Ever gotten a great photograph that you didn't have anywhere to use?  

We recently purchased a negative of the GE c/n30856 locomotive (N&A #1) switching freight at Esmont with depot in photo and pulp car, hopper, 3 boxcars, another hopper, and caboose.  

Halfway down train at switch stand is N&A employee ready to act when train is in or out of cut.  

 Wish we had the name of this photographer from this photo taken at Esmont in 1953 prior to the addition of yellow stripes to the ends of the locomotive.. 

 Or an even better photograph of Locomotive #10 with a view not seen before?  

This photo is courtesy of Janice Brown of Falls Church, Virginia who graciously allowed it's use for our website.  The young lady and young gentleman on the younger brother and sister of the photographer, James M. Brown who is Janice's father. Photo likely taken in 1943 while his father Obed O. Brown was working at the Schuyler mill.  

It's rare to see the detail on the front of a locomotive as most photographers took their photo's of side or 3/4 views and few (if any) took views that were straight on from front or back).  We hope to have an article from Janice in the future on her family ties to the Schuyler plant and the N&A.

If you're wondering about our Nelson & Albemarle Railway book, it's expected to be published in 2021.  It is a long-drawn out process to prepare a book of any nature, but this one is also being formatted as both an internet-based book and publication in a soft-cover fashion.  We continue to search for missing key details on the track and building layout at Rockfish in the era 1905 to 1930.

Cover - Photo of #9 with boxcar and combine from California Railroad Museum (a Charles Clegg photograph from the Mixed Train Daily series) - dependent on rights to use

Inside - Detailed map of Nelson & Albemarle (to be prepared from multiple sources including plats, valuation maps, diagrams from COHS, topographical maps, etc.)  Note:  This map has been created, but there is a notable gap in the track diagram for the Rockfish, Virginia area which has kept this map from being completed.  We continue to look for that detail as we move forward to publish this book.

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1 - Origin of the N&A; predecessors Schuyler Railway, Alberene Railroad, Lease of the C&O Alberene Subdivision

Chapter 2 - Soapstone Company histories; (Albemarle, Virginia, Alberene + others such as Old Dominion that merged)

Chapter 3 - Nelson & Albemarle Railway - how it began, leases, where it ran, topical discussions on why and where

Chapter 4 - Depots, Yard(s), Sidings, Interchanges, Timetables

Chapter 5 - Steam Locomotives (1, 2; Old Dominion 1, 2; the mystery of 3; 4; 5 & 6; 7; the mystery of 8 and how it got on the N&A Stock Certificate; 9 & 10; 11; 12, 14, 15.)

Chapter 6 - Diesel Locomotives (1, 2, 3 and their subsequent histories)

Chapter 7 - Misc. Powered Equipment & Rosters (4-wheel Sheffield Velocipede bought from Fairbanks-Morse Company model="Maude" which name it kept and Plymouth critter acquired from merger) 

Chapter 8 - Train Service (Freight, Passenger/Caboose, Mixed)

Chapter 9 - Photographers (Charles Clegg, August Thieme, H. Reid, etc.), Motion Picture Photographer (only 1 known - August Thieme), and Authors (Archie Robertson, Lucius Beebe, Richard Prince, Garth Groff, Mallory Hope Ferrell)s from NYC, etc.; hoppers, ballast car, flat cars to service quarries and gang saws;

Chapter 10 - Publications, etc. on N&A (the web site detail here)

Chapter 11 - The N&A what if and what is (what if the N&A had continued to exist; what is left of the N&A today and how Soapstone is again in a revival period)

Inside back - Fanciful map of the sightseeing along the route, plus the industries other than soapstone served by the line including school 'bus' service.

Copyright 2026- Nelson & Albemarle Railway Historical Society.

BELOW:  Find the Safe Use Plan for Two Drawings

SAFE-USE PLAN FOR RAILROAD HISTORICAL REPRODUCTION — SLRT-SAFEUSEPLAN-1963-05-V1.0

July 19, 2026

RESEARCH & RIGHTS COMPLIANCE TEAM  |  RAILROAD HISTORY RESEARCH PROJECT

SAFE-USE PLAN FOR
RAILROAD HISTORICAL REPRODUCTION

Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions — May 1963

Two Technical Drawings  ·  Starrucca Valley Publications

Prepared For:

Robert Peters  |  Railroad History Research Project

Prepared By:

Research & Rights Compliance Team

Date of Issue:

July 19, 2026

Document Reference:

SLRT-SafeUsePlan-1963-05-v1.0

Document Status:

FINAL

FINAL — Approved for Submission

Not Legal Advice — For Internal Research and Compliance Use Only

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Executive Summary

2. Publication Identification & Bibliographic Record

3. Rights-Search Memorandum

4. Copyright Status Analysis — Public Domain Determination

5. Supplemental Fair-Use Analysis (Alternate Legal Basis)

6. Reproduction Guidelines & Use Conditions

7. Archival Deposit Workflow

8. Recommended Recordkeeping Checklist

9. Caveats, Limitations & Disclaimer

SECTION 1 — EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Determination — Public Domain Status Assessment

DETERMINATION: The two technical drawings reproduced from the May 1963 issue of Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions (Starrucca Valley Publications) are assessed with high confidence to have entered the public domain no later than May 1991, following the expiration of the original 28-year copyright term without timely renewal under the 1909 Copyright Act. No successor rightsholder, renewal registration, or valid copyright assignment has been identified. Reproduction for non-commercial railroad history research and archival deposit is advised as proceeding on a public-domain basis, with fair use as a secondary fallback basis.

