Bellefonte Central Railroad records

The collection consists of extensive corporate records such as meeting minutes, agendas, payroll records, stock transfer records, high grade crossing certificates, real estate/property transactions, pensions and retirements, journals, ledgers and accounts, employee time-books and personnel files, office correspondence, auditor's reports, tax returns, inspection and repair reports, photographs, blueprints and oversized maps. More detailed information about the collection is found in the following series descriptions.

Subgroup A: Executive office records

Material in this subgroup is arranged into the following nine series:

Series 1. Board of directors

Board of directors is comprised of the agendas and minutes of the meetings of the board. The agendas and minutes document the organization and dissolution of the Bellefonte Central Railroad Company, and discuss the company's day to day business, including the conditions of the road and equipment, employee matters, operations, and finances. In addition to the Bellefonte Central minutes and agendas, the series contains minutes, correspondence, and agreements concerning the Buffalo Run, Bellefonte & Bald Eagle Railroad Company, the Bellefonte Central Transportation Company, and correspondence regarding agreements and disputes with other companies.

Series 2. General manager

General manager consists of the general manager's files and correspondence arranged chronologically. It includes correspondence of managers, Francis H. Thomas, Van S. Jodon, J. O. Talbot, George E. McClellan, and H.R. Ammerman. The general managers corresponded with other executive officers of the BFC and others including: clients, such as Chemical Lime Company; other railroad companies, such as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and Susquehanna River and Western Railroad Company; vendors of railroad and office supplies; lawyers; government agencies, such as the Pennsylvania Department of Labor, Interstate Commerce Commission, Pennsylvania Public Service Commission; organizations, such as the American Short Line Railroad Association and the American Railway Association.

The correspondence covers a wide range of topics including Railroad Mail Service, legal matters, bills, accounts, insurance, leasing and purchasing of land (right of way, wire crossing), maintenance of equipment and roads, freight rates, accidents, damage and vandalism to property, crossing signals, and requests for information from publications like Railroad Age, World Railways requests for souvenirs like passes from railroad enthusiasts. The general manager's files include reports, bylaws, account records, freight rate agreements, leases and other documents concerning the day to day operations of the railroad.

This series illustrates the rise of railroad enthusiast as there are several letters to the general manager asking for old employees' timetables, passes, and passenger tickets as souvenirs. National Railway Historical Society requested any unneeded photographs. This series also shows the company's ties to Penn State and local communities as illustrated in the local Cub Scout Pack #33 visit to the railroad's shops. In addition, its workings were studied by several engineering and business classes.

A subdivision of the general managers' correspondence series, is labeled 8639 and dates from 1933 to 1966. Arranged chronologically, it includes correspondence, stockholder information, financial statements, agreements, leases, calendars of events, drafts of reports, freight accounts, ICC reports, minutes, and agendas.

Series 3. George E. McClellan

This series contains publications, planner and daybooks, insurance papers and correspondence, high school and college student papers on the BFC, by-laws, historical information about the railroad, claims, passes, information about passenger service, reports, correspondence with businesses, railroad enthusiast, pamphlets, cartoons, and clippings.

The planners and daybooks record McClellan's daily meetings, phone calls, and actions; notes on the BFC's daily rail shipments, mileage, train service, shop activities; and notes on local events in State College and Bellefonte. These volumes comprise a good source of information about the day to day workings of the railroad company, and for comments on the interactions of the BFC with other businesses such as Scotia Mining Company, National Gypsum, and O.W. Houts.

This series also includes several papers by State College high school students about the railroad and information about the National Gypsum strike in 1968 and other strikes.

Within this series are publications including books, newspaper articles, and magazine articles concerning the BFC, other Pennsylvania railroads, and Centre County collected by George McClellan. The newspapers and magazines from which the articles were taken include the Semi-Weekly Penn State Collegian, The Centre Democrat, the Centre Daily Times, The Keystone Gazette, The Democratic Watchman, Penn State Alumni News, the Penn State Engineer, Highway Magazine, Model Builder, The College, National Gypsum News, The Sperry Review, The Pennsy, Inside Story, the Altoona Mirror, The Spectrum, and Town and Gown. Many of the articles in this series offer good sources of information on the history and local impact of the company.

