AAR – American Association of Railroads
AB – Additions and Betterments notes
ABB – Akron-Barberton Belt Railroad Company
ABA – Air Brake Association
ACY – Akron, Canton and Youngstown Railroad Company also AC&Y
AFE – Authorization (or Authority) for Expenditure
AGW/A&GW – Atlantic and Great Western Railroad Company
ALCO – American Locomotive Company, later simply Alco
AR – Annual Report
ARA – American Railway Association (predecessor to AAR)
ARL – accounting revisions ledger(s)
AVP – Assistant Vice President
BB – Buildings and Bridges
BCK – Buffalo Creek Railroad Company
BFN – building field notes*
BH – Bath and Hammondsport Railroad Company also B&H
BLE – Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad
BLW – Baldwin Locomotive Works
BM – Boston and Maine Railroad Company also B&M
BMWE – Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees
BN – Burlington Northern Railroad Company
BO – Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company also B&O
BOD/B. of D. – Board of Directors
BRC – Belt Railway Company of Chicago
BrFN – bridge field notes*
BRT – Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen
BRTC – Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Sub-collection
BV – bound ledger book
BVL – bound valuation ledger book
CBQ – Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Company also CB&Q
CE – Chicago and Erie Railroad Company also C&E
CNJ – Central Railroad Company of New Jersey
CO – Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company also C&O
COFC – Container on Flatcar
CPD – Cleveland Plain Dealer Newspaper
CR – Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail)
CRP – Central Railroad of Pennsylvania (CNJ subsidiary)
CRR of NJ – Central Railroad Company of New Jersey
CTC – Centralized Track Control
CWI – Chicago and Western Indiana Railroad Company also C&WI
DDN – dispatcher’s daily notes
DH – Delaware and Hudson Railroad Company also D&H
DLW – Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company also DL&W
EB – east bound
EC – excellent condition
EL – Erie Lackawanna Railroad/Railway Company
ELHS – Erie Lackawanna Historical Society
EMC – Electro-Motive Corporation
EMD – Electro-Motive Division of General Motors
ER – Erie Railroad
ETT – Employee timetable
FC – fair condition
FF – file folder, standard
FFe – file folder, legal
FFT – Freight Timetable/Schedule
FM – Fairbanks, Morse and Company
FN – field notes
FRA – Federal Railway Administration
FS – flat storage/flat stored
GC – good condition
GE – General Electric Corporation
G.O. – general order
GW – Genesee and Wyoming Railroad Company also G&W
HBTM – Huntington and Broad Top Mountain Railroad Company also H&BTM
HF – Hoboken Ferry Company
HS – Hoboken Shore Railroad Company also Hoboken Manufacturer’s
HT – Harlem Transfer Company
I/C – interchange
ICC – Interstate Commerce Commission
ICS – International Correspondence Schools, Scranton, PA
IR – Ingersoll-Rand Corporation
LB – loose bound
LHR – Lehigh and Hudson River Railway Company also L&HR
LNE – Lehigh and New England Railroad Company also L&NE
LS – Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad Company also L&S
LV – Lehigh Valley Railroad Company
McF – microfilm roll
MFC – Maurice Frederick Coffman
MFCC – M. F. Coffman Collection
MHMR – Mount Hope Mineral Railroad Company (CNJ subsidiary)
MOW – Maintenance-of-Way
MP – mile post
MYC – multi-year coverage
NB – Northhampton and Bath Railway Company also N&B
NBX – not boxed
NEOUCOM – Northeastern Ohio University Colleges of Medicine, Rootstown, OH
Site of UAA remote storage facility
NIAJ – Niagara Junction Railway Company
NJDOT – New Jersey Department of Transportation
NJNY – New Jersey and New York Railroad Company also NY&NJ
NJPUC – New Jersey Public Utilities Commission
NKP – Nickel Plate Road (New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad)
No. – number
NRLC – National Railway Labor Conference
NRNJ – Northern Railroad Company of New Jersey
NW – Norfolk and Western Railway Company also N&W
NYABC – New York Air Brake Company
NYGL – New York and Greenwood Lake Railway Company also NY&GL
NYC – New York Central Railroad Company and System
NYE – New York and Erie Railroad Company (Erie predecessor) also NY&E
NYLB – New York and Long Branch Railroad Company (joint PRR – CNJ subsidiary)
NYLEW – New York, Lake Erie and Western Railroad Company (Erie predecessor)
NYI – no year indicated
NYNHH – New York, New Haven and Hartford Railway Company also NYNH&H
NYOW – New York, Ontario and Western Railway Company also NYO&W
NYPANO – New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio Railroad Company, also just as
NYPANO Railroad Company
NYPSC – New York State Public Services Commission
NYSW – New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad Company also NYS&W
ORC – Order of Railroad Conductors
pc – poor condition
PC – Penn Central Railroad Company
PLE – Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad Company also P&LE
PMS – Perry Monroe Shoemaker
PMSC – Perry Monroe Shoemaker Collection
PRR – Pennsylvania Railroad Company
PTT – Public timetable
RDG – Reading Railroad Company
REA – Railway Express Agency Corporation
RE&TA – Real Estate and Tax Agent
RE&TD – Real Estate and Tax Department
RI – Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company also CRI&P
RFN – roadway field notes*
RLHS – Railway Locomotive and Historical Society
rm – railroad mark
RR – Railroad
RRRR – Raritan River Railroad Company
ROW – right-of-way
Rwy – railway
SFB – signal(s) field book
TDS – train dispatcher sheets
TFN – track field notes*
TOFC – trailer on flatcar
TP – temporary placement
TT – timetable, public
T/T – telephone and telegraph
TWS – tax work sheets
UAA – University of Akron Archives in Akron, Ohio
USRA – United States Railroad Administration (1917 – 1920) and United States Railway
Association (1970s and 1980s)
UTU – United Transportation Union (successor to BRT)
VE – Valuation engineer/Office of the Valuation Engineer
VFN – valuation field notes.
Vol. – volume
VS – valuation section
WAB – Wabash Railway Company
WABCO – Westinghouse Air Brake Company
WB – west bound
WBE – Wilkes-Barre and Eastern Railroad Company (NYSW subsidiary) also WB&E
WLE – Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway Company (later NKP, later NW) also W&LE
WN – Wharton and Northern Railroad Company (CNJ subsidiary) also W&N
WM – Western Maryland Railway Company
Note: All items marked with an * are forms of VFN