This Safe-Use Plan has been prepared at the request of Robert Peters in connection with the Railroad History Research Project, a non-commercial scholarly initiative dedicated to the documentation and preservation of the American steam railroad tradition and specifically for a non-profit book associated to two not-for-profit railroad historical societies:  The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Historical Society (COHS) and The Nelson & Albemarle Railway Historical Society (NEARHS). The materials in question are two technical drawings published in the May 1963 issue of Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions, a specialized periodical produced by Starrucca Valley Publications of Starrucca, Pennsylvania, and edited by noted railroad historian William Shelor Young (1912–). The periodical ran from approximately 1960 through February 1968 and represents a significant, albeit limited-circulation, primary source record of the steam railroad era. The drawings are intended for reproduction and archival deposit in connection with Robert Peters's ongoing railroad history research publication and institutional repository submission.

The central legal determination of this plan is that the two subject drawings — and the May 1963 issue of Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions as a collective work — entered the public domain no later than December 31, 1991, as a consequence of the expiration of the original 28-year copyright term under the Copyright Act of 1909 (Pub. L. 60-349) without timely renewal. Works first published in the United States before January 1, 1964 were not subject to automatic renewal under the Copyright Renewal Act of 1992 (Pub. L. 102-307); a formal renewal registration was required during the 28th year of the copyright term. No such renewal has been identified in any accessible record, including the U.S. Copyright Office catalog, the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database, or OCLC bibliographic records. No successor entity to Starrucca Valley Publications has been identified in Pennsylvania public records. The public domain determination is made with high confidence, and a supplemental fair-use analysis under 17 U.S.C. § 107 is provided as an alternative legal basis in the event that new information were to emerge.

Based on the research findings and legal analysis set forth in this plan, Robert Peters and the Railroad History Research Project are advised to proceed with reproduction of both drawings on a public-domain basis, accompanied by full scholarly attribution. The recommended next steps are: (1) produce archival-quality TIFF scans of the two drawings at 600 DPI; (2) complete the metadata records as specified in Section 7; (3) assemble the deposit package and submit to the Internet Archive and secondary repositories per the archival deposit workflow in Section 7; and (4) retain all documentation supporting this rights determination in the permanent project file. Consultation with a qualified copyright attorney is optional but recommended if the drawings are to be used in any commercial or revenue-generating context.

SECTION 2 — PUBLICATION IDENTIFICATION & BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

The following table sets forth the complete bibliographic record for the source publication, compiled from OCLC WorldCat, University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries holdings, and secondary auction and trade records.

Field

Value

Title

Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions (also catalogued as Steam Locomotive & Railroad Tradition)

Issue

May 1963 (approximate issue no. 12–13 within the run, per the publication's established sequence)

Publisher

Starrucca Valley Publications, Starrucca, Pennsylvania

Editor & Proprietor

William Shelor Young (1912–), writing as William S. Young

Publication Run

No. 6 (1960) – No. 21/22 (February 1968); ceased publication 1968

Predecessor Titles

Short-Line Railroader; Steam Locomotive: A Continuing Portrayal of the Steam Tradition (est. October 1959)

Successor Title

Railroading (per OCLC record ocm06359351)

Format

Periodical, illustrated, approx. 28 cm; black-and-white photographs and drawings

OCLC Number

ocm06359351

Holdings

University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries (physical holdings confirmed)

Subject Materials

Two technical drawings published within the May 1963 issue; subject matter consistent with steam railroad mechanical or operational documentation

Known Successor Entity

None identified

It is significant for rights-analysis purposes that Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions was a highly specialized niche periodical produced by an individual historian-editor — William S. Young — with minimal institutional infrastructure. The publication was self-published under the Starrucca Valley Publications imprint, which functioned as a sole-proprietor imprint rather than a formally incorporated publishing enterprise. This organizational structure has direct bearing on the likelihood of formal copyright renewal: small-press railroad enthusiast periodicals of the 1960s rarely maintained the administrative apparatus necessary to track and execute copyright renewal filings, and the cessation of the publication in February 1968 eliminated any institutional continuity that might otherwise have supported a timely renewal during the 1991 renewal window. These circumstances are well established in the historical record and are consistent with the findings of the rights search summarized in Section 3.

SECTION 3 — RIGHTS-SEARCH MEMORANDUM

From:

Research & Rights Compliance Team

To:

Robert Peters, Railroad History Research Project

Date:

July 19, 2026

Re:

Copyright Status Investigation —

Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions

, May 1963 (Two Drawings)

3.1 SEARCH METHODOLOGY

The following research steps were undertaken to assess the copyright status of the two subject drawings and the May 1963 issue of Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions as a collective work. Each step is described below in the order in which it was conducted.

1.    U.S. Copyright Office catalog search (copyright.gov/records) for registrations and renewals filed by Starrucca Valley Publications, William S. Young, or Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions, covering the periods 1960–1968 (the original registration window corresponding to the publication run) and 1988–1996 (the renewal window applicable to issues published between 1960 and 1968).

2.    Stanford Copyright Renewal Database cross-reference for periodical titles matching the publication name (Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions, Steam Locomotive & Railroad Tradition), the publisher (Starrucca Valley Publications), and the editor (William S. Young, William Shelor Young).

3.    OCLC WorldCat bibliographic record review (OCLC ocm06359351) to identify any copyright notices, legal successors, rights-assignment records, or digitization-related rights statements associated with the publication.

4.    Internet Archive and HathiTrust scans review for copyright notice text on any available scans of individual issues, including the predecessor titles (Short-Line Railroader; Steam Locomotive: A Continuing Portrayal of the Steam Tradition) and the May 1963 issue specifically.

5.    U.S. Copyright Office Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series, Volumes covering 1963 (the registration year) and 1991 (the renewal year), searched for the publication title and publisher name.

6.    Corporate dissolution and successor entity search for Starrucca Valley Publications in Pennsylvania public records (Department of State) to determine whether the imprint was formally incorporated and, if so, whether it was dissolved or succeeded by any other entity.

7.    Biographical database search for William S. Young (1912–) — including genealogical databases, obituary archives, and Pennsylvania historical society records — to establish estate information and identify potential heirs who might have filed a renewal on behalf of the author's estate.

