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BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD COMPANY LOCOMOTIVE
CLASSIFICATION BLUE PRINT FIELD HANDBOOK- IDENTIFIED TO
A B&O RR EMPLOYEE ca. 1920: Discovered tucked
away on a bookshelf in an old estate in San Antonio,
Texas, this very special, and quite possibly unique as a
single surviving example,
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company Locomotive
Classification Blue Print Field Handbook is a wonderful
piece of American railroad history. Through researching
the name of the B&O RR employee which is written on the
reverse of the first cover sheet in the book, it has
been determined this handbook was used as a reference
during the 1915-1920 Railroad Property Valuation Report
initiated by the Interstate Commerce Commission.
Measuring 6 ½” by 3 ½”, the book is bound in a black
leatherette cover and contains 136 pages – each an
individual, very detailed blueprint plan of a particular
locomotive providing class, dimensional, weight, boiler
pressure, and specific engine numbers assigned to those
locomotives of that particular design owned by the B&O
RR. The last few blueprints detail tenders and the
different truck – or wheel assembly – designs then in
use. While none of the locomotive plans are dated, it
is obvious they are all of the designs in use during the
1800’s, with one notable blueprint of the “Grasshopper
Engine” annotated as having been “Donated to the Field
Museum”, believed to be a reference to the Chicago Field
Museum. The truck blueprints do bear dated notations
indicating the year that particular design was first
made including 1881, 1883, 1888, 1891, 1896, 1900, and
the latest being 1902.
Written in ink on the reverse of the first page is the
name “Roye C. McDiarmid”. Fortunately a very unusual
name and an unusual spelling that allowed us to identify
the man. McDiarmid was employed by the B&O RR in 1920
in the Valuation Department of the Cincinnati, Ohio
office.
It was during this period of employment that McDiarmid
is most likely to have come into possession of this
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company Locomotive
Classification Book, and he would have used it to
identify specific locomotives owned by the B&O in order
to record the location, condition, and serviceability of
the equipment on his reports.
McDiarmid's biography and a synopsis of the 1915-1920
Railroad Property Valuation Project can be viewed below
the photographs that follow, and a copy of the biography
will accompany the sale of this book.
The book is in excellent condition with all of the pages
intact, the covers showing no wear or damage and none of
the blueprint pages are faded, torn or otherwise damaged
save for some very minor edge wear.
Although originally intended to be nothing more than a
basic field reference that the employees could carry in
their back pocket, this book has survived in excellent
condition as a detailed historical record of the
locomotives in use by one of the cornerstone companies
of the American railroad system, as well as being
identified to one of the employees of the company
assigned to participate in the monumental Railroad
Property Valuation Project.
This collection of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Locomotive Blue Prints is not only a unique railroad
artifact, but a valuable reference as well. $1050
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ROYE C. McDIARMID
Roye C. McDiarmid was born on January 14, 1889 in
Little Rock, Arkansas, to George C. and Evelyn
McDiarmid. The third child, Roye had a brother, George
C., and a sister Gladys. By the time the 1910 US Census
was taken, the family was residing in Cincinnati, Ohio
which became the family home for the next several
decades.
Roye Clare McDiarmid completed a World War One Draft
Registration Card in 1918, providing that he was born on
January 1, 1889, was a tool designer and draftsman
employed by the Wright Airplane Company in Dayton, Ohio,
and was residing on Wabash Avenue.
When he enlisted in the US Naval Reserve Forces on
November 14, 1918, he was issued Serial Number
278-64-54, and provided his address as 3529 Wabash
Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio – his parent’s address.
McDiarmid was reported in the 1920 US Census as
residing with his parents at the Wabash Avenue address
in Cincinnati, and was listed as a draftsman employed by
a railroad.
In the May, 1920 edition of the Baltimore and Ohio
Magazine, the company magazine published by the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, McDiarmid was reported to
be working in the “Valuation Department” at the
Cincinnati office (1).
It was during McDiarmid’s employment with the
Valuation Department that he most likely came into
possession of this Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company
Locomotive Classification Book.
In the early 1900’s the Interstate Commerce
Commission (ICC) undertook a massive project to
inventory almost every aspect of the U.S. railroad
system for the purpose of determining a net worth for
each railroad, which was then used to calculate
passenger and freight rates. The majority of the
valuation records were created between 1915 and 1920 in
a combined effort by the ICC and railroad engineers,
providing a comprehensive history of the railroads in
the United States from their beginning until the project
ceased in the 1960s.
The valuation records held by the National Archives
consume an impressive eleven thousand cubic feet of
space and have proved useful to model railroaders,
historic preservationists, railroad history buffs, and
genealogists. The basic valuation records contain
information regarding railroad facilities in specific
locals, land owned by the railroads and the date and
nature of the acquisition, and the lands adjacent to
railroad owned property during the period 1915-1920, and
include land, engineering, accounting reports and
supporting documentation, field notes and maps. These
valuation records were updated on a periodic basis with
engineering reports that tracked the changes in
facilities and rolling stock owned by a railroad from
the period of the basic valuation to the 1960s.
A typical example of the valuation records held by
the National Archives is the record file pertaining to
the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad's Camden Station
in Baltimore, Maryland. The file includes maps and
detailed track plans for Camden Yards and the immediate
vicinity, the engineering field notes, construction
details, drawings and photographs (interior and exterior
views) of the station, warehouse buildings, roundhouse,
train shed, freight office, and other railroad
structures in the yard. (2)
This Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company Locomotive
Classification Book would have been used by McDiarmid to
identify specific locomotives owned by the B&O in order
to report the location, condition, and serviceability of
the equipment on his reports.
It appears McDiarmid was employed specifically for
this Valuation Project, and once the project was
completed or began to wind down, he left the employ of
the B&O to attend the University of Cincinnati where he
graduated in 1923.
As reported in the 1930 US Census, McDiarmid was aged
31 and living in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, was married to
Josephine McDiarmid, had one child, Jane, aged 7, and
was employed as a secretary at a building supply
company.
A World War Two US Army Enlistment Record dated May
15, 1942, was found for Roye C. McDiarmid, born 1899 in
Arkansas, then living in Los Angeles, California. He
provided that he had completed 4 years of college and
was employed in the civilian world as a Civil Engineer.
While in California, Roye was issued a social security
number.
Roye C. McDiarmid died in August of 1976, at the age
of 77, in Dalton, Georgia.
1. Baltimore and Ohio Magazine May, 1920;
(Hopkins Transportation Library, Stanford University)
2. “Archivist's Perspective - Riding the Rails
Up Paper Mountain: Researching Railroad Records in the
National Archives” by David A. Pfeiffer; Prologue
Magazine, Spring 1997, Vol. 29, No. 1 (National
Archives publication)http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1997/spring/railroad-records-1.html
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