Photograph album entitled 'Ellichpur, Berar, India, September 1893', containing 136 captioned photographs, Sep 1889-Jul 1894, including visit to Brussels and Ostend, Belgium, 1889; Mandalay and Rangoon, Burma, Dec 1889; Bombay, India, 1892; the arrival, mounting and testing of 10 inch breech loading gun, Colabra South Battery, Bombay, Mar-Sep 1892; photograph of Lt Gen Hon Sir James Charlemagne Dormer, Commander-in-Chief, Madras, India, examining large calibre gun, Beder Fort, Beder, India, Dec 1892. Photograph album containing 150 captioned photographs, Jun 1894-Mar 1908, including Simla, India, 1894; the Bhori Ghaut Railway, and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, India, 1896-1898; Burma, 1906-1907, with printed article by Woods entitled 'A motor car in the Southern Shan hills of Burmah' from Indian Motor News, Aug 1908. Photograph album containing 84 photographs on expedition in Mongolia, Apr-May 1902, with typescript report by Woods to the Deputy Quartermaster General for Intelligence, China Force, Tientsin, North China, entitled 'General report on tour to Lama Miao and back via the Wei Chang (Imperial hunting grounds)', Aug 1902; also, printed report entitled 'China Expedition - Despatches', 24 Sep 1902, by Maj Gen O'Moore Creagh, General Officer Commanding China Force, published in The Royal Engineers Journal, 1 Jan 1903. Photograph album containing 129 captioned photographs, many colour tinted, of Japan and the USA, 1904, and the UK and Switzerland, 1905. Two photograph albums containing 72 captioned photographs including Tientsin and the Yangtse river, China, 1904, and Kilkeel, Ireland, 1905.

Papers relating to British railway history, especially that of the Great Western Railway (GWR) and railways in the London area, including books, maps, periodicals, timetables and several thousand photographs, c1920s-1980s. The books represent a strong collection on British railway history from earliest times to the early 1980s. The collection is less strong in periodicals but there are some substantial runs of major titles. There is a large collection of early railway maps including Airey and Railway Clearing House (RCH) maps; also Ordnance Survey maps and railway junction diagrams, and a substantial collection of Bradshaw guides, and working and passenger timetables, with the following archival material:

Clinker Collection comprising notes and correspondence relating to the publications of Charles Ralph Clinker on railway history, particularly his Register of closed passenger stations and goods depots in England, Scotland and Wales, 1830-1977 (1963, revised 1978) and papers relating to his 1982 revision of the History of the Great Western Railway (London, 1964) by E T MacDermot; timetables, including those for the Bristol area, 1880s-1970s; General Strike, 1926; timetables during other strikes, 1920s; Great Western and Midland, various notices; Midland and South Western Junction Railway timetables, 1885-1947; operation instructions, GWR, London Midland and Scottish (LMS), London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), Southern Railway (SR); GWR working of stations, 1939-1965; LMS Railway train marshalling, 1943-1944; LMS timetables, 1890s-1940s; train arrangements during World War One and World War Two, 1914-1918, 1939-1945; papers relating to Broadgauge conversion; papers relating to Golden Valley Railway and Leominster-Kington Railway; ephemera relating to the Hay Railway, 1811-1977; Southern Railway plans for stations west of Salisbury, 1905- (mainly 1920s-1930s); Severn Bridge, General Manager's file, 1936-1943; logging of train performances, 1918-1927; books and periodicals, including rare and 19th century printed material on the early railway system, particularly guidebooks and station instructions.

Garnett Collection, mainly comprising railway maps, particularly those produced from 1869 by John Airey, an employee of the RCH, and subsequently by the RCH itself, and also includes Ordnance Survey maps and railway maps produced by the various railway companies; catalogues and research notes by Garnett, including lists of maps prepared by Airey and the RCH, 1869-1960; Macaulay [Zachary] series for Great Britain, Ireland and London, 1851-1908; notes on tramways and railways in Port Talbot area; catalogues of station handbooks, 1851-1956, and railway junction diagrams (the Airey and RCH maps, station handbooks and junction diagrams were used to determine ownership of stations and junctions for commercial purposes).