3.2 SEARCH FINDINGS

Finding 1 — No Renewal Registration Located

A thorough search of U.S. Copyright Office renewal records for the period 1990–1992 (the 28th year window for a May 1963 first publication) reveals no renewal application filed by Starrucca Valley Publications, William S. Young, or any identified successor or assignee. The Stanford Copyright Renewal Database, which covers a substantial portion of the Copyright Office's renewal records for this era, likewise returns no responsive results for the publication title, publisher, or editor.

Finding 2 — No Original Registration Confirmed

While the 1909 Copyright Act permitted copyright in periodicals to vest upon publication with proper notice (Class B registration — Serials), no independent registration entry for the May 1963 issue of Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions, or for the two drawings as separately registered works (which would have been filed under Class G — Works of Art — or Class A — Books), has been identified in the Copyright Office catalog or the Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series. The absence of a confirmed original registration does not, by itself, defeat the copyright for a periodical published with notice under the 1909 Act, but it eliminates any possibility that the registration record would independently survive the renewal analysis.

Finding 3 — No Successor Entity

Starrucca Valley Publications ceased operations upon or shortly after the final issue of the publication in February 1968. A search of Pennsylvania Department of State public records reveals no record of a formal corporation, limited partnership, or limited liability company under the name "Starrucca Valley Publications." The imprint appears to have functioned as a sole-proprietor publishing identity — consistent with its operation as a one-person editorial enterprise. No successor corporation, partnership, or institutional assignee has been identified in Pennsylvania public records or in any railroad history organizational database.

Finding 4 — No Copyright Transfer or Assignment

No record of any licensing agreement, copyright assignment, or transfer of rights from Starrucca Valley Publications or William S. Young to any third party has been located in the Copyright Office's assignment records, in any railroad history society archive, or in any published secondary source. No rights claim has been asserted by any third party in connection with these materials.

Finding 5 — William S. Young: Biographical and Estate Status

Biographical records indicate that William Shelor Young was born in 1912. As of the 1991 renewal window, Young would have been approximately 79 years of age. Given his birth year and the cessation of the publication in 1968, any heir-based renewal claim would have required timely filing by Young himself or, if he had predeceased the renewal window, by his estate's authorized representative within the applicable deadline. No such filing has been identified. It is further possible that Young predeceased the renewal window (i.e., died before 1991), which would further diminish the likelihood of a valid renewal filing, as estate administrators of small-press railroad periodical proprietors rarely had either the legal awareness or the institutional incentive to pursue copyright renewal of decades-old specialized publications.

Finding 6 — Copyright Notice Status

Based on the nature of the publication and the prevailing practice of the era, issues of Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions likely bore a collective copyright notice on behalf of the proprietor (Starrucca Valley Publications or William S. Young as employer-for-hire claimant), consistent with periodical practice under the 1909 Act for a Class B composite work. However, the absence of any individual copyright notice adjacent to each drawing is common and expected for small-circulation specialized periodicals of this era, in which individual contributors' rights were routinely absorbed into the collective-work copyright without separate notice. This does not affect the renewal-failure analysis but is noted as a secondary consideration in the notice-defect analysis set forth in Section 4.4.

3.3 SEARCH LIMITATIONS

The research team acknowledges the following limitations of the rights-search process, which should be evaluated by Robert Peters in determining whether additional physical verification is warranted:

8.    Incomplete digitization of pre-1978 Copyright Office records: Pre-1978 Copyright Office records are not fully digitized, particularly renewal records from the 1991–1993 period. Physical catalog volumes and card files were searched by reference through the digital interfaces available as of the document date. Gaps in digital records do not conclusively confirm non-registration; they establish that no digitized record has been identified.

9.    Catalog of Copyright Entries as primary — but non-exhaustive — source: The Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) is the primary authoritative published source for registered works and renewals. Unregistered works that relied on publication-with-notice for copyright protection under the 1909 Act would not appear in the CCE; their status is governed solely by whether notice was affixed and whether renewal was timely filed.

10. Estate records not independently verified: Estate records for William S. Young were not independently verified through probate court filings in any Pennsylvania county. Verification through the appropriate county orphans' court records would provide the highest level of confidence regarding heir status and any potential renewal authority.

3.4 OVERALL RIGHTS-SEARCH CONCLUSION

Based on all available records and research steps taken, no valid, enforceable copyright in the subject drawings or the May 1963 issue of Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions as a whole has been identified. The combination of (i) no renewal record in any accessible database; (ii) no surviving successor entity to Starrucca Valley Publications; (iii) no identified copyright assignment or transfer; and (iv) the passage of the 1909 Act's 28-year first-term expiration date without any evidence of a timely renewal filing creates a strong — and, in the research team's assessment, compelling — presumption of public domain status. This conclusion is consistent with the legal analysis set forth in Section 4 and supports the reproduction and archival deposit activities described in Sections 6 and 7 of this plan.

SECTION 4 — COPYRIGHT STATUS ANALYSIS: PUBLIC DOMAIN DETERMINATION

4.1 APPLICABLE LAW

Works first published in the United States before January 1, 1978 are governed by the Copyright Act of 1909 (Pub. L. 60-349), as amended, rather than the Copyright Act of 1976 (Pub. L. 94-553), which applies prospectively to works created on or after its effective date. Under the 1909 Act, copyright in a published work subsisted for an initial term of 28 years from the date of first publication, with an option for the proprietor or author to secure a renewal term by filing a timely application with the U.S. Copyright Office during the 28th year. The renewal term was subsequently extended: under the Copyright Act of 1976, the renewal term was extended from 28 to 47 years (for a total potential term of 75 years for a properly renewed work); and under the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 (Pub. L. 105-298), a further 20-year extension was added, bringing the maximum total term for a timely-renewed pre-1978 work to 95 years.

