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  • Organization and Storage of Conrail Employee Timetables

  • Discussion related to the operations and equipment of Consolidated Rail Corp. (Conrail) from 1976 to its present operations as Conrail Shared Assets. Official web site can be found here: CONRAIL.COM.
Discussion related to the operations and equipment of Consolidated Rail Corp. (Conrail) from 1976 to its present operations as Conrail Shared Assets. Official web site can be found here: CONRAIL.COM.

Moderators: TAMR213, keeper1616

 #1016055  by Earle Baldwin
 
Over time, I've found I've accumulated far more Conrail employee timetables than binders in which to put them. Since empty binders don't pop up often, I'm looking at alternative methods to store and preserve the material. Is anyone aware of plain, commercially available binders from one of the usual sources of office supplies which are suitably formatted/sized for CR ETT looseleaf pages?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.
 #1016090  by RedbirdR33
 
Earle: I have a large collection of public timetables and transit books. I have found that over time storing timetables in upright looseleaf binders doesn't work because the weight of the paper pulls down on the binder rings and the paper itself is still exposed to the air. Office Depot has a line of plastic storage boxes which they call "Really Useful Boxes." They come in many sizes and shapes but one size in particular is great for the storage of passenger and employee timetables. It measure 11" by 13" by 5" high. It was designed for the storage of #10 envelopes but works great for railway timetables. You can store the timetable itself without the binder and use card stock paper as dividers. This provides easy access and protection form the aging effects of the air.

Another good storage method those less desirable is to store store them in baggies. Its not pretty but it will keep the pages together and protect them. I use this for several of my old railroad books whose bindings have deteriorated.

Larry, RedbirdR33
 #1016817  by JimBoylan
 
RedbirdR33 wrote:Office Depot has a line of plastic storage boxes which they call "Really Useful Boxes." They come in many sizes and shapes but one size in particular is great for the storage of passenger and employee timetables. It measure 11" by 13" by 5" high. It was designed for the storage of #10 envelopes but works great for railway timetables.
Larry, RedbirdR33
Can you please tell us the model or catalog number? Office Depot uses a different system to list the measurements, the Metric liquid capacity, and possibly the outside dimensions.
 #1016909  by Noel Weaver
 
Loose leaf timetables were a benefit to railroad employees but they were not a benefit to timetable collectors. I, too, have a lot of both Penn Central and Conrail timetables and some I have just left wrapped as printed, some I have put in non railroad binders which seem to work reasonably well and a few years ago I got a bunch of obselete Amtrak binders of the same size as Conrail and I have put them to good use too. In the case of a timetable with general orders, I tend to keep two in one binder, one as complete with general orders as possible and the other as it was originally issued with all of the original pages and no general orders. If you want to wrap loose pages I would suggest wrapping them first with a piece of plain white paper then with a rubber band around the whole thing. Rubber bands do not last indefinately so you will need to replace them from time to time. Many Conrail timetables had a blank page in them, take a blank page with the holes punched in it with you if you go to buy binders so you will be sure that the rings match the holes. Also beware that there were a few timetables that were issued with holes mismatched to the original rings, some of them had new holes punched in them to match the rings and some left it to the employee to punch new holes to match the rings. Collecting timetables requires a certain amount of work but it is well worth the effort and they are interesting to read at all times at least for me and they have the operating history of the railroad as well.
Noel Weaver
 #1017100  by RedbirdR33
 
JimBoylan wrote:
RedbirdR33 wrote:Office Depot has a line of plastic storage boxes which they call "Really Useful Boxes." They come in many sizes and shapes but one size in particular is great for the storage of passenger and employee timetables. It measure 11" by 13" by 5" high. It was designed for the storage of #10 envelopes but works great for railway timetables.
Larry, RedbirdR33
Can you please tell us the model or catalog number? Office Depot uses a different system to list the measurements, the Metric liquid capacity, and possibly the outside dimensions.
Jim: I picked up a few more of those boxes today. The brand name is "REALLY USEFUL BOXES." The size is given as 8.1 litres. The metric measurements in centimeters is 34 x 28 x 11 1/2. The model number for the clear boxes is 400938 and for the blue ones is 352435. Office Depot has a sale on for the next week whereby if you buy two boxes you get the third one free.

The are excellent for any timetables , public or employee, that measure about 9 inches high and 3/12 to 4 inches wide. Of course you always have to have an extra box for the irregular shaped and oversize pieces .

Larry, RedbirdR33
 #1017190  by JimBoylan
 
Thank you, here is the Office Depot description for the clear version. Office Max also has it, but at a higher price. Staples only has the cardboard "Bankers Box" version, 4" x 9" x 23", made for checks instead of #10 envelopes, and still more expensive.
Really Useful Boxes® Plastic Storage Box, 8.1 Liters, 4 15/16"H x 11 1/4"W x 14 1/4"D, Clear
Item # 400938
 #1024240  by scharnhorst
 
this might be a stupid question but what kind of plastic bags work best acid free or just regular plastic bags?? Just wondering as I my self am a foreign currency collector and we use plastic acid free pages while in binders.
 #1024385  by RedbirdR33
 
scharnhorst wrote:this might be a stupid question but what kind of plastic bags work best acid free or just regular plastic bags?? Just wondering as I my self am a foreign currency collector and we use plastic acid free pages while in binders.
The ones I was thinking of are the simple plastic baggies that you put food into. They come in many shapes and sizes and are not acetate based. You can insert a piece of card stock paper as well to stiffen them up.

Larry, RedbirdR33