A distinguished professor at Notre Dame, much of Jim’s free time was spent gathering railroad documents and researching train operations. Over the years Jim was able to gather hundreds of train consists (aka “wheel reports”) from railroads throughout the Midwest. Many he gathered himself during railfan trips while others were obtained by exchanging documents with his network of like-minded friends. When Jim moved to a different location in the early 2000s, the downsizing prompted him to offer his extensive collection to Mark Amfahr who eagerly accepted it. Thanks to their collective efforts, hundreds of historic train consists have been preserved and are available to us today.
Below is a general description of the collection which Mark has generously maintained and offered to share. Due to time constraints only a small portion of the collection has been scanned at this time. If you have a particular interest in any of the consists in the collection that have not yet been scanned, contact us with a request, mentioning any specific year and location interests that you may have. If we’re able to locate any requested consists, we’ll be happy to scan and share them.
If anyone has a photo of Jim railfanning that could be posted here, please let me know. Thanks!
C&NW
CNW 142 into Proviso 9-13
CNW 142 into Proviso 9-16
CNW 252 into Proviso 9-14
CNW 252 into Proviso 9-15
CNW 252 into Proviso 9-16
CNW 254 into Proviso 9-14
CNW 260 into Proviso 9-14
CNW 260 into Proviso 9-15
CNW 260 into Proviso 9-16
CNW 292 into Proviso 9-16
CNW 294 into Proviso 9-15 partial
CNW 386 into Proviso 9-14 partial
CNW 386 into Proviso 9-16
CNW 406 into Proviso 9-14
CNW 488 into Proviso 9-14
CNW empty Granite City Ore Train 9-16
CNW Granite City Ore Train 9-14
CB&Q
NYC
NYC XN2 DeWitt to Selkirk 8-11-1963 – unfortunately this is the only NYC consist in the collection
UP
Eastbounds from North Platte:
CNW 8-5-1963
Mfst WPX Soda Ash OVE 8-5-1963
MILW Manifest Perishable 8-5-1963
OS AOS SP UX Mdse ACBQ 8-5-1963
PNF HF CBX RV 8-5-1963
RV 533 AOVE 8-5-1963
RV 534 RV 535 8-5-1963
RV WP CN UTX 2AOS 8-5-1963
2SPX CBX WX 2AOS 8-5-1963
1SPX CN 8-6-1963
Westbound from Council Bluffs:
Moving the Freight 
If you are taking requests, I would like to see the NYC from the 1960’s and the Soo Line consists from 1973 posted. Thank you for the current posts of the CNW, CBQ and UP consists.
LikeLike