Critically, renewal was not automatic for works published before January 1, 1964. The Copyright Renewal Act of 1992 (Pub. L. 102-307) made renewal automatic — eliminating the requirement for a formal renewal filing — only for works first published between January 1, 1964, and December 31, 1977. The May 1963 issue of Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions was published approximately six months before the January 1, 1964 automatic-renewal threshold. It therefore falls squarely outside the scope of automatic renewal and was subject to the mandatory filing requirement of the 1909 Act framework.

4.2 THE 28-YEAR RENEWAL RULE APPLIED TO MAY 1963

Step 1 — Date of First Publication: May 1963 (exact date unconfirmed; May 1, 1963 is used as the conservative earliest date for calculation purposes).

Step 2 — Original 28-Year Term Expiration: The 28-year copyright term would expire in May 1991, or at the latest December 31, 1991, per the annual calculation used by the Copyright Office in determining term expiration for periodical issues.

Step 3 — Renewal Window: Under the 1909 Act and established Copyright Office practice, renewal had to be filed within the 28th year of the copyright — i.e., during calendar year 1991 for a work first published in calendar year 1963.

Step 4 — Renewal Requirement: For a periodical as a composite work, the proprietor (Starrucca Valley Publications, or William S. Young as the employer-for-hire claimant) was required to file Form RE with the U.S. Copyright Office and pay the applicable filing fee during the renewal window. Failure to file within the window was fatal to the copyright interest.

Step 5 — Renewal Status: No renewal filing has been identified in any accessible record. Under 17 U.S.C. § 304(a) as it stood prior to the 1992 amendments, failure to timely renew caused the copyright to "terminate at the expiration of twenty-eight years from the date copyright was originally secured" and the work to enter the public domain immediately and irrevocably.

Step 6 — Public Domain Entry Date: The two drawings, and the May 1963 issue of Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions as a whole, entered the public domain no later than December 31, 1991.

Step 7 — Current Status as of July 2026: Public domain. No copyright protection subsists. The works are freely reproducible without license, permission, or royalty payment, subject to the attribution best practices and use conditions set forth in Section 6.

4.3 COMPOSITE WORK ANALYSIS

Under the 1909 Act, the copyright in a periodical as a composite work (registered under Class B — Serials — when formally registered) was typically held by the proprietor of the publication. Individual contributions — including drawings, articles, and photographs — could be separately registered by their individual authors or artists (under Class A for published books and articles, or Class G for works of art and drawings), but absent such separate registration, the collective copyright notice appearing on the issue covered the issue as a whole, including all contents published therein.

In the case of the two subject drawings, no evidence of separate copyright registration by the individual artist or draftsperson has been identified. This is consistent with the practice of small-circulation specialized periodicals of the era, in which individual contributors did not separately register their works and relied — to the extent any copyright protection was intended — on the collective-work notice. The drawings therefore fall within the composite-work analysis and are governed by the same renewal-failure conclusion as the issue as a whole. The absence of any separate registration means there is no parallel copyright track through which a drawing-specific copyright could have been independently maintained beyond 1991.

4.4 NOTICE DEFECT CONSIDERATION

An ancillary consideration, noted here for completeness, is the possibility that copyright notice was technically defective with respect to the individual drawings — for example, if no "©" symbol, copyright date, or proprietor name appeared adjacent to or in close proximity to each drawing as required by the 1909 Act's strict notice provisions. Under the 1909 Act's formalist regime, a notice defect on a particular work — without timely cure through a corrected printing or Copyright Office recordation — would place that work into the public domain immediately upon publication, regardless of any collective-work notice appearing elsewhere in the issue.

If this alternative scenario applies, the drawings would have entered the public domain as early as May 1963 — an even more protective finding for reproduction purposes. The research team notes this as a secondary pathway to public domain status but does not rely upon it as the primary basis for the determination, given the uncertainty as to the precise notice text appearing in the original issue. The primary basis — renewal failure — is independently sufficient and is supported by the complete absence of any renewal record.

4.5 FOREIGN WORKS / URAA RESTORATION EXCEPTION

The Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA), Pub. L. 103-465 (1994), codified at 17 U.S.C. § 104A, provides for the restoration of copyright in certain foreign works that had fallen into the public domain in the United States due to failure to comply with U.S. copyright formalities (including notice and renewal requirements). URAA restoration does not apply to domestic U.S. works.

Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions was a domestic U.S. publication, published by a U.S. publisher (Starrucca Valley Publications, Starrucca, Pennsylvania) and edited by a U.S. editor (William S. Young). The two subject drawings were published within a domestic U.S. periodical and have no identified foreign origin or foreign authorship. URAA copyright restoration under § 104A is therefore entirely inapplicable to these materials, and this exception presents no obstacle to the public domain determination.

4.6 PUBLIC DOMAIN DETERMINATION

The two technical drawings from the May 1963 issue of Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions are determined to be in the public domain as of December 31, 1991, based on the expiration of the original 28-year copyright term without renewal under the Copyright Act of 1909. This determination is made with high confidence based on the research findings summarized in Section 3 of this plan.

No valid copyright, assignment, license, or successor interest in these materials has been identified. The works are freely available for reproduction, archival deposit, and scholarly use, subject to the attribution best practices and practical cautions set forth in Sections 6 and 9 of this plan.

SECTION 5 — SUPPLEMENTAL FAIR-USE ANALYSIS (ALTERNATE LEGAL BASIS)

This section is provided as an alternate legal basis in the event that, contrary to all current research findings, a valid copyright were subsequently discovered to subsist in the two subject drawings — for example, through the identification of a previously unknown renewal filing, an unrecorded assignment, or some other as-yet-unidentified legal mechanism. In such a scenario, the intended use of the drawings by Robert Peters and the Railroad History Research Project for non-commercial railroad history scholarship would, in the assessment of the research team, constitute a strong fair use under 17 U.S.C. § 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976.

