A good map?

[Anonymous]

Hello
I'm planning a small railroad that's "semi-prototypical" and I have been thinking about what freight I should be hauling. The era is late 1930s and the location is somewhere along the New York - Pennsylvania border.

Now, my idea is to get a good school atlas in order to find out what natural resources I can find in different parts of North America.

a) Is this a good idea?
b) Do you have any recommendations on any good atlases?
c) Would I be better off with an atlas from that time?

/Peter

[Anonymous]

You might find an encyclopedia useful. Their entries about states will include industries and natural resources.

[csxengineer98]

check out this sight...will hit exactly what your looking for
http://historical.maptech.com/
it has maps from the USGS ..some dating back to the 1900s... and alot in the 30s and 40s..
csx engineer

[BRJN]

Hmmm, where along the state line did you have in mind? If you are between Erie PA and Buffalo NY, you can grow grapes and haul out Smuckers Jelly (memory of a vacation 10 yrs ago). If you are in the hills above Finger Lakes, you have a lot of bituminous coal and LCL freight to the small towns. If you are near the New Jersey end, you can haul anthracite coal and tourists to the Catskills.

I agree that an encyclopedia would help you more than an atlas. As a child, I had an Encyclopedia Brittanica c. 1966 and it had industrial products and natural resources listed in each state's entry.

[Anonymous]

That was good suggestions. The link to the historical maps was great! BRJN, your ideas for cargo has given me much food for thought.
I'm off to the library on monday.
/Peter

[Mark300]

The area of the southern tier counties of New York State and the northern tier counties of Pennsylvania were home to alot of great railroads during your time frame allowing for a lot of choices.....The Erie, the Pennsylvania, the New York Central (NYC), the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western (DL&W), the Lehigh Valley (LV), the Delaware & Hudson (D&H) as well as served marginally by the New York, Ontario & Western(NYO&W) and the Lehigh & New England (L&NE).

There are alot of interesting towns and small cities too offering transfer and mixing possiblities.

A great mapping resource is SPV's Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America - Northeast Edition, by Mike Walker and published in the UK by Ian Andrews - ISBN 1 874745 10 2.

Hope this is helpful.....and welcome to the forum.

Mark