I purchased a Rand McNally railroad map book sometime in the early
80's--pretty much a page for each state and some closeups in major
cities. I also purchased a statewide (Texas) county type map. It's
very detailed and large--good for preplanning some rail fanning but not
a last minute reference.
Many years ago we were chasing the UP 844 out of Houston. We were
trying to get a long way ahead of it. Along the way we spotted a small
group of fans standing along a track that wasn't the route of the
train--we felt sorry, stopped on told them they needed to be a few miles
away on a somewhat parallel track. With the UP taking over most of the
routes in the state it's a little harder to determine where a train
might run, because it might have multiple routes, so the internet is
essential for the fan runs, but ordinary train watching can be difficult.
Bob Werre
--- In [email protected] <mailto:S-Scale%40yahoogroups.com>,
Thomas Baker <bakert@...> wrote:
>
> <snip> Steve, I do not know exactly where the mixed diverged from
the GN main. Would it have passed through Wayzata.
>
> Tom
> ________________________________________
In an off-center segue, does anyone know of a good source for older
large-scale detailed railroad maps, preferably in hard copy or easily
printable if on-line? After asking the question about the Litchfield
line, I remembered I had a very well used, worn and generally falling
apart 1947 Rand McNally RR Atlas that clearly showed the line as "GN"
(well duh...!), but it has the whole state on a single 8.5 x 11 page
so is pretty useless for the lines around big cities like the branch
being discussed. When Sam McCoy and I chase real trains I use the
Delorme Gazetteers and would highly recommend them. They are
invaluable for finding that "Bob's Road" (a movie line) to get to
trackside in the middle of nowhere.
But (to my knowledge) no one makes or publishes something comparable
in scale and detail for say railroad's in the 50's, 60's or 70's. Just
wondering if others have any ideas or resources? On-line is O.K. but
not the most useful when you are bouncing around on "Bob's Road" and
so far I have not found an in-car GPS device that responds to: "find
the abandoned Milwaukee Road E-L right-of-way in Wells County, Indiana"!
Just wondering if others had solutions or if anyone on the group
chases the "12 inch to the foot gauge" stuff...
Jim Kindraka
Plymouth, WI
