About

Railroad books, maps, manuals, timetables, magazines!

The Martin F. O’Rourke Memorial Railroad Library is a public reference library of railroad books, materials, manuals, maps, publications, timetables, and other railroad related materials and ephemera. The library’s purpose is to preserve information about railroads in the Washington, D.C. and mid-Atlantic region and share that information with the public.

The library collection primarily contains material on U.S. railroads dating from 1880s to the present and with many materials focused on the Washington D.C. region and railroads. The collection includes a special section focused on The Pullman Company procedures, manuals, passenger car information and passenger trains.

Currently the library contains approximately 1,500 books and manuals. The library also has several hundred additional vintage magazines. other rare periodicals, and an assortment of railroad timetables making the total number of items in the collection well over 1,800. Our catalog is available on-line to help researchers facilitate their work. We have partnered with an Internet service called TinyCat that specializes in supporting small, professional grade libraries.

To help you entertain your little companion when you spend time there, the collection also includes a small children’s section. These books are suitable for kids from two and up. There are a few non-train books too.

The library, which opened to the public on September 22nd, 2007, is operated by the National Railway Historical Society, Washington, D.C. Chapter, Inc. We are often referred to as Washington D.C. Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, or simply DCNRHS.

Our library was designed, organized, and catalogued by a professional librarian. It is lovingly maintained by a staff of volunteers.

This is a reference library; materials cannot be checked out from the facility. Visitors may browse the collection and read books, magazines, railroad timetables, and railroad technical manuals, and look at other railroad related material in the library.

DCNRHS developed a Collection Policy to guide the development and stewardship of the Collection maintaining the focus on the Washington, D.C. Area railroads and the Pullman Company, but by no means exclusively. The policy can be downloaded below.

collection-policy Download

The library is named in memory of longtime member and former Chapter President Martin F. O’Rourke.

In Memoriam

DCNRHS over its 75+ years of service to the community has had numerous outstanding volunteers. Without the support of the three gentlemen below however, MRL would have never opened. We pay tribute to them here.

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