TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE

August 1998
Transportation Museums and Attractions

Transportation Memorabilia Collectors

Bob Bates

MTC has its own aficionado of transportation history: Bob Bates, transportation planner and analyst in the Finance Section. Bates collects transportation tickets, receipts, transfers and tokens from buses, trains, ferries, airplanes and bridges worldwide. He started collecting these items — which number approximately 5,000 — as a boy in Idaho. Transit tickets became more than a collectible for him when he was a ticket sales agent for Washington Coastlines (a bus company) and a bus driver for Metro Transit in Seattle and Greyhound in San Francisco.

Transit tokens

He frequents flea markets, estate sales and antique stores, but he also gathers tickets from friends, as well as from the many trips he takes to explore the rail systems of other countries. Bates' interest in transportation tickets goes beyond the mere collection of them: "You can find a lot of history by looking at a ticket," he says. For example, soldiers' half-fare and "leave" tickets from World War II, destinations stamped on tickets, and new prices stamped on tickets when currency changed, reveal something about the people who used the tickets and the era in which they were issued. For information about Bob Bates' ticket collection, contact him by e-mail at bbates@mtc.ca.gov.

- Joan Friedman

Steve Martindell

Museums are not the only repositories for transportation memorabilia. Many individuals collect enough "stuff" to fill a small museum. One such person is Steve Martindell, a Walnut Creek resident who is a railroad memorabilia collector doing business as Red Rider Railroad Relics (RRRR). Martindell, a construction worker by trade, collects memorabilia dating back to 1860 from western railroads (Santa Fe, Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, Western Pacific, Northern Pacific, Great Northern, Virginia & Truckee, San Pedro-L.A., Salt Lake Railroad).

CA Zephyr Poster

His main focus is dining car china, flatware and linens; photographs and stereoviews; depot lithographs, posters, artwork and signs; and railroad ephemera (timetables, menus, passes, tickets, postcards). But his "museum" of approximately 10,000 items contains every type of railroad collectible imaginable. In fact, he has more photographs and stereoscopic cards from famous photographer Charles Savage (from 1860-1909) than some railroad museums.

Martindell's interest in trains dates back to his childhood, when he and his family frequently traveled by train. He started to collect train memorabilia seriously in 1987 by going to expensive antique stores, but quickly learned that flea markets are a treasure trove of antiques at a fraction of the cost. (He once found a rare Pullman ashtray for 50c at a flea market.) "When you find an item, you have to buy it then, because it will be gone," says Martindell. Because of the popularity of collectibles there are many fakes on the market. The Railroadiana Collectors Association alerts members to known fakes through their newsletter, Railroadiana Express. For nonmembers, Martindell's advice is, "Be suspicious of every item sold as a collectible."

For a glimpse into the world of railroadiana, visit one of the three trade shows held in northern California each year: The Winter Rail Show in Stockton in March, The Great Pacific Railroadiana Show and Sale in Sacramento in June, and the Gold Coast Railroad Show and Sale in San Jose in October. You can check the dates of shows nationwide on the Internet at www.classicrail.com/rrevents.html. The Railroadiana Collectors Association can be contacted at 795 Aspen Drive, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089. Items in the Red Rider Railroad Relics collection can be seen by appointment (call Steve Martindell at 925.934.0215). Items from the collection are also available at Olde Town Antiques, 516 Ferry Street, Martinez, tel. 925.370.8345.