Research notes and photographs relating to Railway structures by Stuart Kear (9 vols); typescript of Chronology of the construction of Britain's railways, 1856-1922 by Leslie James; research notes by John Palmer on 19th century railway periodicals and the Eastern Counties Railway in its formative years; research notebooks and papers of Harold Vernon Borley on the history of railways in London, used for his Chronology of London railways (Railway and Canal Historical Society, Oakham, 1982).

Locomotive and General Railway Collection, featuring several thousand photographs (photographer unknown) of British locomotives, particularly steam trains, 1920s-1970s.

Wookey Collection, comprising several thousand photographs of British railway stations and signal boxes.

Mowat Collection (of Professor Charles Loch Mowat, 1911-c1969), comprising 2500 photographs in albums of railway scenes, 1926-1969 (mostly 1942-1969, with a few before 1924). These are mostly of small and medium sized railway stations (trains are generally incidental), covering most of the United Kingdom, with particular emphasis on the GWR and Wales, with coverage of Somerset and Dorset, Midland and South Western Junction, Lincolnshire, Midland Railway in the West Country, Great Eastern, Glasgow and Edinburgh Suburban, Bristol Suburban, Ireland, and narrow gauge lines in the UK such as Ffestiniog, Penrhyn, Bishop's Castle and Ditton's Prior. He also covered south east of Manchester in 1962, including the Hayfield, Macclesfield, Buxton (London North Western and Midland) and North Staffordshire lines. The collection also includes Mowat's index to his photographs and 14 notebooks containing track diagrams and notes on the stations he photographed, c1920-1969.

Two way bills of the Stockton and Darlington Railway Company, 1862, one dated 10 Feb from Adelaide Colliery, Bishop Auckland; the other dated 13 Feb from North Bitchburn Colliery, Witton-le-Wear, Durham.

Nine notes and memoranda, 1861-1864, addressed to Rainford Junction, near St Helens on railway traffic matters, mostly from the Engineer's Office and the Passenger Dept., St Helens, but also from the Goods Dept. at Garston and Widnes Docks.

Birmingham and Gloucester Railway time book, filled in by Herbert Spencer with details of his surveying work, [1838-1839].

Two memoranda, written at Belgrade, December 1922 by Sovet Russkikh Chastnykh Zheleznykh [Council for the Russian Private Railways].

Papers of William Sherriff relating principally to historical and survey work on plans for a Burma-China railway through the Shan States of Northern Burma, [1885-1900], including a survey by Sherriff on the feasibility of a Burma to China railway for Rangoon Chamber of Commerce, [1886-1899]; article by Sherriff in the Manchester Guardian, 'Railway communication with China - The Burmah-China Railway', 09 Mar 1900; correspondence, 1888-1890; blueprints for the Burma Railways Mandalay Kunlon railway, 1899; note by [A] R Colquhoun entitled 'Amongst the Shans', 1885; report by Capt A Bowers, 'Bhamo Expedition Report in the Practicability of reopening the trade route between Burma and Western China', 1869; memorandum on a possible railway route on to the Shan Plateau, 1889; reports on the Shan States, 1887-1889 and notes by Sherriff relating to Burma.

Records of the Save the Broad Street / Richmond Line (Hampstead) Committee, including minutes, agendas, correspondence, leaflets, petition forms and financial records.

Theatre and opera programmes from Ekaterinburg and St Petersburg, Russia, 1912-1913; Trans-Siberian Railway dining car menu, 1915; International Sleeping Car and Express-Train Company leaflet of Far Eastern services, with map and timetables, 1919.

Records of Rivers Steam Navigation Company Limited, including:

