Not A Member?

We invite you to become one, and to share in our work in preserving information about, and photographs and artifacts of, the New York Central System and its predecessors and subsidiaries

We'd love to have you join us in our work!

You can easily become a member:

• By adding the your first year's dues to your Annual Meeting registration -- when the registration process opens later this Summer -- and you'll be enrolled as a member  as soon as we get your registration; or
• By clicking here you can download the membership application as a printable PDF file which you can mail, with your dues check, to

New York Central System Historical Society, Inc.

The society was organized in March 1970 by the combined efforts of several people who were former employees of the New York Central System.

The Society is chartered as a non-profit corporation under the laws of the state of Ohio. Our purpose is to preserve for posterity information and artifacts relating to the history of the New York Central System and its predecessor and subsidiary roads, and to make this material available to our members and other interested parties.

We publish the Central Headlight which is available on a quarterly basis, with each issue containing a feature article of historical significance. Our collection of locomotive and car drawings is second ton one. Prints of these drawings are much sought after by the serious modeler, and are available at a nominal cost.

We have an extensive photograph collection, and copy photos of the passenger car section are now available. Through membership in the Society one can assist in the preservation of the history of the New York Central, and at the same time receive each issue of the Central Headlight and have access to our wealth of historical material.

Regular, contributing, and sustaining memberships are offered.

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIPS (Effective July 1, 2009 -- the first increase in 15 years.)

Charter Member (Nos. 1 to 350)	$35.00
Regular Member  United States	$39.00
Regular Member  Canada and Mexico	$44.00
Regular Member  Overseas	$49.00
Contributing Member (See note)	$50.00
Sustaining Member (See note)	$70.00

NOTE: These classes of membership are open to those who wish to render greater support to the work of the Society.

Our membership year runs from March 15 of the one year to March 15 of the next. Membership includes four issues of the Central Headlight, dated within the membership period. That is, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Quarter issues of one calendar year and the 1st Quarter issue of the following year.

The Society is in no way affiliated with the Penn Central Company, American Premiere Underwriters, or any of its corporate successors. The Society has no access to employee records, past or present.