NielsenSLC I'm a fan of https://www.openrailwaymap.org/ . Some good details here when you drill down to a specific area. It can be a little sluggish to respond at times...but it's not too bad.
I'm a fan of https://www.openrailwaymap.org/ . Some good details here when you drill down to a specific area. It can be a little sluggish to respond at times...but it's not too bad.
Aerial photos from Google Maps, Google Earth, Bing, and ESRI are very useful, but you can have trouble chasing a line through trees.LIDAR is the best for finding still-existing railroad grades, but the quality varies from state to state, and from place to place within a state. Pennsylvania has VERY good LIDAR and is working to improve it. https://maps.psiee.psu.edu/ImageryNavigator/ and use the Display Imagery drop-down on the left to switch to Statewide LIDAR Hillshade. New York can have good or poor LIDAR. Only way to find out is to check. https://orthos.dhses.ny.gov/?Extent=-8717965.087394483,5308395.666964959,-8708864.30371404,5312977.111347923&layerGroups=AdministrativeBoundaries,DEMIndexes,Orthoimagery&baseMap=hillshade#
A nice user-contributed GIS dataset is in OpenStreetMap.org, but you can only see the abandoned railroads via OpenRailwayMap.org.For field work, you cannot beat OSMAnd. Supported both Android and IOS. Same data as OSM, but shows you where you are on the map. Invaluable.Caltopo.com is also good.
As a teenager I bought 3 topographical maps, encompassing the area of the Jersey meadowlands, from what was then the US Coast and Geodetic Survey, and regret that I don't have them now. They depicted 16 or 17 turntables and roundhouses, along with the yards and trackage of a host of fallen flag railroads. I found only one of the bronze benchmarks noted on the maps in a North Bergen sidewalk. Another agency took over C&GS.
Dr. Gordan, seeing what maps you purchased I have to ask, did you buy them from a map store that used to be in Ridgefield NJ? I went there myself years ago for some topo maps of the Moosehead Lake ME area since I was going there on a fishing trip.
Like you, I wish I still had them!
Another map source if you want paper maps is the Delorme Atlas series. They have an atlas for each state, and it is broken down according to a grid shown on the first page. They are not consistent from state to state in how things are shown, and the scale is different between states, but they do pretty well at showing railroads in most areas. Also these are topo maps so you can see how the surrounding countryside is laid out. When we travel, I stock the maps fo the states we will be going through, use Google earth and maps while moving, then review from atlases when stopped. These are generally available on ebay, some also on Amazon, and sometimes can be found in truck stops.
RKFarmsAnother map source if you want paper maps is the Delorme Atlas series. They have an atlas for each state, and it is broken down according to a grid shown on the first page. They are not consistent from state to state in how things are shown, and the scale is different between states, but they do pretty well at showing railroads in most areas. Also these are topo maps so you can see how the surrounding countryside is laid out. When we travel, I stock the maps fo the states we will be going through, use Google earth and maps while moving, then review from atlases when stopped. These are generally available on ebay, some also on Amazon, and sometimes can be found in truck stops.
Back when I was working, CSX purchased the DeLorme US Atlas program to be installed on the computers used by Chief Dispatchers to assist in communicating with 'the locals' to determine where 'here' actually was. CSX also created a overlay program that would mark the CSX Milepost designations of every mile of CSX track on the DeLorme screens. Helped immensely in having intellegent conversations with non-railroaders calling in to report something.
Locals know hundred block of a street, railroaders know Mileposts of track. Two different languages trying to describe a common point.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACDLocals know hundred block of a street, railroaders know Mileposts of track. Two different languages trying to describe a common point.
This is important in that we can tell the dispatchers where we'll meet medical if we have such an emergency.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Delorme was great .. Did something similar to releate power transmission towers to fiber splices and street addresses.
Interesting to see they were bought by Garmin in 2009
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeLorme
tree68 BaltACD Locals know hundred block of a street, railroaders know Mileposts of track. Two different languages trying to describe a common point. We were going to do that with the appropriate county dispatches, but it never came to fruition. With us, it's less an issue of squaring up the locations civilians try to provide than it is figuring out what the appropriate response agency might be. This is important in that we can tell the dispatchers where we'll meet medical if we have such an emergency.
BaltACD Locals know hundred block of a street, railroaders know Mileposts of track. Two different languages trying to describe a common point.
We were going to do that with the appropriate county dispatches, but it never came to fruition. With us, it's less an issue of squaring up the locations civilians try to provide than it is figuring out what the appropriate response agency might be.
