NYC videos Cleveland & Norhtern Ohio

Which of the NYC videos/DVD's covers the lines in and around Cleveland and Northern Ohio?

There are two videos from Herron Rail Videos - Reflections of the NYC and Niagara's Last Stand - both have some footage taken at Berea during the early 1960s - no steam. These appear near the end of the videos. That's about all I have been able to find. Seems no rail fans around Cleveland had a movie camera back then.
Mike Kmetz

Unfortunately, several collections including those of Al Shade and Lou Sabetto have been lost due to the stubborness and/or carelessness of the owners.
Both Al and Lou began photographing in the early 1940's but could never be convinced to organize and catalog their collections.

Just some more examples of why owners should make proper arrangments for the disposal of their collections prior to their own demise.

shlustig wrote:Unfortunately, several collections including those of Al Shade and Lou Sabetto have been lost due to the stubborness and/or carelessness of the owners.
Both Al and Lou began photographing in the early 1940's but could never be convinced to organize and catalog their collections.

Just some more examples of why owners should make proper arrangments for the disposal of their collections prior to their own demise.

This hits a nerve with me as I am in that boat. I have a superb timetable collection especially back in the 40's and 50's when there was a big difference in railroad operations over what is today. I have nearly every New Haven Employee Timetable back to about 1925 or so. I have a complete inventory which took me six years to do. Value is hard to place on this kind of stuff but I have issued all sorts of instructions as to what is to happen to my collection. It will definately go to a trusted friend from the Albany area who also collects this sort of materials and appreciates this sort of paper. I have had all sorts of suggestions and ideas but I did not want to give it to some so called historical outfit where it might end up in someone's attic or cellar and eventually fade away. Some of the associations are run by a small group (I call them clicks) and are totally out of control. I know of at least one outfit that this fits to a "T". Fellow collectors I urge you to give this some thought and talk it in over with other collectors. Some of them do not want any more stuff no matter what, I can't absorb another's collection at this point and many of my railroad friends are in the same boat. The most important thing at least to me is to keep my collection intact and provide somebody with something that they can enjoy just like I have for a long time. Of course my collection was enhanced by various railroaders who helped me add some very interesting timetables and other items. They include various Engine House Foremen, Engine Dispatchers, Trainmasters, Road Foremen, Rules Supervisors and Examiners, Ticket Agents and Union people all of whom I owe a lot of thanks for their help. Thanks to some of these fine folks I was able to "clean out more than one store room, office or cabinet full of junk". I cleaned out facilities in Waterbury, Stamford, Grand Central Terminal and Oak Point. My first public timetable came from the Ticket Agent in Torrington, Connecticut way back around 1948 or so and my first employee timetable came from an official of the New Haven Railroad in 1954. I still have both of them too. I absolutely agree with SHL, please do not let your cherished stuff fade away, provide for its future before it is too late. Thank you for opening this up and reading this.
Noel Weaver

Noel, I know what you mean about some groups. I was doing some research on something and knew the company had given a great quantity of records to a designated historical group. When I put out some feelers about going over some of these documents, I was informed that what I wanted was not available at this time. Supposedly one or two individuals had taken them "to organize and catalog them" but would not make them available until that was done. This spanned quite a few years (and maybe they STILL are not available). But occasionally, a few bits of information from those records are presented by those who have them. It's obvious the guy or guys in question are using the cover of the historical group's name to "own" the information provided.

I have to hope somebody does not pass away and the records get trashed by uncaring family members.

I'd like to think the Nickel Plate takes good care of its collection, which just moved to Buffalo, after years at Cleveland State. We continue on with the cataloging process, and keep the material we have in environmentally friendly storage. There are @ 1,000 of us, and we are always looking for additional help with the collection, so it is no small clique hoarding treasures.

Can anyone tell what happened to the Shade and Navegatto collections? Are they gone or in limbo somewhere? The NKPHTS has some Navegatto material, and would like to add to it. Al Shade put out a VHS of NKP steam years back, and he had audio tapes and paper we would like to salvage, if possible.

Somewhere out there, we hope, and waiting to be found are the A W Johnston files. He was NKP GM from the 1890's till J J Bernet arrived. Much of Rehor's NKP history came from those papers. Any clues or leads welcome.

Escuse me, I meant to say Sabetto, not Navegatto.

The bulk of the Shade collection was lost when the next of kin had his old residence demolished because of the unsanitary conditions.

Lou Sabetto's collection may have gone to his nephew when his house was vacated after he went into assisted living. He wasn't sure if the collection was saved or not, and the nephew lived out-of-state and out-of-contact. For years, Lou had refused to organize the collection even when help was offered.

Organize the collection. That has a very familiar ring to it for me. A few years after my retirement back in 1997 I started doing some volunteer work at my church and it involved using a computer. A job that would require at least four or five hours was able to get done in maybe 45 minutes or so
Right then I decided to inventory my entire railroad collection not knowing that even with a computer it ended up being a six plus year job. I have the inventory in two different computers as well as on CD and in print in a binder. It was a huge undertaking but the result was well worth the effort. I would strongly recommend anyone reading this to consider taking on this job. Especially if you are retired and living in the north where you're dealing with ice, snow and cold weather. Put on some nice music in the background and dig in. Of course there's an opportunity to re-read an old timetable or book in the process. I would call it a big but interesting job.
Noel Weaver