Putting together the illustrations for Trains magazine’s new “Railroad Maps” publication provided a great opportunity to delve into the extremes of North America’s railroad network.
Inside “Railroad Maps,” you’ll find maps of the highest, steepest, fastest, busiest, biggest, and snowiest lines on the continent.
To prepare this collection, we took some of your favorite illustrations from Trains magazine’s “Map of the Month” series, updated many of the maps showing today’s railroad industry, and prepared four new maps you won’t find anywhere else.
Putting together this collection yielded a few surprises — some things I thought I knew had actually changed — and reminded me again of how versatile our continent’s railroad network is. Here are some of the “extreme” statistics you’ll find in “Railroad Maps.”
North America’s biggest railroad? It’s not who you might think: If you answered Union Pacific, you’d be half-right. Union Pacific owns or controls more miles than any other U.S. railroad — 26,356 miles, as of year-end 2012. But if you add in trackage rights, UP’s total franchise of 31,868 miles is eclipsed by BNSF Railway, which has 9,266 miles of trackage rights that net it a system total of 32,514 miles.
What state has the most railroad tonnage? Wyoming may rank last in population, but this sparsely settled state generated 1 out of every 4 tons of freight originated on U.S. railroads in 2010, thanks to its concentration of low-sulfur coal mines. With 476.8 million tons originated and 17.2 million tons terminated, Wyoming’s rail activity is almost 40 percent higher than the second busiest state, Illinois, with 289 million tons originated and terminated.
Which rail lines have the highest elevation in America? We mapped the highest points on 56 historic American railroads in the era between 1930 and 1950. Not surprisingly, Denver & Rio Grande Western claims the two top spots for highest points. Marshall Pass, Colo., on the narrow-gauge network, had a top elevation of 10,856 feet, while Tennessee Pass on the standard-gauge line reaches a high point of 10,221 feet.
And what rail lines has lowest “high summit”? Illinois is known for being flat, and regional system Chicago & Eastern Illinois, which never left the prairies, had the lowest “high point,” at 759 feet in Dailey, Ill.
Where is America’s steepest grade? It’s not Saluda. Pennsylvania Railroad’s Madison Incline in Indiana, has a 5.89 percent grade, the steepest among U.S. railroads in the “classic” era of 1930-1950. Southern Railway’s Saluda Hill in North Carolina came in second, with its stretch of 5.1 percent. And of course, we’d be remiss not to bring up Chicago & Eastern Illinois once again, where the steepest grade on the system is in Spillertown, Ill., at 1.26 percent, the “gentlest” among each railroad’s steepest grade.
What is America’s busiest railroad line? It’s not a coal route. In fact, you’ll find more trains on Metro-North Railroad’s line out of Grand Central Terminal than on any other stretch of the North American rail network. Metro-North fields 614 trains each weekday between Grand Central and Mott Haven junction in the Bronx. Our trains-per-day illustrations in “Railroad Maps” show you the busiest rail lines across the country.
What is America’s fastest railroad line? The top spot goes to two stretches of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, where Acela trains go 150 mph. South of New York, the trains can go up to 135 mph, the second-fastest maximum operating speed in the U.S.
You’ll find these extremes and more in our new “Railroad Maps” publication, on sale at newsstands or available for $9.95 by clicking here: http://trn.trains.com/en/Hidden/Marketing/Articles/2013/07/P20432.aspx
Plus, if you leave a comment below, you’ll be registered to win a drawing for a free special copy of railroad maps, signed by the illustrators and editors who prepare the Map of the Month in Trains magazine: Bill Metzger, Matt Van Hattem, and Rick Johnson. Five winners will be chosen at random at the end of business on September 19, 2013. Best of luck!
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