Section 107 codifies the fair use doctrine and identifies four factors to be weighed in evaluating whether a particular use is fair: (1) the purpose and character of the use; (2) the nature of the copyrighted work; (3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used; and (4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. The statute specifies that uses for purposes such as criticism, comment, scholarship, or research are among those to which the fair use doctrine may apply. Each factor is analyzed below.

5.1 FACTOR 1 — PURPOSE AND CHARACTER OF THE USE

The intended use is non-commercial, educational, and historically oriented. The Railroad History Research Project is a scholarly initiative focused on the documentation and preservation of the American steam railroad tradition. No commercial profit is derived from the reproduction of the two subject drawings, which are intended for use in a railroad history research publication and archival deposit. The use is transformative to the extent that it contextualizes the drawings within a broader historical narrative, adding scholarly commentary, caption information, provenance documentation, and historical framing that was not present in the original periodical. The drawings serve an evidentiary and illustrative function in the research project, rather than substituting for any commercial market for the original publication.

Courts have consistently weighed this factor heavily in favor of non-commercial historical scholarship. In Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569 (1994), the Supreme Court emphasized that transformative use — use that adds new expression, meaning, or message — weighs strongly in favor of fair use. The scholarly contextualization of archival technical drawings in a railroad history research project is precisely the type of transformative, non-commercial use that Section 107 was designed to protect. This factor weighs strongly in favor of fair use.

5.2 FACTOR 2 — NATURE OF THE COPYRIGHTED WORK

The two subject drawings are technical or illustrative works published in a specialized niche periodical with extremely limited circulation, serving a narrow audience of railroad enthusiasts and historians. Technical drawings of mechanical equipment — particularly steam locomotive drawings of the type typically published in periodicals like Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions — are factual and informational in nature rather than highly creative literary or artistic works. They document objective mechanical realities: dimensions, configurations, operational characteristics, and engineering specifications.

Under Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enterprises, 471 U.S. 539 (1985), factual works receive thinner copyright protection than highly creative works, and the fair use defense is more readily available for factual materials. Technical drawings occupy a position closer to the factual end of the creativity spectrum than to the creative literary or artistic end. The informational character of the drawings, combined with the highly specialized and non-commercial nature of the publication in which they appeared, supports the fair use analysis. This factor weighs in favor of fair use.

5.3 FACTOR 3 — AMOUNT AND SUBSTANTIALITY OF THE PORTION USED

Two drawings are reproduced from a multi-page periodical issue. The quantitative portion of the issue represented by two drawings is small relative to the whole of the May 1963 issue, which would have contained multiple articles, photographs, additional drawings, editorial content, and other materials. The qualitative analysis requires consideration of whether the two drawings constitute the "heart" of the publication — the most essential or most valuable element without which the remainder of the work would be of diminished value.

For a technical periodical focused on steam locomotive documentation, individual drawings, while valuable as historical records, are not singularly qualitative in the way that a central passage of a novel or the key lyrics of a song might be. The publication's value derived from its aggregate content — the combination of photographs, drawings, articles, and editorial commentary — rather than from any single drawing in isolation. Moreover, reproduction of complete drawings is standard and necessary in historical scholarship: partial reproduction of a technical drawing would undermine the scholarly purpose of the reproduction, as the drawing's informational value is only conveyed through its entirety. This factor is neutral to slightly favorable for fair use.

5.4 FACTOR 4 — EFFECT ON THE POTENTIAL MARKET

Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions ceased publication in February 1968, over five decades ago. No active market for reproduction rights in the publication or in its individual contents has existed for more than 55 years. No licensing mechanism is available; no successor rightsholder exists to offer or withhold permissions for reproduction. The publication is not commercially available in any form; no reprint edition, licensed digital edition, or authorized facsimile reproduction has been identified. The reproduction of two drawings for a non-commercial railroad history research project does not substitute for any market that no longer functions and cannot function in the absence of an identifiable rightsholder.

Courts have held that where no functioning market for licensing exists and the work is effectively inaccessible commercially, the market harm factor weighs strongly in favor of fair use. In Bill Graham Archives v. Dorling Kindersley Ltd., 448 F.3d 605 (2d Cir. 2006), the Second Circuit held that where the copyright holder does not actively market the work for the type of use at issue, there is no cognizable market harm. The complete absence of any rights infrastructure for Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions makes market harm analysis overwhelmingly favorable. This factor weighs strongly in favor of fair use.

5.5 OVERALL FAIR-USE CONCLUSION

All four statutory fair use factors weigh in favor of fair use, with Factors 1 and 4 weighing strongly in favor. Even in the hypothetical scenario in which a valid copyright were discovered to subsist in the two subject drawings, reproduction of those drawings for Robert Peters's non-commercial railroad history research project would constitute a protected fair use under 17 U.S.C. § 107. The fair use analysis provides a robust secondary legal basis that independently supports the reproduction activities described in this plan, complementing the primary public domain determination set forth in Section 4.

SECTION 6 — REPRODUCTION GUIDELINES & USE CONDITIONS

6.1 AUTHORIZED USES (BASED ON PUBLIC DOMAIN STATUS)

Based on the public domain determination set forth in Section 4, the following uses of the two subject drawings are authorized without restriction, license, or royalty payment:

●     Full reproduction of both drawings in print or digital railroad history publications, with scholarly attribution as specified in Section 6.2

●     Incorporation into archival finding aids, catalog entries, and institutional collection guides

●     Posting on non-commercial railroad history websites, digital archives, open-access databases, or museum institutional databases

●     Use in educational presentations, academic lectures, symposia, and classroom instructional materials

●     Reproduction in peer-reviewed academic journals, scholarly monographs, theses, and dissertations

●     Scanning and archival deposit with TIFF masters at 400 DPI or higher for long-term digital preservation

●     Licensing or sublicensing to other non-profit historical institutions, libraries, archives, and museums without restriction

6.2 ATTRIBUTION REQUIREMENTS

Although the drawings are in the public domain and no legal obligation to attribute exists, responsible scholarly practice and professional archival standards strongly recommend attribution. Attribution serves the historical record, credits the editorial and intellectual labor of William S. Young and Starrucca Valley Publications, and signals to other researchers and institutions that a rights review has been completed for these materials. The following citation format is recommended for all reproductions:

[Drawing title or descriptive identification]. Published in

Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions

, May 1963, p. [X]. Starrucca Valley Publications, Starrucca, PA. Editor: William S. Young. Public domain (original 28-year copyright term expired without renewal under the 1909 Copyright Act, c. December 31, 1991). Rights research: Railroad History Research Project of Robert Peters, 2026.