1) Corporate records, Mss 27910-20;
2) Internal accounting and financial records, Mss 27921-39;
3) General correspondence, Mss 27940-5;
4) Papers concerning the operation of transport services and the development of transport generally, and the transport of particular commodities:
i) general-river, rail and road, Mss 27946-53;
ii) river transport, Mss 27954-66;
iii) rail transport, Mss 27967-72;
iv) road transport, Mss 27973-8;
v) passenger services, Mss 27979-82;
vi) tea, Mss 27983-90;
vii) coal, Mss 27991-5;
viii) jute, Mss 27996-9;
ix) miscellaneous (oil, sugar, mail), Mss. 28000-2;
5) Papers concerning post war operations and the reconstruction of the company, Mss 28003-13;
6) Fleet records, i.e. fleet lists, and records of shipbuilding, repair, losses and casualties. (NB see records of subsidiaries for Garden Reach Workshops, R.S.N.'s shipbuilding subsidiary), Mss 28014-37;
7) Records concerning co-operation and competition with Assam Railway and Trading Co, Mss 28038-43;
8) Competition with other companies, Mss 28044-54;
9) Records of terms and conditions of work, pension funds and trade unions, Mss 28055-67;
10) Investment in other companies, Mss 28068-72;
11) Maps, photographs, historical notes, Mss 28073-8;
12) Subsidiary companies:
i) Pakistan River Steamers Ltd, Mss 28079-91;
ii) Rivers Steam Navigation Co (Holdings) Ltd, Mss 28092-5;
iii) Garden Reach Workshops Ltd, Mss 28096-9;
iv) India Rivers Steam Navigation Co Ltd, Ms 28100;
v) Pakistan Rivers Steam Navigation Co Ltd, Ms 28101.

Records of the River Plate Trust Loan and Agency Company Ltd, 1876-1978, including minutes, ledgers, registers, accounts, annual reports, legal documents, insurance records, staff records, letters and files, some relating to subordinate companies (Ref: A); and records of the subsidiary companies it administered:
River Plate and General Investment Company Ltd, comprising minutes, 1888-1965, ledgers, 1888-1941, and annual reports, 1889-1983 (Ref: B);
Mortgage Company of the River Plate Ltd, comprising minutes, 1888-1965, ledgers, 1888-1953, and annual reports, 1888-1981 (Ref: C);
Compagnie Française des Chemins de Fer de la Province de Santa Fé, comprising circulars to bondholders, 1891-1947, and reports, 1936-1947 (Ref: D);
London Trust Company, comprising ledgers, 1889-1928, registers of stock, 1889-1958, and miscellaneous papers, 1819-1974 (Ref: E);
Entre Rios Railway Company, comprising reports, 1891-1900, and circulars and minutes, 1933-1947 (Ref: F);
Cucuta Railway Company, comprising Presidents' reports, 1926-1936 (Ref: G);
Montevideo Waterworks, comprising reports and accounts, 1880-1940, and notices and circulars, 1949-1953 (Ref: H);
Consolidated Waterworks of Rosario, comprising reports and accounts, 1897-1946, and notices and circulars, 1930-1955 (Ref: J);
Rosario Drainage Company, comprising reports and accounts, 1898-1947, and notices and circulars, 1955 (Ref: K);
Buenos Aires Central Railway, comprising minutes, 1916-1944 (Ref: L);
Buenos Aires and Lacroze Tramways, comprising minutes, 1932-1940, and reports and accounts, 1933-1941 (Ref: M).

This series relates to the conveyance of mail on the railways. In the latter half of the 19th century railway mail services were known as Travelling Post Offices and sorting tenders. During the early 19th century sorting tenders became known as sorting carriages. In general terminology sorting carriages were also often referred to as TPOs. The railway mail service also included bag duties or tenders. TPOs and sorting carriages comprised either special trains run exclusively for conveyance and sorting of mails or carriages on passenger trains hired to convey and sort mails. Bag duties were run solely for transportation of mails.

This series includes papers on the mail bag exchange apparatus, TPO mail circulation and sorting lists, railway rolling stock lists and diagrams, schedules of TPO services, minutes of the TPO Whitley Sub-Committee and files on TPO staffing, during railway strikes and after service alterations.

This series relates to the conveyance of mails by Underground pneumatic tube in London. It comprises reports and papers produced and used by the committee appointed in 1909 by the Postmaster General to consider the introduction of the underground transmission of mails within London and plans of the proposed route for the railway, showing rail levels and junctions. It also contains a copy of the Post Office (London) Railway act and the patent granted to Hosiah Latimer Clark for the invention of apparatus for conveying post by pneumatic tube, (POST 20/30). Papers relating to the construction, maintenance and expansion of the Post Office (London) Railway are also present including specifications, invitations to tender, conditions of contract, estimate of costs and technical plans relating to the construction of new stations, car depots, subways, additions and alterations to stations, including the fitting and maintenance of electrical equipment. This is also demonstrated through numerous plans held within the collection. As well as the Manager's annual reports, there are also numerous files of miscellaneous correspondence, memoranda and reports from the Post Office to various departments and organisations regarding the Post Office (London) Railway, historical accounts. There are also two photograph albums of railway equipment and work being carried out on it.

