Is there a collector's market for these?

Pete....short answer is yes there is a collectors market for them....no idea on value....hope this helps....joe

Pete,

I considered buying them myself but already have too much stuff. Would you donate them to a railroad museum - for example Danbury Railway Museum in Danbury, Connecticut?

MELGAR

Try Googling name, see what comes up.

@wbg pete posted:

Maybe there should be a test for model railroading...

Rusty

I agree with MELGRR.  A donation to a railroad museum will insure that they always receive plenty of TLC and where they can be enjoyed by future wannabe railroaders.

Choosing a career on the railroad isn't for everybody.  Waving to passing trains is much different than working all hours of the day and/or night, being assigned to the extra board until you build up enough senority to hold a regular job, or taking tests on the rules of the operating department.

wbg pete:

There's a very busy collector market for this type of material. I'm pretty active in it myself. My best advice to you would be to review recent and current listings on the big auction site. That will give you at least some idea of expected return for your items although prices can vary widely from day to day for specific items. Performing searches using phrases such as "locomotive manual" or "railroad equipment manual" should yield good results with plenty of listings. You can get even more specific by including the builder names in your search terms. These strategies have worked well for me over the years.

Good luck,

Bob

Thanks all for responding.  I was just curious; not planning on selling them anytime soon.  I'll probably donate them to a local train museum in future.

These materials came from classes that locomotive builders used to hold at their internal training departments.  Customer railroads could send employees, usually Mechanical Department officials without a background as a Machinist or Electrician on diesel-electric locomotives.  The ones you have were produced in the transition era and some steam men with Machinist or Electrician backgrounds might also have been sent at that time.  I was sent to EMD school shortly after being promoted to Road Foreman of Engines, and thought it was a pretty good basic mechanical and electrical class.  Some others had no locomotive experience at all, and the instructors paced the classes for them.  I was the only former Locomotive Engineer there, and it was easier for me to understand everything.  I learned how to trace a circuit, which helped me later.

Most of the locomotive operating manuals out there today are from the 1945-1965 era, as many railroads started their own internal schools beginning around 1960.

Tom,

Thanx!!  Good info!!