A Plat and Profile Book for Civil Engineers and Contractors [Kanawha & West Virginia Railroad]

An early handwritten record of the short-lived Kanawha & West Virginia Railroad.

“In the construction of railways and public works, much valuable time is lost in looking through transit and level books, and in referring to office plans and profiles for notes and data that must be frequently used in the field. This profile book, convenient for mapping to scale (400 feet per inch,) and recording notes of alinement, right of way, reference points, bench marks, etc., which in the work of construction are no less important than the profile itself, has been used for many years.” – Introduction.

This eminently practical booklet was published in New York by the Engineering News Publishing Company in 1899, with engraving/printing performed by the Forman-Bassett-Hatch Company of Cleveland, Ohio. This particular example was filled out sometime later, probably around 1905, by an engineer for the Kanawha & West Virginia Railroad Company. The railway, a subsidiary of the New York Central, was organized in 1903 to connect Summersville to Blue Creek, W. Va. – a remote and mountainous, but coal-rich, region.

Each page presents a carefully drawn elevation profile of a (consecutive) stretch of track – usually about a mile – with rudimentary information on grade changes, mile markers, important infrastructure, and geographic features. Different colors have been applied to show various elements (i.e. red track, blue water), offering an impressive large-scale overview of the route between properties attributed to T.J. Carmack & Son (Section 10-11) and W.D. Weaver (Section 21-22). Numerous bridges, tunnels, and cuts showcase the difficult local terrain.

Further Reading at WVNC Rails