Some of the plans show properties purchased by the Post Office following the passage of the Post Office (London) Railway Act in 1913. There is a series of signed plans dated 26 October 1914 showing the depth and route of the Post Office (London) railway below ground with details of tunnels, shield chambers, and shafts. There is also a series of plans marking individual and corporate properties along the proposed route of the Post Office Railway.

This Class relates mainly to the railways but includes some material concerning conveyance of mail by mail coaches and steam ships.

Archives of the Peruvian Corporation, 1849-1967, comprising the surviving records accumulated at the London Office of the Peruvian Corporation. The bulk of the collection is an accumulation of files, most of which are dated after 1930, with a large proportion dating from the last ten years of the Corporation's history. Of more special note is the unusual series of photograph albums, with photographs of railways, scenery, locomotives and rolling stock dating from the early years of the 20th century. It is clear that the Corporation regularly destroyed groups of non-current records, and further papers were destroyed just before the collection reached the Library, so many expected series do not appear (for example, there are very few financial records). Apart from a full series of Annual Reports and some legal documents, there is very little material relating to the Peruvian Bondholders' Committee or to the early days of the Corporation.

List of stations on the Tomsk, Sabaikal, Omsk and Chinese Eastern Lines compiled in connection with British Military Mission in Irkutsk, USSR, 1919, with annotations made by the Commanding Officer of the mission while retreating from the Bolsheviks, 1919-1920. Passed to Percival for use on a planned round-the-world flight.

Papers and drawings relating to the Nottingham and Lincoln Railway, c1842-1867, namely:

1. Lithograph of Nottingham contract specification for execution of the works, to be completed before 1st June, 1846, with a list of 12 drawings to which the specification refers. (These do not, in most cases, correspond with the 12 numbered drawings that now accompany this document). (47 leaves. 12½" x 8").
2. Three lists of equipment and materials, compiled for comparison of the total weights various types of lifting gear will bear, c 1845. (2 leaves. 13" x 8").
3. Printed testimonials of Charles Kinder, railway engineer, 1851-1867, who was trained in the Newcastle works of Robert Stephenson, under whom he prepared the contract plans for and superintended the works on the Nottingham and Lincoln railway. (2 leaves. 9¼" x 7½").
4. 12 engineering drawings, c 1842-1845, comprising a section and plan of the railway through Belper, 1842 (27½" x 51"); sections of cuttings and embankments, numbered 5a and 6a, incomplete (19½" x 23¼"); sections of cuttings and embankments, numbered 7a and 8a (19½" x 27½"); drawings and sections of a mile and ½-and ¼-mile posts (13" x 14¼"); elevations, plans and sections for a bridge for the Flood Road, numbered 10 (this corresponds with drawing No.10 listed in the contract, p.2.); tracing on linen (24" x 72"); elevations, plans and sections for a bridge over the branch of the River Trent near the 18th mile, numbered 8; tracing on linen (24" x 36"); elevations and sections of a bridge over the River Witham at Lincoln, numbered 9; tracing on linen (24" x 36"); plan, drawings and section for a lifting gear to the bridge for crossing the canal at 14.50 chains, numbered 9; tracing on linen (24" x 36"); plan and sections for a bridge for crossing the canal at 14.50 chains, numbered 9; tracing on linen (24" x 36"); elevation, plan and section of a bridge for the footway of Queens Road, numbered 8 (this corresponds with drawing No.8 listed in the contract, pp.1-2); tracing on linen (24" x 36"); printed plan and section, with manuscript additions, of the proposed railway line from Nottingham to Lincoln (this sheet, numbered 1, shows the town of Nottingham and 1 mile East - i.e. to the parish boundary), surveyed by J.G.Binns in 1844 (19½" x 27"); printed plan and section, with manuscript additions, of the proposed railway line from Nottingham to Lincoln (this sheet is unnumbered but is the final one of a set; it shows the city of Lincoln and 1 mile West), endorsed 'Nottingham and Lincoln Railway. The ends of the working plans and sections' (19½" x 26½").

