The survival of records varies from company to company. Generally speaking there is little material for smaller and earlier companies, though the 1836 drawing (RHP42535) of a locomotive involved in an accident on the Dundee and Newtyle Railway is an exception.
Useful records for the larger companies, who had their own workshops, survive in the form of diagrams, photographs and technical data, for example:
- Great North of Scotland Railway (NRS reference BR/GNS/5/1-23)
- Highland Railway (NRS reference BR/HR/5/1-13)
- Glasgow and South Western Railway (NRS reference BR/GSW/5/1-14)
- Caledonian Railway (NRS reference BR/CAL/5/1-55)
- North British railway (NRS reference BR/NBR/5/1-86)
- Various privately deposited collections are available for consultation. Important collections of photographs, drawings and technical data include:
- The Montague Smith papers (NRS reference GD456)
- The W E Boyd papers (NRS reference GD257)
Papers of the mutual improvement societies of footplate men, for example St Margaret's (NRS reference GD1/908) and Polmadie (NRS reference GD1/905), can yield much of interest for the social as well as locomotive historian.
