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PA004

Richard Binns fonds. - 18 June 1919-1990.

Biographical sketch :
Richard Binns was born in Halifax and studied at Nova Scotia's Local Technical Schools and at King's University. He became an electrical engineer. Richard Binns began his career as a surveyor's assistant with the Nova Scotia Provincial Highways Board. In 1927 he joined the Montreal Tramways Company, where he remained for forty years in a variety of positions. In 1962 he became Director of Research and Development. He died in 198?
Member of the Canadian Railway Club and the Canadian Railroad Historical Association. Mr. Binns published several books, including Montreal's Electric Streetcars, An Illustrated History of the Tramway Era: 1892 to 1959, as well as brochures on transport.

Custodial history :
The fonds was donated to the Association archives in 1988 by his daughter. A rough inventory of the contents of the fonds was done before transfer to the archives of the CRHA. Only the books have been separated from the rest of the fonds.

Scope and content :
The Richard Binns fonds relates to the development of rolling stock used for public transport in Montreal from 1892 to 1980. It includes notebooks with specifications on all categories of electric rolling stock that belonged to the Montreal Street Railways, Montreal Park and Island Tramways, and the Montreal Tramways Company.
The fonds includes photograph albums of the rolling stock, research files and manuscripts, as well as a few personal documents.

Physical description : 0.6 m of textual materials. -647 photographs: black and white photographs.

General note : Titles based on the contents of the fonds. The fonds is classified by type of vehicle. The documents in the fonds are in English. See D.E. Blair fonds, P038.

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Last update : 2006/10/23