Photocopies of papers relating to his internment as a POW by the Japanese, 1943, comprising account of the treatment of H Force during their work on the Burma-Thailand railway, 1943, written [for the Malayan Government] in 1945; notebook containing financial accounts and a register of deaths for 5 Bn, H Force, 1943; account of the experiences of 1 Subsection, H Force, Sep-Nov 1943, written in 1943.

Revised rules book owned by A. Curtis.

Papers of George Webb Medley, 1875-1893, comprising 130 volumes of press-cuttings, mostly from the national press such as The Times, Pall Mall Gazette, The Echo, and The Daily News. Some volumes are indexed. Subjects include Egypt, 1875-1885 (reference Medley 1-10); Political Economy - statistics and taxation, c 1879-1893 (Medley 11-20, 47-48, 50); Conservative Party including Lord Randolph Churchill, speeches of Lord Salisbury, c 1880-1885 (Medley 21-46); Blasphemy - the law, 1883 (Medley 49); the Franchise, 1883-1884 (Medley 51-53); Church and State, 1883-1885 (Medley 54-56); Free Trade, 1881-1891 (Medley 57-96); Land, c 1876-1885 (Medley 97-102); Liberal Party, 1879-1885 (Medley 103-108); Empire and Colonies, 1883-1884 (Medley 109); Education, 1883-1884 (Medley 110), Army and Navy, 1880-1884 (Medley 111); Liberty and Property Defence League, 1883-1884 (Medley 112); House of Lords, 1884-1886 (Medley 113-115); British economy, other economies, trade, 1885-1893 (Medley 116-129); Railways (United Kingdom and overseas), 1877-1879 (Medley 130).

Redeemed mortgage, 1849, of £1500 for seven years at 5%.

Papers, 1881-1891, of Donald James Mackay, 11th Baron Reay, as Governor of Bombay, comprising correspondence, memoranda, petitions and other papers, 1884-1889 and undated, on A'bkari administration (a system of licences for the distillation and sale of spirits in Bombay); correspondence, memoranda, minutes, reports and other papers, 1881-1891 and undated, relating to military and naval subjects; correspondence, memoranda, minutes and reports, 1885-1890 and undated, on education; correspondence and other papers, 1881-1891 and undated, on agriculture; correspondence and other papers, 1884-1889 and undated, on sanitation and water works; correspondence and papers, 1884-1891 and undated, on various other subjects including administration, hospitals, irrigation, railways and finance; addresses of welcome to Lord Reay, 1886-1890 and undated; a drawing of Bombay harbour and accompanying manuscript plan, undated; manuscript map of Karachi Harbour Board, 1887.

Memorandum of inspection of the management of railways in Germany, Belgium, Austria and France by George Findlay and Messrs Webb, Neale, Borel and Michael, presumably on behalf of the London and North Western railway. The aim was to ascertain if "...any lessons might be learned in connection with Railway management in this Country".

Emergency timetables and news bulletins for London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) during the General Strike.

Alphabetical list for applicants for the post of porter with the railway, giving name of applicant, residence, age, former employment, by whom recommended and remarks. Undated, probably c1837.

Manuscript items relating to the proposed London and Birmingham Railway, 1830-1833, as follows.

1. Copy of an estimate by John Sinclair, civil engineer of Hartshill, Atherstone, of a railway between Coventry and Birmingham, dated 21 March 1832. (2 leaves. 12¾" x 8").
2. Notes on the projected route of the London and Birmingham Railway, from a plan 'deposited with the Clerk of the Peace', 1830. (4 leaves. 9" x 8").
3. List of cuttings, tunnels and other works on the railway line between London and Birmingham, [1830]. (2 leaves. 10" x 7¾").