Also included in this group are the book length publications, Centre County in Pictures, 1800-1950, The Image of Bellefonte, The Railroads of Pennsylvania, A Money-Flow Analysis of the Economy of Clinton County, Pennsylvania, and A Microregional Analysis of Clinton County, Pennsylvania.

Series 4. O.H. Baird

This series includes the correspondence of O.H. Baird, treasurer and secretary of the BFC. This correspondence concerns power of attorney, regulatory agencies, bills, and stockholders. This series also includes letters to Robert Frazer, President of the BFC, and Railway Express Company statements. Letters to and from Baird can be found in the other series of the Executive Office Files subgroup.

Series 5: F.H. Thomas and Van S. Jodon

This series contains the correspondence of BFC President F.H. Thomas and Vice President Van S. Jodon. This correspondence concerns the purchase of railroad parts and equipment, fuel, applications for employment, tariffs, and freight matters.

Series 6: H.D. Brigstocke

This series contains the correspondence of BFC President Brigstocke. The correspondence discusses stock and bonds, business with the PRR, division cases, freight traffic, and finances.

Series 7: Robert Frazer

This series includes the correspondence of BFC President Robert Frazer, covering everyday matters of the BFC including mail shipments, taxes, stocks, agreements with vendors and customers, and shipments. Frazer's correspondence books contain copies of letter, reports, and agreements. Accompanying these reports and letters are sketches of the road, drafts of stock certificates, and financial information.

Series 8: Traffic manager

This series consists of the records of the traffic manager, primarily T.D. Geoghegan. It includes correspondence, agreements, and office files concerning the freight rates of different materials, passenger matters, divisions, routing, and tariffs. The office files contain memos and letters from the American Short Line Railroad Association, and the Interstate Commerce Commission. It also includes correspondence between the traffic manager and other BFC executive officers with clients and the agents of other railroad companies such as the Baltimore and Ohio, and the PRR. T.D.

Series 9: Van S. Jodon

This series contains the correspondence of BFC executive officer Van S. Jodon. Jodon's correspondence is with BFC employees, executive officers, and stockholder; other railroads' agents; lawyers; and other companies. The correspondence includes applications for employment, real estate inquires, freight rates and tariffs matters, equipment orders, and bills.

Included in this series are letters to and from Chairman Robert Frazer, Treasurer O.H. Baird, and Jodon concerning the increases and decreases in shipping, the state of the roads and equipment, payroll and finances, the issuing and transferring of shares of stock. This correspondence includes descriptions of how the activities of local businesses, Penn State College, the PRR, and the government affected the BFC. Much of this correspondence deals with Jodon's work as General Manager; similar correspondence can be found in the General Manager series.

Subgroup B: Finance and accounting

The Finance and accounting subgroup is comprised of four series: Bookkeeping; Journal entries; Material reports; and Tax. These series provide information about the yearly and monthly financial status of the company.

Series 1: Bookkeeping

This series includes balance sheets, operating statements, income account statements, checks, vouchers, invoices, accountants' audit reports, cash books, and ledgers. The balance sheets report the monthly assets; liabilities such as accounts payable, wages and accrued taxes; and shareholder' equity. The operating statements give the costs of maintenance, traffic, wages, and other expenses. The income account statements record operating revenue, tax information, and additional sources of income. The ledgers, cashbooks, and journals record the daily and weekly movement of money.

Series 2: Journal entries

This series contains journal entries and trial balances. The journal entries record monthly operating expenses, accrued taxes, revenue from freight operations and demurrage (the fee for detaining a freight car), cash distribution and receipts, rent income, investments, and additional sources of expenditure and income. This series provides monthly accounts of the company's finances; yearly information can be found in the Tax series.

Series 3: Material reports

This series contains monthly material reports that record the BFC's purchase, use, and cost of materials such as brake shoes, fuel oil, rail, and cross ties.

Series 4: Tax

This series contains federal income, state income, gross receipts, corporate loans, and capital stock returns and reports. The income tax returns provide the BFC's gross income and deductions taken for depreciation, rent, maintenance, and other business expenses. The capital stock tax returns give the amount the company's stock is worth for the given year. Correspondence related to tax is also in this series.

