Winter 2026 Update

It's been one whole year since the Michigan Railroad Archive was created on January 1st 2025! Can you believe it? Since that time I have uploaded hundreds of new pages, documents, and photos as well as worked with several different groups and individuals to help bring more unseen history to light. I would like to thank everybody who contributed to the website in 2025 which saw many rare documents uploaded to the site. Don't be a stranger! Go to the contact page on this website if you have something to contribute!

Some updates have been made to the website since last August. This includes the addition of four new digitized motorcar manuals to the Motorcar archive. Go check them out! 

As 2026 continues I hope to get more photos from the Bluewater collection scanned as well as finally establishing a photo archive for all other photos. Stay tuned for more.

Summer 2025 Update

Hi Everyone, it's been a slow summer in terms of updating the site but I would like to cover quickly what's been going on behind the scenes.

More locomotive inspection reports have been digitized. All of these reports come from the GTW and are available for whatever your needs might be. there is still a sizeable amount of them to be scanned, cropped and uploaded so sit tight.

A few months back I started digitizing the Kalamazoo files I received in the mail. This includes plenty of Kalamazoo motorcar company advertisements as well as rare factory photos. Those have been uploaded and are available for viewing. There is still a sizeable amount of Kalamazoo documents to get through and those will be put front and center as soon as I finish the locomotive inspection reports

More motorcar manuals will be scanned in the coming future. I would like to get one or two out before the school year starts back up on me again. Let me know if there is a manual you need that you would like to see digitized. I am in no specific order to digitize them and can move them up in the queue if so desired.

That's all for now. Have a great rest of your summer.

Gabriel Wehner

Michigan Railroad Archive Webmaster

(March - April 2025) Website Updates and contributions

The past few months have been productive for the archive. Recently I received another contribution from Daryl Wright regarding the elusive Fairbanks Morse Model 101. This was a letter written by Fairbanks Morse explaining how to make a homemade tool which would fix flat spots that may develop on the friction bearing flywheel featured on the Model 101 engines. It's very cool to see that a very niche piece of Fairbanks Morse media has ben found and will be preserved online for all to see.

In other news, I have finished up my second year of college which will allow me to digitize more documents. Since the start of the school year I have been building up an arsenal of original motorcar documents to scan so I am in no short supply of things to post to the website. 

Be on the lookout for some new tabs I will be adding. Some new stuff will be coming soon as well as updates to the Bluewater and photo archives. 

(February 2025) Motorcar Archive Contributions and Donations

Recently the Motorcar Manual archive received two donations in the form of physical and digital media. 

Starting off the month we have Tom Tomacco who provided scans of Tamper motorcar manuals and advertisements along with a short article on the history of Tamper Motorcars. The scans provided are the first Tamper motorcar manuals I have ever seen. They will be a great addition to the library. Thank you Tom!

Secondly, we have a physical donation and digital contribution from Daryl Wright. If that name sounds familiar, then you 've likely owned a Fairbanks Morse motorcar at some point in your life. Daryl is responsible for having a very large portion of FM/Sheffield records archived and has helped countless people find the birth papers for their motorcars. Daryl contacted me a few weeks back about donating some Kalamazoo motorcar records which he had in his collection. Most of these documents include original binders and advertisements from Kalamazoo as well as some photocopies of company photos. Additionally, Daryl has given permission for me to host a digital photocopy of a Fairbanks Morse Model 101 sales brochure that he had sent to me a while back. This brochure is incredibly rare and has only shown up for sale online a handful of times . Thank You Mr. Wright! 

Bluewater Archive Collection Update 1/31/25

The Bluewater Archive has been updated with a new Flickr page to host photos. Link is in the Bluewater Archive tab.

Railroad Motorcar Manuals Update 1/1/2025

If you head over to the Motorcar Manuals section of this website, you will notice that the current digitized collection is featured there. If you have any manuals that are not yet owned by me and would like to provide them to the archive please reach out.

Thanks!