ASME Rail Transportation Division’s Historical Mechanical Engineering Landmarks: Preserving History and Heritage for the Future

The ASME Rail Transportation Division (RTD), founded in 1920 as the Railroad Division, is one of the oldest and most active of ASME’s 37 Divisions and Subdivisions. Today RTD promotes the engineering profession within the railway industry, and holds two technical conferences per year. A wide variety of topics are covered at the conferences including subjects related to freight, passenger and locomotive operations and maintenance, infrastructure improvements, mechanical components, and safety research. ASME RTD also has a program for designating historical mechanical engineering Landmarks within the railway industry. This paper briefly outlines the overall scope and purpose of the ASME Landmarks program. The paper then describes the many existing ASME Historical Mechanical Engineering Landmarks related to the railway industry, such as the Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 electric locomotive, the Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway in Colorado, and the Norfolk and Western 611 Class J steam locomotive. The authors discuss potential railway industry additions to the RTD Landmarks list, and review potential ways to conduct the Landmark selection process for the future.