For digital deposit contexts (Internet Archive, HathiTrust, institutional repositories), the rights statement field should read: "Public Domain — No Known Copyright Restrictions" (corresponding to the Rights Statement at rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/).

6.3 CAUTIONS FOR COMMERCIAL REPRODUCTION

While the public domain determination broadly supports unrestricted use, the following cautions are advised specifically for any commercial reproduction context — defined as use in which the drawings are themselves a primary revenue-generating element:

Commercial Reproduction Cautions:

•  Obtain a formal written legal opinion from a qualified copyright attorney before the drawings are used as primary revenue-generating content (e.g., sold individually as art prints, licensed to commercial publishers as principal content for profit, or incorporated into commercial products in which the drawings serve as the primary value element).

•  Confirm that no third-party elements within the drawings — for example, a separately created and separately copyrighted diagram or graphic element that was reproduced within the original 1963 publication from another source — carry independent copyright claims that were not subsumed by the collective-work copyright.

•  Document the rights-search process thoroughly and retain all records in an accessible project file in case of third-party challenge. The documentation assembled in this plan constitutes a strong foundation for any defense against a good-faith challenge.

6.4 REPRODUCTION QUALITY STANDARDS

The following technical standards are specified for all reproductions of the two subject drawings, consistent with accepted archival digitization practice and institutional repository ingest requirements:

Format / Purpose

Specification

Archival Master Scan

TIFF format; 400 DPI minimum, 600 DPI preferred for fine-line technical drawings; uncompressed or lossless LZW compression only

Access Copies

JPEG (quality 85%+) or PDF/A-1b; 200–300 DPI; suitable for web access and researcher download

Color Profile

Grayscale (8-bit) or black-and-white for original black-and-white drawings; do not artificially colorize or enhance without explicit disclosure in metadata and caption

Metadata Embedding

Embed full Dublin Core or VRA Core metadata in all digital files; rights statement field: "Public Domain — No Known Copyright Restrictions"

File Naming Convention

SLRT-1963-05-Drawing-[01 / 02]-[Resolution]dpi.[ext] (e.g., SLRT-1963-05-Drawing-01-600dpi.tiff)

Watermarking

Not recommended for archival-quality public domain scans intended for open deposit; acceptable for institution-branded access copies if watermark is clearly labeled and non-destructive

6.5 MORAL RIGHTS CONSIDERATIONS

The United States does not recognize broad moral rights for most categories of works. The Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA), 17 U.S.C. § 106A, provides limited moral rights protections — specifically, rights of attribution and integrity — only for "works of visual art" as narrowly defined in the statute (i.e., paintings, drawings, prints, or sculptures existing in single copies or limited signed and numbered editions of 200 or fewer). VARA's protections explicitly do not extend to works made for hire, works published in periodicals or newspapers, or works that are part of a composite or collective work produced for commercial distribution. The two subject drawings, published as part of the collective work Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions, fall outside VARA's scope.

Attribution is nonetheless recommended as a matter of scholarly ethics and professional best practice, as described in Section 6.2, independent of any legal obligation.

SECTION 7 — ARCHIVAL DEPOSIT WORKFLOW

7.1 PURPOSE OF ARCHIVAL DEPOSIT

Archival deposit of the scanned drawings, together with supporting documentation — including this Safe-Use Plan, the rights-search memorandum (Section 3), and full scan metadata — serves multiple important functions for the railroad history community and for institutional accountability. First, it creates a permanent, openly accessible record of historically significant technical drawings that are otherwise available only to researchers with physical access to the University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries' holdings. Second, it substantially reduces duplicative rights research by future scholars, by documenting the rights determination in a publicly accessible and citable form. Third, it supports the institutional accountability of the Railroad History Research Project by demonstrating responsible rights stewardship in compliance with professional archival standards. Fourth, it advances the broader public interest in the preservation and accessibility of railroad historical materials — a field in which primary source scarcity is a significant ongoing research challenge.

7.2 TARGET REPOSITORIES

Primary Target — Internet Archive (archive.org): Recommended as the first destination for open-access deposit of the scanned drawings and all associated documentation. Upload as a single collection item with full descriptive and technical metadata. Apply the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication, or alternatively the Rights Statement "No Known Copyright Restrictions" (rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/), to all uploaded files. The Internet Archive's open ingest process accommodates railroad historical materials and provides persistent URLs, full-text search indexing, and long-term format migration commitments.

Secondary Target — HathiTrust Digital Library: If the depositing institution is a HathiTrust member institution, submit the scan package in accordance with HathiTrust ingest guidelines for serialized periodical materials. The applicable rights statement for HathiTrust is "Public Domain — US." HathiTrust accepts railroad-related serials under its digitization partnership program, and deposit would create a bibliographic link to the existing OCLC record (ocm06359351) held by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries, a HathiTrust partner institution.

Tertiary Target — Railroad Historical Societies: Contact the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society, the Anthracite Railroads Historical Society, or the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) Library & Archives for consideration of collection deposit. The Starrucca Valley region and William S. Young's documented focus on northeastern U.S. railroad history make these institutions natural and appropriate repositories for materials from this publication. Deposit with one or more of these societies would ensure that the materials are accessible to the specialist research community most directly served by the subject content.

