Thurlow C. Haunton Jr. New Jersey Railroads Photograph Collection

Haunton’s collection emphasizes New Jersey short-line and industrial railroads, although larger railroad companies, trolley lines and tourist trains (either in reduced scale or with historic rolling stock) are also featured, as are a number of out-of-state railroads. Forty photograph albums comprise the bulk of the collection. They contain images depicting over 175 railroads in more than 3,500 black-and-white photographic prints and over 3,000 color prints. Also present are several dozen loose photographic prints and many hundreds of photographic negatives, together with printed ephemera, correspondence and notes.

With only a few exceptions, the photographic prints in the collection range in size from 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 to 8 x 10. Haunton himself created many of these images from 1945 to 1966 and 1986 to 2004. Other images, especially from earlier years, he collected, either as originals, as copy prints or, frequently, as commissioned prints made from the original negatives. The collected photographic prints together represent about half of the images. They include some pictures reproduced from books or postcards; however, they mostly consist of images credited to more than three dozen individuals or collections, such as John Brinckmann, Howard E. Johnston (images from the North Jersey Chapter, National Railway History Society), Bob Pennisi (images from Railroad Avenue Enterprises), Tom Taber III, Harold K. Vollrath and William S. Young.

As Haunton’s photograph albums were assembled over a more than forty-year period, the accumulated images for a specific rail company frequently appear in several different volumes. Documentation for each photograph is usually written on its back and typically includes at least the railroad name, an indication of what is depicted, the place, and the date or approximate year. Other information, such as the wheel arrangement and history of a steam locomotive or the year when specific railroad tracks were removed, is sometimes also noted.

Builder's photographs and other pictures of steam and diesel locomotives in motion, parked, abandoned or under repair are included, together with depictions of passenger cars, cabooses and specialized rolling stock. Other views show active and former train stations, water tanks, turntables, bridges, at-grade crossings and railroad tracks (occasionally abandoned). Railroad personnel appear in some of these images. Among the locomotives depicted are a few formerly used in New Jersey and examples built in Paterson, New Jersey, by the Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works.

New Jersey rail companies especially well represented include the East Jersey Railroad & Terminal Company (Bayonne, Hudson County); Hoboken Manufacturers Railroad / Hoboken Shore Railroad (Hoboken, Hudson County); Morristown & Erie Railroad (chiefly Morris County); Rahway Valley Railroad (Union County); Raritan River Railroad (Middlesex County); Tuckerton Railroad / Southern New Jersey Railroad (Ocean County); and Union Transportation Company (chiefly Burlington and Monmouth Counties). The tourist railroads depicted most frequently are the Black River & Western Railroad (Hunterdon County); the Morris County Central Railroad (Morris County); and the Pine Creek Railroad / New Jersey Museum of Transportation (Allaire State Park, Monmouth County).

The bulk of the black-and-white photographic negatives date from 1945 to 1966, although a few that are older might also be included. The color photographic negatives date from 1986 to 2004, and four of the many packets housing these negatives include loose color prints as well.

Much of the printed ephemera, in some cases present only in the form of photographic reproductions, is interspersed throughout the albums; the remainder is grouped together at the end of the collection. The ephemera consists chiefly of postcards, leaflets (often containing timetables), tickets, business cards, newsletter issues and pamphlets, although other items, such as reproductions of a few locomotive diagrams and maps, are also included.

The correspondence primarily relates to the acquisition of photographic prints.

The notes present pertain to selected railroads, both short-line and industrial, and include articles written by Haunton and by William S. Young, most of which appeared in a 1940s mimeographed railfan publication.