APG-L Archives

Archiver > APG > 2009-01 > 1231529681


From: Ray Beere Johnson II <>
Subject: Re: [APG] Automobile train collision
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2009 11:34:41 -0800 (PST)
References: <7E2F8339F7DC4B7899E97A13C74BB883@patriceh><006601c9724a$4061afe0$c1250fa0$@com>


The DOT collection is an interesting one, but BEWARE when trying to search it.
Just out of curiosity, I picked an accident at random from the first year.
<http://dotlibrary1.specialcollection.net/scripts/ws.dll?websearch&site=dot_railroads>;
"Interstate Commission Commission" ! probably Commerce
"at Grindstone, He." ! Me.
"Sailroad Commission" ! Railroad
"State of Waine" ! Maine
"end assisted in the taking" ! and

That is just from the introductory two paragraphs. Still a valuable resource, but when there are so many errors (the OCR used was clearly not even lightly vetted) how can anyone be sure the place names or surnames are accurate. In fact, with OCR, these are LESS likely to be accurate than standard words such as the errors above.

So you'd have to be highly creative with your search, or know roughly when and where the accident occurred (then search every possible investigation). In view of the errors, I wonder if an interested party could gain access to the originals? One more point to bear in mind: despite the seeming geographic identity of many of the railroads named, many of these railroads operated far beyond the area named in their official name. So, really, you'd need to search every investigation for every possible year to be sure.

Ray Beere Johnson II


----- Original Message ----

Are you aware of the Investigations of Railroad Accidents from 1911-1993
that the Department of Transportation has accessible online at
http://dotlibrary1.specialcollection.net/scripts/ws.dll?websearch&site=dot_r
ailroads?

The home page is http://specialcollection.dotlibrary.dot.gov/ if anyone else
is interested in seeing what they have. They also have the historical
aircraft accident reports from 1934-1965 online.




This thread: