Research & Archives

The Interurban Railway Museum's Johnnie J. Myers Transportation Research Center contains photographs, books, documents, artifacts, and oral histories relating to electric train transportation, with a focus on North Central Texas during the 1908-1948 timeframe. 

Our archives also includes a large book and magazine collection about early trolley and train systems across the United States. 

Researchers Are Welcome

The Johnnie J. Myers Transportation Research Center welcomes professional researchers, students from local colleges and universities, and other interested individuals by appointment only.  We also support research by organizations from cities and towns located along the former routes of the Texas Electric Railway.

We have an extensive collection, which continues to grow. In order to share it with a larger audience, on-line access is now available with additional items becoming accessible each week. Also available is a Finding Aid listing items only available on-site. 

Click here for access to our online collection

At this time, additional items are available on-site only. . 

See below for a Finding Aid of items, by Collection, currently available on-site only.

Photos are available for reproduction. Please contact the museum for details. The Johnnie J. Myers Transportation Research Center collections are not restricted. 

About Johnnie J. Myers

Johnnie J. Myers has worked in transportation for most of his career, including as Assistant Vice President of Bus Operations at DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit). During his career, he amassed a large collection of information on railway systems and over 40,000 photographs. He donated most of these photographs to the Interurban Railway Museum in Plano. In May of 2008, the Museum dedicated the Johnnie J. Myers Transportation Research Center to house his collection.

In addition to collecting materials relating to electric railway systems, Johnnie J. Myers restores electric rail cars as a hobby. In the 1980s Myers worked to restore Historic Car 360, originally built in 1911, in order to install it outside of the Interurban Railway Museum in Plano, Texas.