Joseph R. Snopek Railroad Collection

Collection

Identifier: 2003-0035

Staff Only

Scope and Content Note

The collection consists of timetables, publications, maps, train accident reports, photographic prints and negatives, postcards and ephemera of railroads of New England, particularly the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, better known as the New Haven Railroad, as well as its successor railroads of Penn Central, Conrail and Amtrak.

Series I: Timetables, publications, maps, and ephemera, consists of timetables (employee and public), books, publications, maps, fliers, ephemera, and accident reports of railroads in New England and the northeast United States, particularly those that were functioning in the period between the 1930s and the 1990s. Railroads represented include Amtrak, the Boston & Albany Railroad, the Boston & Maine Railroad, New York Central Railroad, the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, and Penn Central. Also included is literature produced by railfan groups of the northeast United States, including the New Haven Railroad Historical and Technical Association and the Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts. Of special interest are locomotive operating and instruction manuals and Interstate Commerce Commission accident reports.

These papers were collected by Mr. Snopek for his personal interest and as research materials in preparation for writing the book Diesels to Park Avenue: The FL-9 Story.

Series II: Photographs, consists of images collected and taken by Mr. Snopek throughout his lifetime, of locomotives, railroad stations and other railroad-related scenes, mostly of railroads in the northeast United States with a few from Canada and the western United States.

Prior to the donation of the collection to Archives & Special Collections the materials, particularly the photographs, were organized and meticulously listed by Robert A. LaMay, Mr. Snopek's co-author on the book Diesels to Park Avenue: The FL-9 Story. The lists Mr. LaMay created are available in each box of photographic prints as aids for access.

Dates

Creation: undated, 1902-1999

Access

The collection is open and available for research.

Restrictions on Use and Copyright Information

Permission to publish from these Papers must be obtained in writing from both the University of Connecticut Libraries and the owner(s) of the copyright.

Biography/History

Joseph R. Snopek was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1943. He graduated from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and worked for Allied Resources Corporation in East Hartford, Connecticut, as the Director for Technical Services Engineered Safety Systems and Chief Engineer. He was a resident of Granby, Massachusetts, beginning in 1965 and a member of the Civil Air Patron and the National Guard. He died on November 4, 2000, in Holyoke.

Mr. Snopek was a co-author, with Robert A. LaMay, of Diesels to Park Avenue: The FL-9 Story (Granby, MA : New England Rails Pub. Co., 1997). The EMD FL9 (New Haven Class EDER-5) was a dual-power electro-diesel locomotive, capable of diesel-electric operation and of operation as an electric locomotive powered from a third rail. Sixty units were built between October 1956 and November 1960 by General Motors Electro-Motive Division for the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad.

Extent

13 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Author of Diesels to Park Avenue: The FL-9 Story (New England Rails Publishing Company, 1997). Collection consists of photographs, timetables, track guide maps, operator manuals and freight schedules principally of northeastern United States railroads, including the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, Penn Central, Conrail, and Amtrak.

Provenance and Acquisition

The collection was donated by Mrs. Virginia Snopek of Granby, Massachusetts, in 2003.

Related Material

Archives & Special Collections has a substantial collection of materials pertaining to the railroads of southern New England, particularly the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. For detailed information on these collections please contact the curator or ask at the Reading Room desk.