When I was doing research on the Missouri Pacific , for the caboose book, I found two sources, that might help with the SLSF. For Equipment Trust Agreements, I found copies were filed with the Secretary of State files. This was either for Missouri or Illinois, as I don't remember exactly whether it was both. I don't know if was both. I don't remember if they had other contracts, such as trackage agreements. What I think was called the History Center in Little Rock,Ark, over 15 years ago, were state records. There was one set of records, for railroads, that had a comma left out of the written inventory. When I looked at it, I found they were handwritten inventories for each railroad's roadbed , buildings and rolling stock, giving descriptions of them. I think they started in the 1880s and ended before 1914, if I remember correctly. These were tax returns. I had seen some printed copies for the St. Louis Iron Mountain and Southern, with the name of the county written on the cover, for the state of Missouri. The state of Texas had a similar law, but I don't know if any got saved there. I don't remember exactly the magazine, but I think it was a contractor group type, and I found one or two photographs of the interior of the Harvey House Restaurant in Hugo, Ok., shown in the ad of the contractor or manufacturer who supplied some of the equipment, and was congratulating them. I hope this might help someone doing SLSF research.
Thanks for the heads-up, Michael. Always good to know of any and all resources available, especially as opportunities for gathering oral histories or information by personal interviews are rapidly disappearing, if not gone altogether. Best Regards,
