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Inventory of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen / Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen Collection, 1890-1962
MS 3
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Title: Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen / Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1890-1962
Collection number: MS 3
Creator:
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen
Extent: 72 bound volumes, 4 cartons, and 1 flat carton
Repository:
California State Railroad Museum Library
Sacramento, California 95814
Shelf location: Big Four Building or off-site storage. Please contact
the Library in advance of your visit.
Language:
English.
United Transportation Union, 1982 + various donors
Copyright has not been assigned to the California State Railroad Museum. All requests for
permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Senior
Curator. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the CSRM as the owner of the
physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder,
which must also be obtained by the reader.
[Identification of item], Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen / Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen Collection,
MS 3, California State Railroad Museum Library, Sacramento, California.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen was founded on December 1, 1873 at Jervis, New York, to provide mutual support for railroad
firemen. The Brotherhood early on emphasized insurance, although in the late nineteenth century it became involved in labor/management
relations. By the turn of the century, the organization also had changed its name to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen
and Enginemen, thereby permitting locomotive engineers to hold membership. In 1969, it joined with the Order of Railway Conductors
and Brakemen, the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, and the Switchmen's Union of North America to form the United Transportation
Union.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen records contain material relating to the national organization, national
railroad labor relations, and railroad labor issues, from the late nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries. In addition,
the General Chairman's Reports, which comprise a sizable portion of the collections, relate largely to labor cases on the
Southern Pacific, El Paso and Southwestern, and Northwestern Pacific Railroads. Of particular interest is the volume on the
arbitration of questions raised by electrification of the Southern Pacific's East Bay suburban operations. In addition to
information on these lines, the volume contains testimony describing operations on the Pacific Electric Railway and other
Southern California electric routes.
The records of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen are organized in eight series listed below. The first seven
are arranged according to the office or organization of origin, and then chronologically within each series. The eighth series,
consisting of ephemera pertaining to the Brotherhood, is arranged according to the type of item.
Abbreviations in the inventory
- BLE Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers
- BLF Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen
- BLFE Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen
- BRT Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen
- EPSW El Paso and Southwestern Railroad
- NWP Northwestern Pacific Railroad
- ORC Order of Railway Conductors
- SP Southern Pacific Company, Pacific System