Unusual Collection

I think I would toss it.

If he thought enough of it to collect all those pictures, I would keep them. Nice for quick reference.

I found something similar about 25  years ago at a local train show.  A scrap book on the great northern.  Chances of finding something like this in Ohio are pretty slim but it was at the show.  The tag says $55 and has 38 pages with about 175 pictures, postcards, etc. 

Sam, that was a pretty good find,  it looks like the pages are still in good shape.

Mom and Dad were from Beaver Falls. I'll ask him if he ever heard of him.

This is fantastic!  I see a scanning project in your future .  

I also had local connections, all deceased.  If any photos show locomotives with Union Barge/Dravo tow boats in the background, I'd be over the moon. But those photos look well cropped around the engines.

Out of curiosity, I entered Mr. Hahn's name into Ancestry's records search.  I figured a census hit might reveal his occupation.  No luck, but there could be a problem using the search form on an iPad.

I'll try sometime later from my PC.  No Google hit, either. What a fun find.

Tomlinson Run Railroad

I got these books while in Jacksonville Florida from a third party, they were on their way to the dumpster. 

I'll look through the pictures to see if I can find any tow boats. 

Oh my gosh.  That's even more remarkable.  Thanks for offering to look for tow boats, Boomer, but take your time (i.e., no rush).  I've yet to find any useful photographic evidence between the tow-boats and the local railroads other than the railroad tracks :-).  (Same with Dravo's war time ships -- lots of rails/boats but few photos to connect the two operations.)

Best,

TRRR

This might be him:

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQQ6-WJ4

and this likely is; it even mentions his NRHS membership:

https://www.newspapers.com/cli...louis_hahn_obituary/

Wow Becky & Tom thank you very much,  I'm sure that must be him also, especially with a daughter living in Jacksonville.  Did you notice what year he passed away ? 

I'll print that out to keep with the books.

I really appreciate you taking the time to look up this information for me. 

Doug 

I had to search the page, but the upper right corner of the obit says it's from June 28, 2000. Pretty cool that Becky, Tom & Gabe were able to find this info, nice search job there! 

That's a neat collection of stuff. Looks like he put in a lot of effort to create this collection, maybe even his life's work on his passion of trains. I think it would be a shame to not preserve it somewhere in some way. 

It's sad that when we pass on and no one shares our interests when we are gone. Everything we cherished in life just goes by the wayside or to the dumpster. I understand that others have different interests, but still sad none the less. Hate to say it, but I am guilty of the same thing in regard to my relatives that have passed on. 

A lot of you know I knit and crochet. I rarely buy yarn because every year or so somebody hands me a bag of Grandma’s crochet stuff. This year a friend who doesn’t craft gave me a small briefcase full of hooks, needles and accessories, most of which I have already put to use at least once. You know that old saying about trash and treasure...

About how I found Louis Hahn: Family Search is a free service of the Mormon church. The search engine is a little odd, so it helps to poke at it a few different ways if you don’t find what you need right away. Even if you subscribe to Ancestry, if you use Family Search first you’ll have better terms to narrow down the choices.

I also subscribe to newspapers.com and will gladly look up people and events. They don’t have all of the newspapers in the country, and some they charge extra for, but a lot of articles will be passed around by wire service. They also have a free one-week trial if you know what you’re looking for (but be warned that it gets addictive when you start digging into old Christmas ads or railroad news.)

—Becky

Great collection! A lot of time spent putting it together! I'm originally from Pittsburgh, upriver from Beaver Falls. Interesting because Louis has the same last name as me!! But, no relation.

TomlinsonRunRR: My dad's best friend (long ago), worked at Dravo on Neville Island. He built Barges. 

Small world!!

Thank you everyone for your comments and support of this unusual find, 

RTR-12 , you expressed my feelings exactly.  One has to appreciate the efforts that Louis put into this collection and to keep doing it for about 10 years.  One has to wonder why he stopped in 1954, or did the collection continue on and I only got a portion of it ?

Becky,  thanks again for finding the obituary .

Pete, yes it is a small world !

This is just one of the pictures from book #1

Dad never heard of him.

Little Giant posted:

Great collection! A lot of time spent putting it together! I'm originally from Pittsburgh, upriver from Beaver Falls. Interesting because Louis has the same last name as me!! But, no relation.

TomlinsonRunRR: My dad's best friend (long ago), worked at Dravo on Neville Island. He built Barges. 

Small world!!

Hi Pete, that's a nice local connection. The "Images of America" publishers did a photo book of Neville Island should your know anyone who would be interested.

A little off topic but I've often thought that Neville Island would provide some great RR modeling opportunities.  My grandfather worked in freight and then passenger service for the Pennsylvania Railroad out of Trafford, PA.  He then became superintendent of transportation at Union Barge (owned by Dravo) overseeing moving goods from Pittsburgh down the river system to New Orleans and back again.  I've been fascinated by the RR and barge operations element.  Thus, my wistful hope this treasure trove might have some photos connecting the two modes of transportation.

Becky, thanks for the Family Search tip.  It is amazing to see large blocks of family members turn up in the various Federal censuses as working for the railroad. 

Boomer, thanks for the teaser photo taken from Vol. 1.  There is a tremendous amount of information in that photo caption!  Wow.

TRRR

I didn't give much thought to the last date being 1954, but you are right, I think it would be odd that he stopped then? You never know what could have happened? Maybe he did continue and there is more out there somewhere, maybe another family member, or the rest was disposed of? Would be interesting to know what actually happened.

Neville Island shipyards on Historic Pittsburgh:

https://historicpittsburgh.org...:MSP285.B030.F33.I02

and

https://newsinteractive.post-g.../digs-aerialneville/

And

https://heinzhistorycenter.wor...ion-lst-photographs/

(Yes, I am also fond of the river and what goes on it.)

As for the 1954 end to Louis Hahn’s scrapbooking, he and his wife had children about then. I reckon a Lionel or Marx set may have helped keep him busy.,Also, he may have run out of steam engines, especially after they moved for his work. 

Thanks Becky,  that could be the answer.