Subgroup C: Legal

Material in this subgroup is comprised of two series:

Series 1: Lawsuits

This series contains correspondence, decrees, statements, and additional legal documents surrounding three lawsuits: Charles Breck vs. The Buffalo Run, Bellefonte & Bald Eagle Railroad Company; M.C. Gephart vs. BFC; and Cann vs. BFC. Additional legal documents can be found in the Regulatory Agencies series.

Series 2: Real estate agreements and projects

This series contains the agreements between the BFC, private individuals, and other companies regarding the use of land. These agreements consist of deeds, right of ways, encroachment agreements, quit claims, and indentures. This series is an excellent source of maps, blueprints, and other cartographic material; cartographic material can also be found in the Agreements and project series of the Operation series. This series also contains correspondence about the sale of BFC property after the company was sold.

Subgroup D: Operations

The Operations subgroup contains six series: Agreements and projects; Artifacts; Locomotives; Reference; Time books; and Waybills.

Series 1: Agreements and projects

This series contains agreements made between the BFC, individuals, other companies, and local government about land use, proposed extensions and connections, line crossings, grade crossings, demurrage, and other miscellaneous projects. In additional to written agreements, this series also contains a large quantify of maps and blueprints that show BFC shop areas, stations, bridges, tracks, branches, and surrounding land. As well as showing the locations of existing BFC stations and tracks, this series also contains maps and blueprints of proposed connections and lines.

Series 2: Artifacts

This series consists of 7 items, 6 ink BCRR stamps and 1 set of keys to the office, machine room, and tool room.

Series 3: Locomotives

This series consists of inspection and repair reports, records of train and motor car movements, and the records of individual locomotives. The monthly and annual locomotive inspection reports give the condition of the gears, valves, gauges, and other mechanical parts of the locomotives. The daily movement reports note the times the trains arrived at the railroad stations and the weather. The service dates, retirement dates, maintenance records, and values of locomotives, cabooses, coaches, flat cars, gondolas, weed cars, and non-locomotive passenger bus are located in this series as well.

Series 4: Reference

This series consists of ten reference books owned by the BFC covering topics such as mechanical drawing, mechanical seals, arithmetic, lubrication, catalogs, and railways.

Series 5: Time books

This series contains monthly time books in which foremen recorded the names, occupations, times worked, and amount earned by roadway department employees. Filed with the time books are the daily reports of the gang foremen which record names of employees, times worked, and the nature of the work. Also filed with the time books are Time Return and Delay Report of Engine and Train Employees forms which give the times engine went off and on duty, and arrived and departed from stations.

Series 6: Waybills

This series includes waybills, freight bills, shipping forms, and interchange sheets. The waybills and freight bills record the freight shipments of the BFC. The outbound freight was primarily lime and limestone shipped by National Gypsum Company, and Domtar Chemical. Inbound shipments were made to local business such as O.W. Houts, and to Penn State University. The inbound freight was more varied consisting of lumber, food, and a variety of other goods. This series also records the amounts due to the BFC and to other carries for making these shipments.

Subgroup E: Personnel

Restricted. Aggregate data may be collected from these files. But individual files cannot be used until the individual is deceased. Many of the files contain obituaries or funeral cards. Genealogists will find valuable information. This subgroup contains two series: Employee files and Payroll.

Series 1: Employee files

This series consists of files on individual BFC employees, employment applications, accident reports, insurance information, and forms. The individual employee files typically contain employment applications, physical records, dates of employment, injury reports, Railroad Retirement Board documents, and correspondence. Some employee files also include newspaper clipping about employees, correspondence from family members, and funeral cards.

Application letters and copies of replies show the strain the Depression put on the railroad industry. The BFC, which had to reduce its own work force, received job application from freight agents, claim agents, dispatchers, clerks, from railroads across the country trying to secure work.

Series 2: Payroll

This series contains the operating payroll, general office payroll, withholding tax statements, employee's personal records which report quarterly earnings, Railroad Retirement Board returns, workmen's compensation accident reports, and insurance records.