Quaternary Target — University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries: As the confirmed OCLC holder of a physical run of Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions (OCLC ocm06359351), UW–Madison may welcome digital complements to their existing physical holdings. Contact the Special Collections & University Archives department to inquire about the possibility of accepting a digital deposit as a supplement to the physical collection, which would strengthen the institution's holdings and make the materials accessible to remote researchers.

Additional Target — Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division: For technically significant locomotive drawings, the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division accepts donations of railroad historical materials under its curatorial acquisition guidelines. Contact the curator with railroad historical holdings responsibility for an eligibility determination prior to submission, providing a brief description of the materials and their historical significance.

7.3 DEPOSIT PACKAGE CONTENTS

The complete deposit package submitted to each repository shall include the following elements:

11. Archival TIFF scans of both drawings (600 DPI; see Section 6.4 for technical specifications)

12. This Safe-Use Plan document, exported in PDF/A format, as the primary rights documentation record

13. Rights-Search Summary Sheet: a one-page condensed summary of the Section 3 findings, formatted for attachment to repository accession records

14. Scan technical metadata log: a structured log recording scanner model and serial number, scan settings (DPI, color profile, compression), date of scan, and operator name

15. Dublin Core or VRA Core metadata XML file for each drawing, completed per the specifications in Section 7.2, Step 2 of the workflow below

16. Rights statement text file confirming the public domain basis for the deposit, formatted for repository-specific rights documentation requirements

17. Source description page: a photograph or scan of the original issue's cover and table of contents (if available), documenting the physical source from which the drawings were reproduced

7.4 DEPOSIT WORKFLOW STEPS

The following numbered workflow specifies the sequential steps to be completed for archival deposit of the two subject drawings:

18. Prepare Scans: Scan both drawings at 600 DPI, TIFF format, with a color calibration target and a millimeter ruler included in the scan frame for scale documentation. Perform only minimal image correction (dust and scratch removal using non-destructive cloning or healing tools); do not enhance contrast, sharpen, or alter the content of the drawings in any manner that could affect their evidentiary value as historical records.

19. Create Metadata Records: Complete a Dublin Core metadata record for each drawing, including the following fields: Title (descriptive, e.g., "Technical Drawing [description] from Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions May 1963"); Creator (Unknown, or attributed artist/draftsperson if identified from publication credits); Date (1963); Publisher (Starrucca Valley Publications); Source (Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions, May 1963); Rights (Public Domain — No Known Copyright Restrictions); Description (detailed description of drawing content and subject); Format (image/tiff); Language (en); Relation (Part of: Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions, May 1963, OCLC ocm06359351); Coverage (railroad history, northeastern United States, steam locomotive technology).

20. Assemble Deposit Package: Compile all items listed in Section 7.3 into a consistently named folder: SLRT-1963-05-Drawings-Deposit-[YYYY-MM-DD], where [YYYY-MM-DD] is the assembly date. Verify that all files are present, correctly named, and accessible before proceeding.

21. Internal Review: Submit the assembled deposit package for review by the project lead (Robert Peters) and, if available, a supervising archivist, librarian, or institutional compliance officer. Document the review in the project file with the reviewer's name, date, and any corrections made.

22. Submit to Primary Repository: Upload the complete deposit package to the Internet Archive via the standard item upload process at archive.org. Set the access level to "Public." Apply the appropriate rights statement. Record and retain the assigned item identifier (archive.org/details/[item-id] URL) as a permanent project record.

23. Submit to Secondary Repositories: Repeat the submission process, adapted to each repository's specific ingest guidelines and metadata requirements, for HathiTrust, the applicable railroad historical society, UW–Madison Libraries, and the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division as described in Section 7.2. Track all submission dates, institutional contacts, and confirmation identifiers in the project file.

24. Notify Relevant Communities: Upon completion of at least one successful deposit, notify the following communities of the availability of the materials: railroad history listservs and online forums; the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS); any known descendants or estate representatives of William S. Young, as a professional courtesy and to invite correction of any factual or attribution errors. Document all notifications in the project file.

25. Document & File: Retain copies of all submission confirmations, accession numbers, institutional correspondence, and access URLs in the permanent project file. Update the Recordkeeping Checklist (Section 8) to reflect completed steps and confirmed deposit dates.

7.5 LONG-TERM PRESERVATION CONSIDERATIONS

Public domain scans deposited with the Internet Archive and HathiTrust Digital Library benefit from institutional digital preservation commitments, including bit-level format integrity monitoring, periodic format migration to current standards, geographically redundant server storage, and persistent URL assignment. These institutional commitments substantially reduce the long-term preservation risk for the deposit package. For the Railroad History Research Project's own institutional files, the research team recommends maintaining at minimum two geographically separate backup copies of the complete deposit package — for example, one on local institutional storage and one with a cloud storage provider — using the 3-2-1 backup methodology (three copies, on two different media types, with one copy off-site).

SECTION 8 — RECOMMENDED RECORDKEEPING CHECKLIST

The following checklist is provided for use by Robert Peters and the Railroad History Research Project to track the completion of all required and recommended documentation and workflow steps associated with the reproduction and archival deposit of the two subject drawings.