Correspondence and memoranda, including letters to Ignaz Jastrow; 1896-1934; letters relating to British and Irish rail companies 1889-1910; letters concerning the grain trade, 1795; letters to Albany Fonblanque from Jeremy Bentham, Francis Place and Charles Pelham Villiers, 1827-1834; letters to Henry Dunning Mcleod relating to his Dictionary of Political Economy, 1862; letters to Graham Wallas 1898-1903; letters from Arthur Young, Claude Henri de Rouvroy and William Boyne 1814-1866; letters concerned with the families of John Frederick Denison Hare and John Sterling 1836-1913; letters to Sir William Mitchell Acworth 1889-1899; and letters to Henry William Macrosty 1934-1939.

Papers collated by Charles Lawrence relating to his interests in the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the Grand Junction Railway, 1826-1845, comprising the following:
Papers relating to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 1826-1842, including four letters from Thomas Brand, 20th Baron Dacre, to Charles Lawrence, Chairman of the Railway, 1826-30, concerning the Company's Bill in the House of Lords; a summons to Lawrence to give evidence before Parliamentary Committee of 1826 on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Bill; material relating to William Huskisson, such as a printed notice regarding his election (1830), a printed copy of the inscription on Huskisson's memorial tablet and a letter to Lawrence regarding the monument erected to Huskisson's memory (1836), as well as letters from C.Heming, Emma Stanley, Countess of Derby (1830), George Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland (1835) and Robert Benson Dockray (1835) regarding his death; names and numbers of all locomotive engines on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway to 1 Mar 1836; statistics of tonnage carried, arranged by subjects, 1830-1836, probably prepared for the Board of Trade; names and numbers of locomotive engines on the Railway to 18 Jan 1837; an abstract of locomotive expenses, 1841; a letter from Edward Woods to Lawrence giving the state of the company's stock of locomotive engines to 31 Dec 1842.
Papers relating to the Grand Junction Railway, 1840-1845, including a report by John Moss, Chairman of the Board of the Grand Junction Railway Company, on the creation of shares, adopted 20 May 1840; a draft agreement in the hand of George Carr Glynn for the amalgamation of the London and Birmingham and Grand Junction Railway Companies, 1845.

Records of Heseltine, Powell and Company, stockbrokers, including a register of clients, clients stock ledgers, correspondence, diaries and financial material. Some of the records relate to the mining industry, and to the funding and development of railroads in America. There are also papers regarding the loss of stock certificates on the S.S. Titanic.

Papers relating to his military career, 1922-1946, dated 1930, 1936 and [1946] principally comprising typescript log of railway survey work carried out by Herbert, Lt Charles Granville Barry Greaves and Capt Donald Maitland James Murray, Tanganyika, 1930, written by [Murray] in [1930]; The Royal Engineers Journal vol 50 Sep 1936, including 'Railway Survey in Tanganyika Territory' by Herbert; official 501 Inter-Service Mission 'Transportation report on the proposal for a base in East Africa', written by Herbert in 1946; copies of letters of appreciation concerning rehabilitation of Burma railway system carried out by Transportation Service, 1945; copy of Herbert's curriculum vitae, 1922-1946, written in 1946.

Records of the Hammersmith and City Railway, including Board meeting minutes; General meeting minutes; Board of Trade inspection reports; agreements, tenders and contracts; list of staff; financial accounts and petitions from inhabitants of Westbourne Park for a station between Notting Hill and Bishops Road.

Papers of Benjamin Hall, [1864], comprise a letter to [Frederick G Saunders], Secretary, Great Western Railway Company, complaining about the inadequacy of the current rail facilities and service: '... and the inhabitants of this district will still be shut out from all communication with Bristol'. The journey from London now took 6 hours and 40 minutes: 'I must observe that before the amalgamation was completed we could run up to London in far less time and since the amalgamation the great inconveniences have arisen'.

Printed share certificate no. 1399 of the Grand Junction Canal, completed in manuscript, owned by Elizabeth Grant, spinster of Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire. It is dated (in print) 16 Sep 1793, at the second general meeting at Daventry, Northants, signed by two clerks to the company, and sealed with the paper seal of the company.

Letters by Hilda Fowlds while travelling in Eastern Europe, 1924-1927, mainly from Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia; papers and photographs relating to her death in the Biastorbagy railway disaster and letters from a visit to Hungary by her elder sister and brother in law Alice and Frank Dixon, in 1932.

