"Tank Car Safety Project" - Progressive Railroading, 1973

This collection contains the papers of Roy Jay Holden Jr. (1921-1989), a Virginia Tech graduate (BS mechanical engineering, 1942), an expert on railroad tank car design and the handling and transportation of hazardous materials employed by ACF Industries and the American Association of Railroads (AAR). The collection contains such materials as correspondence, reports, drawings and specifications, and printed materials, all related to tank car construction and hazardous materials. Included are applications from various shipping car manufacturers for approval and certification from the AAR; reports on peformance of various tank cars and on mishaps involving tank cars; papers and journal extracts on hazardous materials; and promotional materials from various manufacturers and shippers. Also included are correspondence and meeting minutes of the AAR's Tank Car Committee, files relating to hazardous materials training and government regulation of shipping and hazardous materials. Of Holden's personal papers, the collection holds only a few files devoted to his search for employment in the early 1970s, some personal ephemera, photographs, and a book in which he recorded World Series baseball statistics.