell. Railroad companies and hotels letterheads include: Erie Railway; Railway Mechanical Engineer; Hotel Pennsylvania, NYC; Noel Hotel, Nashville, TN; Hotel Kenton, Louisville; The Harrisburger, PA; Hotel Loughran, + many more.