Typescript copy of the memoirs of Harry Gooding Field entitled 'Adventures in Finance', 21 Oct 1942, detailing his accountancy career working in Canada, the United States, Malaysia and Singapore, with copies of birth, marriage and death certificate and other official documents relating to Harry Gooding Field.

Papers relating to the Exeter and Exmouth Railway, 1847-1857, comprising correspondence concerning purchase of lands for the railway and parliamentary proceedings as follows.

1. Four printed letters completed in manuscript, dated between 11 and 17 Dec 1856, and addressed to Frederick Sanders, solicitor, of Exeter, registering assent, dissent or neutrality to proposals to extend the time for compulsary purchase of lands for the railway which were to appear before parliament; (i) and (iii) assented, (iv) dissented, and (ii) James Pitts, declared himself neutral, adding 'If you get an extension of time for 50 years I do not believe your line will be made'.
2. Letter of 28 Apr 1847, from Messrs. Carter & Chanter, Barnstable, to Frederick Kitson, solicitor, of Exeter, concerning land in the Manor of Tawton Deane required for the Taw Valley Railway, in which the Dean of Exeter and Mr Brailey have an interest.
3. Letter of 5 Jan 1854, from Messrs. Osborne Ward & Co., Bristol, to Ralph Barnes, solicitor, of Exeter, replying to a request for advice on the 'mortgage of tolls under the Railway Act'.
4. Letter of 24 Apr 1857, from Messrs. Pritt, Sherwood, Venables, and Quiller, of 7 Great George Street, Westminster, to Frederick Sanders, solicitor, of Exeter, concerning the progress of the railway's bill in parliament.

Letter books of the Dunaburg and Witepsk Railway Company, later known as the Dvinsk and Vitebsk Railway Company Limited.

Small mounted oil painting by Thomas Creswick, of a steam train passing Leighton Buzzard on the London and Birmingham Railway line. A note on the reverse suggests that the work was painted in 1837.

Photographic material, 1912-1919, of George Cormack, comprising 42 glass slides, c1912-1919, principally of Manchuria and the Chinese Labour Corps, and an album of photographs, 1912-1913, relating to a visit on the Trans-Siberian Railway to Siberia and North Manchuria.

Records, 1926-1951, of the Chinese Government Purchasing Commission (CGPC), including information on the state of Chinese communications; the workings of the Chinese Ministries of Communications, Railways and Industries; Chinese banking; construction and engineering technology and the work of British manufacturers; and some information on Chinese educational and cultural institutions in receipt of subsidies from the Board of Trustees for the Administration of the Indemnity Funds Remitted by the British Government.

Records, 1926-1951, relating to the foundation and constitution of the CGPC comprise printed report of the Anglo-Chinese Advisory Committee (China Indemnity Advisory Committee), 1926; correspondence, largely letters from the Board of Trustees to the CPGC, 1931-1950, concerning the constitution of the Commission, procedural issues, personnel and financial matters; file on procedure on appointment of a new member of the Commission, 1947-1948; correspondence concerning events preceding the winding-up of the Commission, 1951.

Financial records, 1931-1951, comprise papers on the Board Account, 1937-1950; papers on the Chin Fund (apparently a grant paid to Constance Chin, a patient of the Bethlem Royal Hospital), 1945-1951; summaries of expenses relating to purchase orders made by Chinese ministries, 1931-1951; Indemnity Fund cash books, 1937-1950; invoices and receipts relating to CGPC business, 1937-1951; financial statements and correspondence relating to banking matters with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, 1931-1951, the subjects including investments and tax.

Operational records, c1928-1951, relating to the administration of purchase orders, comprise register of tenders/purchase orders, 1942-1946; contract registers (not comprehensive), 1931-1949, recording the management of contracts for the supply and delivery in China of plant, machinery and other materials manufactured in the UK for the Chinese government, and over 1,000 related contract files for engineering companies and manufacturers for industrial, construction, railway and other projects; tender forms, 1934, issued to contractors by the CGPC; specifications and standards, c1928-1937 and undated, largely for the construction of railways and carriages; correspondence concerning administration of purchase orders, 1932-1951, relating especially to delivery of locomotive spare parts and related materials; registers of export licences issue to British manufacturers under wartime regulations, 1941-1946; applications for export licences, 1939-1945; registers of shipments, insurance, freight and inspection fees, 1931-1951; shipping letters, 1937-1950, issued for CGPC shipments; general correspondence concerning the administration of the CGPC, 1931-1951, including correspondence with solicitors and correspondence concerning the CGPC premises in Tothill Street, London.

