Does anyone know where I can find a history of the AAR, ion line? Or even a listing of significant milestones associated with the AAR?
Interesting question. I know the AAR has made a lot of publicity releases on history of railroads, but info on its own organizational history, probably not much. I know from study of freight car designs that there was a design called the ARA boxcar in the 1920s when the organization was named Association of American Railroads, and was changed by late 1930s (in names of designs) to AAR for American Assn of RRs. Name change maybe came during or even because Great Depression? I wonder if some business historian has done a scholarly study of organizational history for a masters thesis or PhD dissertation. If it is published, you might be able to find it on "WorldCat", an online catalogue of publications, especially those found in university libraries and historical archives.
I was hoping to learn a few milestone moments. Such as did they immediately become involved with reporting marks? Or did they take over for doing that from ARA? Any actual relationship with ARA- Was it the same organization, simply renamed? When did the use of "X" in reporting marks for private owners begin. Was that also when then started in with reporting marks?
