All Aboard! Railroad Stocks & Bonds

Thank you, GregAlex.

I don't know much about railroad history. My grandfather built rail cars in Chicago Sadly I don't even know how long he worked at that job.

I know a Pennsy cert. has been posted, but this is my only one, so I am posting:





Closeup of company seal:


Interesting how the PRR Mercury (upper right of stock marquee) collects winged dimes:

Nice!

The Pennsy held a record of paying dividends to shareholders for over 100 years - no other company worldwide has ever done this. The PRR had a quarter million employees and a budget larger than the US government. They had over 800 RR companies under them.

Something I like is the Pennsy also was the only RR company who designed their own style of insulators for use on their lines! Other companies had ready-made designs embossed with their names, but the Pennsy was used to setting a standard.

The pic includes a set of all known colors. All but the aqua and blue are rare. Typical Porcelain ones are dark brown.

Buddy, did your grandfather happen to work for Pullman? They had a huge factory south of Chicago building passenger cars.

Nells, you posted a Berkshire Railroad Co. stock earlier that shares the same vignette as one I have of the Delware Railroad.




This is also a good example of what's known as a "Blank." The major bank note printers would print these in quantity, minus the specific text for the individual company. This could be added later and it saved money for smaller print runs.

Tonight some railroads without trains. Not all companies decided to use locomotives on their stocks and bonds. Here are some attractive designs that decided to mix it up a little.












This last vignette (entitled "Harvest") is intriguing because it's actually signed by the engraver, Walter Shirlaw, in the lower right. Some engravers his their names surreptitiously, but this one is fairly prominent.