SAL track profiles, data books &, annual reports

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Ok, dumb question time...bear with me (sort of a new comer here!)

I've seen several references here on the forum and in the Society's catalog to track profiles, data books and annual reports. Exactly what kind of information do this publications contain? How often were they published? How helpful would a track profile book be in modeling a specific location?

Thanks in advance for the education!

-- Bryan Payne (bpayne@stantec.com), January 02, 2003

Answers

We use "data books" as a generic term to apply to most of our reprints, including the track profiles. Some of the more common types we offer, in addition to track profiles, are: condensed rosters, which list all locos and cars with basic info such as dimensions, date built and builder, number series and quantity, special equipment or variations, and sometimes info about rebuilding or conversion from other series; diagram books, which have a dimensional drawing of each class of equipment plus details about construction, types of trucks and other appliances, date built and builder, conversion and rebuild information, etc.; and corporate histories, which detail the predecessor companies, dates of acquisition, etc. of all trackage that went into the ACL or SAL. The condensed rosters were published annually by the SAL and quarterly (later semi-annually) by the ACL, but we offer only selected dates of course. The diagram books and track profiles were fully revised and reissued only infrequently (maybe every 15 years or so), but individual pages were revised as necessary.

The annual reports were the yearly reports to stockholders of company financial performance and major changes or accomplishments, and include highlights of capital improvements (trackage added or improved, rolling stock acquired, etc.) and economic conditions that affected the railroad. The Seaboard reports from 1946-on are full of photos of equipment, industries, etc. The annual reports we sell are originals, by the way, not reprints.

-- Larry Goolsby (clgoolsby@worldnet.att.net), January 02, 2003.


Bryan,A track profile book will show you loctaions for tracks, crossings,bridges,drain pipes and signals.

-- Gary Riccio (g.riccio@worldnet.att.net), January 02, 2003.

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