Old Railroad City Maps

[nuad]

Hi Folks,
After really enjoying Trainz, I am ready to start my own build. I was raised in Piqua Ohio in the 50's. My father worked for the B&0 and Granpa for the PRR. I would like to build / model the Piqua area as I remember it, but there were parts that I saw less frequently and the memories are a few years old. (And scotch may have killed the odd brain cell or two!)

I have been able to find a few photos, but what I would really like is the track plan within the city as it existed circa 1950. I have heard that there is a possibility that there may be some insurance company track plans or diagrams, that others have used for old specific designs.

Thanks for your time.

Nuad aka Tom

 

[bl4882]

Hello Nuad aka Tom,

I think what you are looking for are Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. If you do a Google of that title you will find a number of sources for them. The Sanborn company mapped most of the major cities of the United States beginning shortly after the Civil War until the late 1960s at one inch to 50 ft. scale. Unfortunately, they are usually fee based assets, so you might want to try some of the following assets first.

Local public library - they may Sanborns on line, or be able to connect you with a library that has them on line, or can provide copies of your particular interest economically.

University libraries in your state - Not only might they be able to provide copies of the Sanborns, they may also have material specifically related to your railroad of interest. Remember, useful as they are, Sanborns were not prepared as track diagrams, they were designed to identify and describe fire insurance risks for insurance brokers and underwriters. On the other hand, if they have railroad generated paper, such as employee timetables, maps, track diagrams, etc., these would be ideal. I am in the process of mining the libraries at Stanford and San Jose State here in Santa Clara County, CA.

There are many other resources available at no or low cost as well.

One free resource is this http://msrmaps.com/ . This is essentially an on line map of the entire US, including rail lines, at least as of the recent past. Vintage USGS maps are also available, some on line, but all of them from the USGS Web site. These are easily found.

Also consider joining an historical society dedicated to the railroad of your interest. These can be an invaluable source of information and the members are always ready to share.

Most of all, be patient and enjoy the search. Think of yourself as the Indiana Jones of Piqua.

:wave: Bernie

 

[cascaderailroad]

http://historical.mytopo.com/getImage.asp?fname=Covington44ne.jpg&state=OH

http://historical.mytopo.com/getImage.asp?fname=Troy44nw.jpg&state=OH

http://historical.mytopo.com/quad.cfm?quadname=Troy&state=OH&series=15