References to railroad names

Sources of railroad and railroad-related company names

The cataloguing of certificates depends on the names of railroad companies. The very first step, many years ago, was to try to compile the most extensive list of company names possible. Since that time, thousands of new names have emerged.

New company names are getting harder and harder to find, although I still add a few every year. I also remove names when it becomes obvious that original sources were erroneous. For instance, historical references were frequently lackadaisical about both spelling and the distinction between "railroad" and "railway" in company names.

This page displays a nearly complete list of the sources where I originally found names of railroads, railways and companies closely related to railroading.

If I were to classify them, I would say that company names tend to originate from five types of sources.

Published references. This includes books, magazines, and security-related publications such as Moody's, Poor's and material that originated with the now-defunct Interstate Commerce Commission.

Existing documents. This category encompasses all sorts of documents that bear company names. Documents include stocks, bonds, receipts, passes, tickets, menus, paper money, advertising and bills of lading. They may also include collectible and museum artifacts such as locomotives, rail cars, china, lanterns, calendars, photographs, and so forth. Unfortunately, these kinds of primary sources usually offer only one or two new names at a time and their appearances are completely random.

Internet sources. Certain kinds of websites are valuable for accumulating company names including sites maintained by states, railroad companies and historical societies. Unfortunately – and this problem grows every day! – web sources are notoriously transient. Please consider that EVERY website in the world is only one button click from going dark.

Contributions from correspondents. These are contributions of names that originate from research by private individuals who correspond with me. For privacy reasons, I do not list their names in the list below. In general, I try to confirm such private information from other public sources.

Personal sources. I have had the great fortune of scanning and indexing hundreds of thousands of maps and documents related to the Union Pacific Railroad and its huge land grant that stretched from Omaha to the Great Salt Lake. During that adventure, I stumbled across numerous company names missing from any of the other sources.

The online database currently holds over 24,700 company names of railroads founded within North America. Following is a list of every name source I have recorded. However, there are many, many additional sources I may never have time to examine. Please let me know if you have references that include company names I have missed.

This list of references was last updated Friday, May 15, 2020