Railroad Postcards

About Vintage Railroad Postcards

A great way to share travel adventures with friends and family back home, railroad postcards were a popular item in the first quarter of the twentieth century. Common subjects included new railroad bridges and stations (depots), route scenery, luxurious railcar interiors, and even collapses, crashes, and trains getting stuck in various predicaments. Collectors look for strange locations, specific railroads ('roads') and routes, rarity, condition and visual appeal. Railroad postcards are relatively plentiful (since people used to keep them as souvenirs) and can therefore be affordable.

Guest Columns and Interviews

• Guest Column: An Overview of Railroadiana Collecting
• An Interview With Postcard Collector Andreas Praefcke

Article Libraries

San Francisco Bay Area Post Card Club

"Organized in 1985, our mission is to foster and promote postcard collecting in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area …  [more]

Top Related Sites (“Hall of Fame”)

Railroadiana Online

If you've ever wondered how to tell real from fake railroad china, or how brass baggage tags originated, this extre…  [more]

U. Delaware Postcard Collection

This collection of over 2000 postcards provides a peek at life in and around Delaware in the early 1900s. Browse g…  [more]

Carthalia

Andreas Praefcke's postcard collection of theatres and concert halls worldwide. Showcases 3700 images of over 1810 …  [more]

Digital Past

Digital Past, a group effort by dozens of Chicago-area institutions, boasts one of the world's largest online colle…  [more]

Stevengraphs Bookmarks and Postcards

Malcolm Roebuck's tribute to the ornate silk picture bookmarks and postcards ('Stevengraphs') produced by Thomas St…  [more]

Tall Tale Postcards

Don't let this one get away from you. This 'unbelievable' collection, from the Wisconsin Historical Society, featur…  [more]

Penny Postcards

Great collection of American penny postcards from the early 1900s, organized by state and then county. Includes a n…  [more]

Old Tokyo

This beautiful site features a collection of tinted postcards, woodblock prints, and early maps of Tokyo. The image…  [more]

Postcardy.com

Lynne Appel's reference site contains useful information for postcard collectors such as such as a Postcard Collect…  [more]

Ephemera Blog

Marty Weil's wide-ranging, in-depth blog on ephemera, including lots of great interviews with ephemera collectors. …  [more]

Got a site to suggest? Let us know.

Clubs

• Key, Lock and Lantern, Inc.
• Railroadiana Collectors Association, Inc.
• National Association of Timetable Collectors
• San Francisco Bay Area Postcard Club

Other Great Reference Sites

• Tag Town Railroad Baggage Tags Site
• Motelpostcards.com
• Playle.com Deltiology Pages
• Dorothy's Woolsworth Postcards
• Emotionscards.com History of Postcards

Are we missing one? Tell us.