Larry Kline <lndkline@verizon.net> wrote: Jim Dick asked: May I ask for some first hand reports of people who have dug around the Copeland reports at Northwestern University in Illinois?
I have looked at the Copeland Reports at both the Harvard Business School Baker Library and the Northwestern University Transportation Library. Both have a large collection of WM reports which are of special interest to me. The NWU Library was much more laid back. I would recommend going there. At NWU I was allowed to browse through the stacks. At Harvard I had to request the material I wanted. NWU allowed self copying. At Harvard I had to order copies and have them mailed to me. I suggest contacting the NWU library staff in advance to let them know that you are coming and to let them know about your interests. Both of my visits to NWU were right before Naperville.
The Copeland Reports were very helpful to me because I am modeling the Connellsville PA area where the WM interchanged with the P&WV, P&LE, B&O and PRR. The Copeland Reports give the number of loaded cars interchanged per year at each interchange location for each railroad. They show that the the P&WV and P&LE were the dominant interchange roads with the WM at Connellsville.
The reports also give tonnage in each direction for various line segments. This was also helpful to me because I am modeling the WM coal traffic over the B&O from the Fairmont WV area to Connellsville. I was able to estimate the number of loads per year from the tonnage data since almost all of the WM loads from Fairmont to Connellsville were coal loads.