Subgroup F: Photographic

Series 1: Negatives

This series consists of negatives removed for preservations from the 8639 sub-series and other series. The negatives show BFC property, and property damage resulting from flooding and accidents. Prints of many of these negatives are located in the Photographs series.

Series 2: Photographs

This series consists of prints depicting engines, passenger and baggage cars, BFC employees, State College Station, and other stations and yards. Also included are pictures of local business that the BFC worked with, such as O.W. Houts, and American Lime & Stone Co.

Included in this series are prints from Penn State's Department of Public Information showing trains at State College Station and BFC trains delivering coal to Penn State's Power Plant.

Subgroup G: Railroad capitalization

The Railroad capitalization subgroup contains two series, Stock certificates and Stockholder reports.

Series 1: Stock certificates

The Stock certificates series contains BFC stock certificates, stock certificates from other companies such as Coleville Water Company and Bellefonte-State College Area Industrial Development Corporation. It also includes stock agreements, stock correspondence, and mortgage bonds.

Series 2: Stockholders reports

This series contains documents surrounding the annual meeting of the BFC stockholders including annual reports to the stockholders, officer election returns and ballots, correspondence, notes, and newspaper clippings. The BFC annual reports to the stockholders detail the expenses, income, assets, and liability of the company. In addition to presenting numerical information, the reports explain the changes in income and expenditures; the status of the clients, such as Scotia Mining Company; and describe the condition of BFC equipment and road. Capital stock files, stock transfer information, lists of stockholders, stockholder correspondence, and dividend checks are also located in this series.

Subgroup H: Regulatory agencies

This subgroup is organized by federal and state government agency into four series: Pennsylvania Bureau of Railways, Pennsylvania Department of Internal Affairs, Interstate Commerce Commission, and Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission/ Pennsylvania Public Service Commission. These series include copies of the reports and other documents submitted by the BFC to these agencies; documentation which captures a large amount of information about the relationships between the BFC and other entities.

The BFC submitted annual reports to all four regulatory agencies. While varying slightly in content, the annual reports submitted to these government agencies give a brief history of the company, the names and address of the directors, stockholder information, the names and addresses of the officers, mileage of the road, information about capital stock and finances, number and class of employees, volume of passengers and freight, and description of equipment. Not all reports in these series are entirely completed, but these documents give good annual overviews of the company's road, property, finances, expenditures, income, employees and salaries, traffic and mileage, and equipment.

Series 1: Pennsylvania Bureau of Railways

The annual reports submitted to the Bureau of the Railways, Department of Internal Affairs, by the BFC RR comprise the first series of this subgroup.

Series 2: Pennsylvania Department of Internal Affairs

This series consists of two annual reports submitted to the Secretary of Internal Affairs.

Series 3: Interstate Commerce Commission

This series consist of annual reports, valuation reports, finance dockets, investigation and suspension dockets, regulation booklets, authorities for expenditure, reports of excess service, monthly accidents reports, tariffs, and correspondence related to the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). The ICC dockets show the constant disputes over rates, division of joint rates, and other matters between the ICC, the BFC, the PRR, other railroad companies, and the businesses that relied on the railroads to ship their products. This series shows the increasing government regulation of railroad companies, and provides a clear picture of the BFC's holdings and financial status.

Subseries: Valuations

This subseries includes reports made to the Interstate Commerce Commission, Bureau of Valuation. The valuation and completion reports detail annual and semi-annual property changes and values of the road, equipment, and general expenditures. This subseries also contains correspondence and notes concerning the valuation returns.

Series 4: Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission/Pennsylvania Public Service Commission

This series consists of annual reports, and other document related to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PA PUC) and the Pennsylvania Public Service Commission (PA PSC). The complaint dockets heard by the state regulatory bodies show conflicts over the rates of shipping different types of material, and divisions of joint rates that are similar to the ICC dockets. The dockets involve the BFC, the PRR, other railroads, and businesses such as Centre County Lime Co., Susquehanna Stone, and American Window Glass. In addition to rates case the Pennsylvania regulatory bodies also received monthly accident reports, information about grade crossings, and bridge inspections.