Over my career I had to deal with where 'here' is in the metropolitan areas of Atlanta, Baltimore, Savannah, Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami, Montgomery, Birmingham, Mobile, New Orleans, Washington DC, Richmond, Nashville, Pittsburgh and Philadelpia as well as the 'rural' territories in between (I worked on a number of different CSX Divisions over in my 26 years in Dispatching). Figuring out where HERE is becomes critical.
DR DENNIS GORDAN As a teenager I bought 3 topographical maps, encompassing the area of the Jersey meadowlands, from what was then the US Coast and Geodetic Survey, and regret that I don't have them now. They depicted 16 or 17 turntables and roundhouses, along with the yards and trackage of a host of fallen flag railroads. I found only one of the bronze benchmarks noted on the maps in a North Bergen sidewalk. Another agency took over C&GS.
The C&GS worked with the USGS on topo maps. As I mentioned before, you can find all the old topo maps at:
https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/viewer/#4/39.98/-100.06
1) Often a long-abandonded ROW can be followed on Google Satellite view by subtle changes in tree coloration, etc. (assuming one knows that the tracks once were there).
2) Good source for on-line OLD topo maps: https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/
casey56Good source for on-line OLD topo maps: https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/
http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/topo_us.html
One might want to look into RIP-116 from National Archives if you're really into this stuff.
Select List of Publications: Reference Information Papers (archives.gov)
Plenty of railroaders and surveyors alike are annoyed with the obsessive-compulsive modelers that think the railroad engineering departments are there to satisfy their every whim for val maps. Makes it harder on surveyors and engineers that have a legitimate need for the information on the val maps.
Hi everyone. Thanks again for your help.
Finally, I decided to take a step further in the trains world by getting into the model railroading hobby :)
Stéphan
xploringrailroadsFinally, I decided to take a step further in the trains world by getting into the model railroading hobby :)
Wonderful! May I suggest you take a look at the "Classic Toy Trains" magazine website? You can find it under "Trains.com Sites" up on the heading.
A good second choice? "Model Railroading" magazine. You can find it the same as the other. If you HAVE to.
I have just subscribed to Model Railroader's and FineScale Modeler´s magazine :)
xploringrailroadsI have just subscribed to Model Railroader's and FineScale Modeler´s magazine :)
If you need any help with HO Scale DCC I had to learn it from scratch recently and while the online Model Railroader Forums are a nice place to ask questions, sometimes the answers can be confusing. My first trainset was DC in the 1970's, my current is DCC and I am learning as I go. It sounds really complicated electronically but most of it is plug and play (connect with wire and solder), you just have to know what components to buy and impliment where to overcome issues with the electronic circuitry.
Yes and when Garmin bought them they took very little time to drop the Delorme software with no real substitute, and ther is still nothing I have found that does all that could be done with Delorme Topo software. I am still using my 2010 copy to plan trips. Most rail info on there hasn't changed too much so when I am in a strange area I can usually figure out what RR I am looking at. The paper based products are still available but using both when traveling was ideal.
RKFarmsYes and when Garmin bought them they took very little time to drop the Delorme software with no real substitute, and ther is still nothing I have found that does all that could be done with Delorme Topo software. I am still using my 2010 copy to plan trips. Most rail info on there hasn't changed too much so when I am in a strange area I can usually figure out what RR I am looking at. The paper based products are still available but using both when traveling was ideal.
Garmin Base Camp can be used to plan road trips.
In California at least, the Auto Club detailed area maps show surprising detail, very useful in following rail routes. Look for example at the maps that break Orange County up into three separate volumes; almost all of the active and many abandoned rail lines are easily followed.
Historic aerial photographs of Pennsylvania from the 1940's are available at
https://datacommons.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=10af5f75f9f94f01866359ba398cb6a9
The website openrailwaymap.org is great resource. You can drill down to exquisite detail.
I will check that website openrailwaymap.org.
Thanks for the link.
XRR, since you're Canadian:
https://www.railcan.ca/rac-initiatives/canadian-rail-atlas/
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
I've found that a combination of Google Maps, old Official Guidelines, and federal topographic maps work best; especially when researching long abandoned ROWs. One can still trace with precision a ROW abandoned 70+ years ago in fields and pastures. Cityscapes require using old aerial photos, topographical and real estate maps.
IowaFrisian Cityscapes require using old aerial photos, topographical and real estate maps.
Cityscapes require using old aerial photos, topographical and real estate maps.
I was able to trace out the ROW for the Milwaukee branch to Decorah with a combination of a sufficiently old topo along with modern aerial/satellite photos.
For a while, Google maps had a fairly detailed imaging of real estate plots, remember looking at the site of the Nevada Governor's mansion and seeing the plot details for the house track down Caroline Street split off the line from Reno on Washington Street. This was a particular interest to me as I either walked or rode by the Governor's Mansion twice a day in seventh grade.
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