This is a one-of-a kind, handmade log book that records the "Details/Particulars of Boston and Albany Railroad Locomotives." The book was created July 12, 1890 (and revised May 9, 1895) by Walter F. Starbuck of Waltham, Massachusetts. In this log book, Starbuck records the following locomotive information (note - not all data fields apply to all locomotives): Builder; When Built; When Rebuilt; Kind of Engine; Diam. Drivers; Wt.; Div.; Builder's No.; Former Name; Remarks; Class; Station. Each page is hand-numbered at the upper-outer corner; there are 97 numbered pages in all (the vast majority of pages contain locomotive data). The first section of the book contains information on 287 locomotives; a random page that follows contains information on 4 locomotives; the "Revised List of Locomotives as Remembered in 1894" section contains information on 39 "Switching Class" locomotives, 130 "Freight Class" locomotives, and 91 "Passenger Class" locomotives.....all in all, the book contains information on 551 different locomotives. There is a three page section following the first section titled "Change of Engine Numbers, 1894." Softcover; 8 1/8" tall x 5 1/8" wide. A unique, painstakingly comprehensive piece of antique railroadiana.
Starbuck was a noted historian, author, and amateur musician. In 1898 he went to Argentina as Locomotive Superintendent of the Sante Fe and Cordoba Great Southern Railway, and in 1901 he accepted a similar post under the Nitrate Railway Company at Iquique, Chili.