Historic rail maps at the LOC

[RJPugh]

People who use TranzDEM to build layouts and routes may enjoy this collection from the Library of Congress (USA):

https://www.loc.gov/collection/railroad-maps-1828-to-1900/about-this-collection/

I strongly suspect that this collection has been mentioned here before, but even so, it bears repeating! The maps in this collection can’t be imported directly into TranzDEM without a lot of pre-editing. But if you use TranzDEM to capture a topographic image, these maps can be useful in re-creating historical routes. The tracks may be gone, but the towns are still there, and the topography hasn't changed that much. Some maps even show proposed routes, and routes that were under construction when the map was printed.

I’m currently working on an “alternative history” route based in my home area, the Finger Lakes region of New York. These have proven to be very useful. I was actually surprised at some of the little hamlets - many of which I've driven through at one point - that had their own stations.

That's all. Keep on tracking!

 

[JCitron]

Thanks for the link. I agree this is definitely worth repeating.

There are historic topographic maps available from the National Geologic Survey, which can be imported. http://nationalmap.gov/historical/help/download_instructions.html You have to ensure you have the GDAL plug-in installed - it's available as a download from Roland's website. Once installed, you can then import the GEO-PDF files directly into TransDEM, fix them up and apply them to your DEM files just like map tiles. You need to follow the instructions until you get the hang of the easy procedure to do this. These maps, however, are more recent 20s to present. The maps you have here are really historic maps, which are quite useful as well for reference. It really is awesome seeing where lines were proposed. We have a couple that got as far as being graded, bridges and viaducts built, but never had track laid on them as well as proposed routes that never saw anything more than a line on a map.

As you said, the terrain doesn't change much and it's great to be able to rebuild routes from the past. It's interesting loading up a 1944 topographic map of my city on to a present day terrain and seeing where I-495 cut a big swath through a neighborhood. The houses are marked out, but there's that deep cut where the highway went. Outside of that the terrain hasn't changed in the 72 years since the map was published.

On Steamboateng's Hoosac Tunnel route, you can see the alterations made by the Army Corps of Engineers during the 1950s to solve a persistent flooding problem through North Adams. The river in the 1940s was a river with natural banks where as today it's in a concrete chasm. This does present a problem because the ROW in this location is quite a bit narrower than it was prior to the embankment work.