Is there a website or place that tells where all (or many) of the railroad co. operate? which states, area's etc... thanks
I know that each of the big four (CSX, BNSF, NS, UP) have maps on their websites. Many of the smaller lines have maps or details on their websites, too. Finally, the federal and many state governments have websites with transportation maps. Just try some google searches. Is their a railroad or area in particular you are looking for? I'd be happy to do a little research for you. Let me know.
I am just getting back into this after a 25 year break, most of my engines are junk now. I am setting up a midwest rural setting, to catch up and remember how this works. But in looking at all the available engines, on ebay etc... I'm just curious as to where and when they were. (nothing specific) Thanks for the reply
I don't know of one single source, but the easiest thing to do is check the websites of each of the major railroads. They all have a system map for that particular railroad showing all the routes, and usually including trackage rights. For example, if you did a Google search on kansas City Southern, you'd find their website http://www.kcsouthern.com/en-us/Pages/default.aspx And under the tab for "About KCS" theirs an option for "System map" which will bring up http://www.kcsouthern.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/system_map.pdf That even shows where they have interchanges with major railroads. Do that with all the major Class 1 railroads and you have a good start at what you are looking for. Regards Ed
You wrote one simple sounding question but it actually includes several parts. 1. What are the names of ALL the railroads in the US? 2. For each individual railroad, where does THAT railroad run? 3. The reverse question, in any particular state or area, what are the railroads there? I have seen MAPS of the United States that show railroad lines with identifying names/initials. One I know of is the big Rand McNally COMMERCIAL Atlas, a big bookmabout 2 pages thick with pages over a foot wide and around 2 feet tall. There is a current copy of that at my local public library. I assume most fair-sized city library systems have one current or recent year available. That is one readily available source. (if you have a library of medium sophistication handy). Individual states may have websites showing railroads WITHIN that state, either from the state Department of Transportation and/or an association/business organization of the railroads within the state. I have seen websites like that for Texas, Oklahoma, etc. These are looking at the point of view of a particular place, WHAT railroad is there? The other end of the question, if you are looking at a specific railroad name, WHERE does it run. Individual railroads have their sites. I do not know if the Association of American Railroads has an overall site that has this info for every railroad. Would be worth googling. THE traditional source for this kind of information is the Official Guide to the Railways, a printed source. Also, if you are looking for historical information rather than current information, this is the tool to use. I model the transition era, and I have Official Guides for 1958 and 1963. I can look up any railroad and get a route map or a list of points served, in that time period, FOR THAT RAILROAD. Or I can look up any city, town or station name in the index and find all the railroads serving that location. Still another source is the Official Railway Equipment Register which does not shoiw "where each railroad runs." It is a guide for handling railway equipment (ie cars) so a railroad can get information about a froeign railroads cars on its tracks. From knowing a car's reporting marks and car numbers, a clerk can quickly find its freight-carrying characteristics, tonnage and volume capacity, inside measurements, and where to get approval or send the bill if the car owned by another railroad needs to be repaired before it can be moved. For most railroads, the ORER lists all those railroads' INTERCHANGE POINTS with other railroads. You wanted a website, and got your question answered by a "print dinosaur".
This is what you want. http://www.freightrailworks.org/pickastate.htm Pick a state, then find the link under the map that gives you "complete details about rail industry in". It will list each Class 1, Regional, Local etc. and mileage for each. Here is California for example. http://www.aar.org/PubCommon/Documen...RRState_CA.pdf Good stuff.
If you are looking for information on railroads that no longer operate, I recommend George Elwoods site; http://www.rr-fallenflags.org. He has a wealth of information on nearly every railroad in existence.
You can get old Official Railway Guides on Ebay fairly cheap. Prior to 1971, they had passenger train schedules, and some of the most interesting ones are prior to Conrail (1976). I have a collection of those from key years. That's probably the best way to see railroad system maps, isolated by railroad. And the cartographic exagerration, straightlining, chest-beating, etc. on the maps is of great entertainment value. Little lines like the "Roscoe, Synder & Pacific" are portrayed to be the ONLY way to ship between the east and west coast. Milwaukee Road nearly doubles its route miles by including the UP main line in there....? And so on. Another great source, if you're a hard-copy map & atlas fan, is the "Steam Powered Videos" Atlas series. They show not only the current line, but the predecessor lines, and the abandoned lines, in a particular area. They're less detail than a topo map, but overall pretty darn accurate. McMillan Publications - Online Store If you're really wanting to get down and do the dirty research in even finer detail one of the great free sources is the Maptech.com historic topographical maps. Not all states are there, but a lot are. If you're in an area and want to know what it looked like 100 years ago for railroad configuration, this is a great place to start. Maptech: Historical Topographic Maps And if you're trying to model a railroad accurately down to the last switch and curve, remember that in 1917 the Interstate Commerce Commission did the "ICC valuation maps" to adequately compensate the railroads for seizure during WWI. Those survey quality maps are still the maps of record for most railroads today for property lines. One original went to the railroad, another to the National Archives. For a FEE (and not a particularly cheap one) you can have an approved firm like Do You Graphics in MD go into the Archives and get digital scans made of the val maps and sent to you, usually at two miles per map at 1:100 scale. It's incredible the detail on val maps, right down to the switch size, whistleposts, culvert placement, and depending on the individual surveyor, outhouses.
Here's another source of old maps of each state's railroads from 1948. P-FMSIG :: 1948 U.S. Railroad Atlas