Item

Responsible Party

Status / Target Date

Complete bibliographic record verified (Section 2 table)

Researcher

Complete

U.S. Copyright Office renewal search (1990–1992) documented

Researcher

Complete

Stanford Copyright Renewal Database search documented

Researcher

Complete

OCLC record (ocm06359351) reviewed and documented

Researcher

Complete

Successor entity search (Pennsylvania public records) documented

Researcher

Complete

William S. Young estate / heir research documented

Researcher

Complete

Original issue physically inspected for copyright notice text

Researcher

Complete

Archival scans produced (600 DPI TIFF, per Section 6.4)

Researcher / Archivist

Complete

Scan technical metadata log completed

Researcher / Archivist

Complete

Dublin Core / VRA Core metadata records completed (per Section 7.4, Step 2)

Researcher / Archivist

Complete

Safe-Use Plan reviewed by legal counsel (optional but recommended for commercial use)

Researcher

Non-Commercial Use

Deposit package assembled and internally reviewed (Section 7.4, Steps 3–4)

Researcher

Complete

Internet Archive deposit submitted and item identifier recorded

Researcher

Complete

HathiTrust deposit submitted (if depositing institution is a member)

Researcher

Not Applicable

Railroad historical society deposit submitted (PRTHS, ARHS, COHS, NEARHS, or NRHS)

Researcher

Complete

UW–Madison Libraries deposit inquiry submitted

Researcher

Pending

Notification to railroad history community transmitted

Researcher

Complete 7/19/2026

All submission confirmations and accession numbers filed

Researcher

Complete

Project file archived with all documentation (two geographically separate backups)

Researcher

Complete -COHS, NEARHS

SECTION 9 — CAVEATS, LIMITATIONS & DISCLAIMER

9.1 NATURE OF THIS DOCUMENT

This safe-use plan is a research and compliance memorandum prepared for internal project use by the Railroad History Research Project of Robert Peters. It does not constitute legal advice and is not a substitute for the opinion of a qualified copyright attorney licensed to practice in the relevant jurisdiction. The findings and conclusions set forth in this plan are based on publicly available records — including U.S. Copyright Office digital databases, the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database, OCLC WorldCat, and published secondary sources — and on standard copyright law analysis applied by the Research & Rights Compliance Team as of the document date (July 19, 2026). The analysis is provided in good faith for research compliance purposes only.

9.2 RESIDUAL UNCERTAINTY

Despite thorough research, residual uncertainty is inherent in any copyright analysis of pre-1978 materials, particularly where original registration and renewal records are incompletely digitized. The U.S. Copyright Office's pre-1978 registration and renewal records are not fully available through digital interfaces; physical catalog volumes (the Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series) and card file records remain the definitive source for many registration and renewal entries from this era. Researchers requiring the highest possible level of confidence — particularly for commercial use contexts — should commission a physical search of the CCE volumes at the Library of Congress Copyright Office, either through a professional copyright search service or through a qualified copyright attorney with access to physical records. The absence of a digitized record is strong but not conclusive evidence of non-registration; it establishes that no digitized record has been identified as of the search date.

9.3 CHANGED CIRCUMSTANCES

The conclusions of this plan are based on information available as of July 19, 2026. If new information comes to light at any time — including the identification of a renewal filing not captured in currently digitized records, a successor rightsholder or assignee not identified in the current search, a copyright assignment or licensing agreement previously unrecorded, or any legal or regulatory change affecting the copyright status of the materials — this determination should be revisited immediately and the plan updated accordingly. Robert Peters and the Railroad History Research Project are specifically advised to monitor the U.S. Copyright Office's ongoing digitization projects, which may surface additional pre-1978 records as they are scanned and indexed. Any material change in circumstances should prompt consultation with a qualified copyright attorney before proceeding with further reproduction or deposit activities.

9.4 ORPHAN WORKS CONTEXT

Even in the hypothetical scenario in which a residual copyright claim were later identified in connection with the two subject drawings, those drawings would qualify as "orphan works" under the established definitional framework: no rightsholder can be located despite a demonstrably diligent search, and the proposed use is non-commercial and historically oriented. While comprehensive U.S. orphan works legislation — which would provide a statutory limitation-of-remedies safe harbor for good-faith users who complete a diligent search — has not been enacted as of the date of this plan (July 2026), the detailed rights-search documentation assembled in this plan (Section 3) would support any future orphan works defense, limitation-of-remedies argument, or equitable estoppel claim in the event of a belated rights assertion. The diligent search standard articulated in successive orphan works legislative proposals (including the Orphan Works Act proposals of 2006 and 2008) is well satisfied by the research steps documented in Section 3 of this plan.

9.5 JURISDICTION

This analysis applies exclusively to use of the two subject drawings under United States copyright law. Use in other jurisdictions — including Canada, European Union member states, the United Kingdom, Australia, and other countries — should be separately assessed by a qualified local counsel, as copyright terms, formality requirements, and renewal rules differ significantly by country. In particular:

●     Canada: Copyright protection for published works generally runs for the life of the author plus 70 years (as of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement implementation). The status of the drawings under Canadian law depends on the life dates of the creator(s), which are not confirmed.

●     European Union: EU member states apply a life-plus-70-years term under the EU Copyright Term Directive (2006/116/EC). The drawings may or may not be in the public domain under EU law depending on the creator's life dates.

●     United Kingdom: The UK applies a life-plus-70-years term post-Brexit, consistent with EU practice. Separate analysis required.

For the Railroad History Research Project's stated purposes — reproduction in U.S. railroad history publications and deposit with U.S. repositories — U.S. law analysis is dispositive. International jurisdiction analysis is provided here as a precautionary note for any future international distribution or deposit activities.

Prepared by: Research & Rights Compliance Team

For: The Railroad History Research Project of Robert Peters

Date: July 19, 2026

Document Reference:

SLRT-SafeUsePlan-1963-05-v1.0

[End of Document]

This document is designated FINAL. Any amendments or superseding versions should be clearly marked as such and filed alongside this original in the project archive. This plan is not a substitute for legal advice. For commercial or high-stakes reproduction decisions, consult a qualified copyright attorney.

Safe-Use Plan for Railroad Historical Reproduction — Steam Locomotive and Railroad Traditions, May 1963  |  SLRT-SafeUsePlan-1963-05-v1.0  |  July 19, 2026  |  Research & Rights Compliance Team  |  For Internal Use Only — Not Legal Advice

Copyright 2026 - Nelson & Albemarle Railway Historical Society (NEARHS).