Don't know if Ebay would yield a CORA book, but that would be your best bet. But just about any Chicagoland fan (including me) would tell you that the best way to get into Chicago is just to Get In Here! Be ready to spend some time. Think about what you want to see (which railroads? track construction? downtown stations? drawbridges?), tell us, and somebody will be only too happy to help. Opinions may differ.
There used to be a Chicago Railfan timetable, published by the same people who put out similar editions for other large cities (the name John Krattinger rings a bell), but it's considerably out of date by this time. And lots of lines have come and gone since the last update of the Train Watcher's Guide to Chicago, by John Szwajkart. If you can come up with a copy of Steam Powered Videos' Railroad Atlases (you'd do best with the Great Lakes West edition), those would be helpful in showing active and abandoned lines (but not highways).
By the way, welcome to the Forums! We'll be looking forward to hearing about the trips you make.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
A antique store in Booneville, IA that's owned and run by a retired RI/IRRC/IAIS engineer had a CORA book the last time I was down there a few month ago. I thought it strange that one wound up there. Stranger still, I didn't buy it myself. I imagine it's gone know, but I am about due a visit down that way.
He used to have a large collection of railroad lanterns, but had a fire last year. He's rebuilt and has been cleaning and restoring some of them. He always had a fairly good collection of railroad memorabilia. One time he even had a BN employee time table and matching special instructions for the Hannibal Division dated 1968. (The BN merger was originally to take effect in 1968, but court action delayed it until 1970.) I didn't buy them either and they were gone on my next visit.
Jeff
Jeff:Sometimes you just gotta pull the trigger!
The CORA book is really great. There is a market for these and you just gotta sniff around til you find one reasonably priced.
The CORA map is also excellent. Contact either IHB or BRRC and they sell them (or used to) for $15. Really a great map.
Ed
Ed,
I thought about it long and hard, especially since the fire he doesn't have near as much railroad paper items. I probably should have bought it, the price wasn't out of line and since I get down to see him every few months (not to mention also being an engineer and RI fan and talking railroad) he treats me pretty good. I really regret not getting that 1968 BN time table. Had it been for one of the divisions covering the Iowa BN main I would've.
Jeff:I am kinda at a crossroads regarding railroad paper. I have about 5 banker boxes of paper which was nicely sorted, indexed, and archived when we moved a couple of years ago. So much info these days is on the internet. My big collection seems to be Official Guides (about 25), but I have stopped that also.
On one hand, the "paper" is going to be more and more difficult to find as time passes, but on the other hand...how much "stuff" do I want? or need?
One thing that interests me is freight schedules/blocking guides, etc. But there are really good sources on the internet made by people who actually scanned and preserved that info. God bless em.
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