Iron Ore and the Chicago & North Western Railway

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Hi. Welcome to my auction. 's what's up for bid today: Although I had access to a large collection of rail data in my own right I also had a friend in the rail industry who had access to all kinds of operating data about trains and operations of yards, mines, terminals, engine facilities, and the like. He did consulting work and needed this information in order to do his job. This is one of those items. It's a copy*** (not the original) in a clear front binder of a report called --- "Iron Ore and the Chicago & North Western Railway." It is dated 10/1/70 prepared by the CNW C&NW. Looks like it's about 75 pages, all text and charts, on all manner of topics about how the Chicago Northwestern moved iron ore out of Michigan and Wisconsin. Covers the railroad, the mining companies, the iron ore plants, the mines, the boats, and so forth. Lots of statistics too. The original document was typewritten and copied and put into binders for distribution to employees, consultants and contractors who needed all of this supporting detail about w the ore was mined and how it was moved. This is one of those copies in a new binder. If you're into iron ore, ore mining, taconite processing, lake boats, rail transportation of iron ore on the C&NW or the LS&I then this will be very useful and interesting information for sure since it addresses all of these topics in detail -- and many more as well. *** (Note: When my auction says something is a copy, then it is a COPY. If it was an original then the auction would say authentic original or vintage master. But please keep in mind that 99% of the railroad documentation that was distributed to employees was a copy, not an original. Railroads are by nature notoriously cheap, they save every penny they can, and they also change their minds like the wind changes direction. The whole reason an original plan or master plan was created was TO COPY IT so it could be distributed to populations of concerned employees in the various operating and executive departments who needed that information. When things changed, the original was changed, then recopied, then redistributed. That's how it works. If you're one of those people who "only buys originals" then you've already missed out on 99% of the railroad data that could have come your way and I won't beat a dead horse on that subject other than to say that if the railroads had that attitude t'd be no railroads. When I offer a copy I offer the copy so that the information CAN BE SHARED with more people than just me. When I offer an original I offer that original because I don't want to keep it in my collection. I mention this for the less educated crowd of rail enthusiasts who want to know more about how railroads work. Back at the turn of the Century the CB&Q railroad had a tremendous fire in their headquarters building in Chicago and nearly every original document, plan, and drawing was destroyed by fire. T was no time to redraw every one of the thousands of plans that immediately needed to be recreated from the ashes. So the call went out to every station on the line to send back any and all plans that had been copied and distributed to them previously, no matter how trivial they might have seemed. Those copies became the Burlington's new masters and in fact were copies or copies of copies. So really, many of the early plans from CB&Q are copies of copies of copies and not even copies of masters since the masters were obviously destroyed. My point in sharing this story is to educate people that rail data in any form is a rapidly disappearing commodity. In my lifetime many things have come to my attention only one time and sadly I missed out by thinking another "better one" will show up one day. That is flawed thinking. The reality is that if YOU see something you think you might need for your project or collection, your best bet is to buy it when you see it, because it may not appear again in your lifetime. At least consider this so you get what little data is out t covering the topics near and dear to you... read more

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