Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company Records - Aurora Laboratory Records, 1876-1906

Deposit of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Company, 1943, with subsequent additions, 1948-onward. Ownership transferred to Newberry Library by Burlington Northern Company, 1975.

The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company Records are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).

The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company Records are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.

Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company Records, The Newberry Library, Chicago.

Martha Briggs, Alison Hinderliter, Lisa Janssen, Kelly Kress, Emma Martin, Andrew Olofsson, and Pamela Olson, 2014.

The Aurora Testing Labs served as an adjunct of the CB&Q's Purchasing Office and was active from 1876 into at least the 1940s. Engineers and scientists were employed to test a variety of materials and substances for their suitability for use in manufacturing rails, train car parts, and various structures. Bulk of collection is 65 volumes of reports in letterpress copy books from two main departments: Chemical (Oil and other chemicals), and Physical (Iron, Steel, and other materials). The Departments combined in 1891.

Reports are from Engineers William O. Webber, Phillip Wallis, F.W. Sargen, C.H. Quereau, J.A. Carney M.H. Wickhorst, and others; as well as from Chemists E.A. McCulloch, Walter Lee Brown, and George H. Ellis. Reports were made to Purchasing Agents C.M. Higginson from 1876-1879; Wm. Irving, 1879-; George B. Harris, 1882; G.W. Rhoades, Superintendent, 1885-1886, and various others. Reports include quality of oil, and its efficacy on the brake surfaces, testing of kerosene and other chemicals, testing of axles, bridge rods, brakes, boiler braces and plates, coal, copper, hoses, iron, nuts, rope, rail, rivets, springs, sewer pipes, wire, etc. Many report books have indexes to their contents in the front of the volume. Index to all reports is in Book 1.

Also included are minutes from the Aurora Foreman's Association meetings from 1898-1904, Payroll and expense information, Etchings (rubbings) of rail cross sections and axles, and diagrams made by fitting paper to a steam-pressure cylinder to gauge its variations of pressure or vacuum.

Forms part of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company Records.

This finding aid describes additions to the original deposit of records inventoried in the Guide to the Burlington Archives in the Newberry Library, 1851-1901 (Chicago: Newberry Library, 1949). Certain materials have been deaccessioned and donated to the Burlington Route Historical Society; see curator for details.

Organized by type of material: Reports, then Miscellaneous. Reports are arranged in the order they were numbered on the outside. For photographs, see CB&Q A-5-4: Aurora Laboratory Photographs, 1898-1905.

• NamesChicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company.
• Subject
  • Chicago
  • Manuscripts, American -- Illinois -- Chicago
  • Materials testing laboratories
  • Railroads