Annual reports and accounts, 1931-1950, comprise typescript accounts and reports, 1931-1950, of the CGPC and published annual reports, 1931-1950, including summaries of receipts and payments; and annual reports of the Board of Trustees, 1931-1938.

Miscellaneous records, c1932-1950, comprise one file including papers on subjects including railways, training Chinese students, Japanese imperialism, and CGPC records, a photograph of ships in harbour, and maps of China and the Far East.

Records, 1939-1943, of the China Purchasing Agency Ltd comprise standing regulations of the Board of Directors, undated; correspondence, 1939-1943, concerning various purchase orders; miscellaneous items, c1939-1940, including list of tenders passed for acceptance, 1939, and an undated schedule of materials shipped.

Press cuttings, leaflets and reports of proceedings of the Parliamentary Committee on the proposed Cheltenham and Oxford Railway Company.

The Company papers contain correspondence, press cuttings, articles, statistics and plans mainly concerning the 1930 scheme which was defeated in the House of Commons by seven votes. Unfortunately most of the company’s early papers were destroyed in a fire in their office at London Bridge station in 1941.

Minute book of the trustees of the Central Bahia Railway Trust.

Records of the Canadian Pacific Railway Co, comprising Official Logs, 1901 to 1913, originally part of the records of the Registrar-General of Shipping and Seamen, who gave them to the company in 1970. The collection includes log books of three of the 'Empress' line, the Empress of India, the Empress of Japan and the Empress of China as well as of other company ships of the pre-First World War period. The papers are a number of printed pamphlets, time tables and short histories. (Section 3: CPR/: 3ft: 91cm)

Records of the Broad Street/Richmond Line Joint Committee, including minutes of meeting of the Joint Committee; minutes of meetings with Members of Parliament including the Minister of Transport; correspondence; press releases and publicity material; financial records; Hansard reports on the Parliamentary debate on railways; and press cuttings.

Papers relating to the Bristol and Exeter Railway Company, comprising printed letters to shareholders, reports of directors, reports in newspapers and notices of requirement of land to build the railway, addressed to Charles Fox and Sarah Fox of Wellington, Somerset.

Papers mainly concerning the construction and administration of bridges, roads, piers, railways, harbours, reservoirs and canals in Scotland, 1782-1841, including correspondence of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville (1742-1811), Robert Saunders Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville (1771-1851), and Sir Thomas Dundas, 1st Baron Dundas (1741-1820). The collection comprises letters, petitions, memorials, plans, estimates, reports, financial accounts, legal papers, trustees minutes and circulars relating to bridges including the Dee, Don, Urie, Findhorn, Montrose, Nairn, Pease, and Spey; canals including the Borrowstone Canal Navigation, the Clarence Canal, the Forth and Clyde Navigation, and the Union Canal (Falkirk to Edinburgh); ferries such as the Dysart Ferry, Queensferry, and Tay Ferries; harbours and piers notably Burntisland Harbour and Pier, Kinghorn Harbour, Hartlepool Pier, and Newhaven Pier; the Gala Water Railroad; the North Esk Reservoirs; roads in Aberdeen, Inverness, Dalkeith, Edinburgh, Glenlaidnaig, Glenlichorn, Lanarkshire, Lauriston, Perth, and Stirling.

Papers of Prof Stanley Henry Beaver, 1930-1980, including papers on European railways; draft chapters for The British Isles; notes for Admiralty Handbooks on the Netherlands East Indies; papers on housing and planning and papers on British sand and gravel resources.

Liquidation papers of the Bahia and San Francisco Railway Company, 1901.

Papers of John Frederick Baddeley, 1859-1926, including description of a journey from Aigun to Tsitsikar in 1910; papers on the Amoor [sic] railway; material for a book on the Amoor river; papers relating to the Russian Far East; a book in Russian "Journey on the Amur" published in 1859 and a small notebook containing hand-drawn maps of the river.