Employee Records Search Requests
Have a relative who worked for the B&O Railroad during the 20th Century? Learn how you can access their records through this program.
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Employee Records
The Hays T. Watkins Research Library contains records that may be of interest to those conducting genealogical research for specific individuals who worked for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. The B&O Employee Records collection consists of many thousands of individual employee records which were microfilmed by the Railroad during the late 1960s and early 1970s in the B&O’s Baltimore office. The collection contains the records of many, but not all, B&O Railroad employees between 1905 and 1971 which were not lost or destroyed. Due to the nature and format of these records, all searches must be conducted by library staff.
The Records
The records rarely contain personal information. Most are job records only. Generally, but not always, the records give the individual’s name, date of birth, job title, division, department, station, salary, and subsequent changes in the job or salary including date of retirement, resignation or dismissal, and in some instances, date of death.
Records of employees prior to 1905 were burned when the Railroad headquarters building was destroyed in the Baltimore Fire of 1904. Records after 1971 are the property of CSX Transportation, successor to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and are not available to the public.
Fees
Fees associated with employee records search requests pay for archives staff to conduct research, not for any results that the search may or may not yield. Searches include a search of all pertinent databases for one individual B&O employee. If a record is found, copies will be provided via email or paper copy. Fees must be paid before the record search can begin. Please allow four to six weeks to process your results.
| Museum Members Fee | $35 per individual |
| Non-Members Fee | $50 per individual |
Request a Records Search
Submit your employee records search request online!
Please provide as much information about the B&O employee to be researched as possible. If you do not know the exact dates, please fill in what you can.
If you are unable to complete the form online, please submit this form by mail to:
B&O Railroad Museum
Hays T. Watkins Library
901 W. Pratt Street
Baltimore, MD 21223
For questions regarding employee records search requests, please email Research@BORail.org or dial our Research & Donation Line at (443)-627-2375.
