Maintenance-of-Way Standard Drawings Vol. 1

Trackside structures, signs, motor car and related structures, miscellaneous. 122 pages (8½ x 14) This book contains samples of standard drawings issued by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, and by the combination of Van Sweringen railroads (The Nickel Plate Road, Erie Rail Road, Pere Marquette Railway, and C&O), for use by its maintenance-of-way forces.

Almost from the outset, railroads, because of their large physical plants and widespread operations, had to standardize materials and practices so that their right-of-way was uniform throughout and so that standard-designed materials could be purchased or manufactured in all areas of the railroad s operation. Standards ranged from large buildings (stations, engine houses, etc.) to spikes, chairs, tools, shelving, and almost every other “thing” that the railroad used in the conduct of its business.
In 1923 the Van Sweringen brothers of Cleveland began to assemble a huge railroad empire that eventually encompassed financial control of the Nickel Plate Road, Chesapeake & Ohio, Erie, Hocking Valley, and Pere Marquette. They organized consolidated engineering and mechanical committees in their Cleveland headquarters that established uniform standards for all these lines. These committees drew on the best engineering talent from all the railroads involved. Over time they issued numerous standard drawings. These drawings were used by the C&O down to very recent times (the 1970 s), and therefore a study of the more interesting of these standards is useful not only for the modeler wanting to recreate the C&O s right-of-way in exacting detail, but also for the historian interested in how the railroad controlled its maintenance work and physical plant.

The drawings in this book were selected because of the general interest and possible application to modeling projects. No track standards, which really comprise the bulk of the standard drawings, have been included; a selection of these drawings are available in DS-01-203 C&O Track, Maintenance-of-Way and Roadway Structures, Drawings and Data Handbook