For at least twenty years prior to the formation of this Society, there were men in this country interested in the collection of records pertaining to the history of the railroads. Many of them the writer knew by personal acquaintance or through the medium of correspondence. With the Great War came the high price of scrap paper, and the railroads seized this opportunity of disposing of many of their old records in such fashion. Realizing that the individual could do but little toward the preservation of these records, two close friends, living in or near Boston, together with the writer, formed this Society.