Customer Reviews

A Railroad Atlas of the United States in 1946: Volume 3: Indiana, Lower Michigan, and Ohio (Creating the North American Landscape)

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I ordered this book based on the reviews I read at Amazon. One of the most magical pieces is the introduction. The author describes what motivated him to write this book, those old abandoned railbeds. I remember being a kid and wondering "what are those sandstone abutments along the Kokosing River?" Well, if I didn't learn from word of mouth, I can now look this up. I even took this to some non-railfans. They loved being able to see which lines ran through their town. A MUST for historians. You won't regret this purchase. A hand-me-down for future generations.

In the 19th century, railroads were a key factor in the expansion of the United States from coast to coast and border to border. In the 20th century railroads continued to be a bedrock of American commerce. Expertly compiled by Richard C. Carpenter, and published by The John Hopkins University Press, "A Railroad Atlas Of The United States: Volume 3" is an impressive compilation of railroad maps for Indiana, Lower Michigan and Ohio. This compendium begins with an informative introduction, as well as advice on how to use this specialized railroading atlas. The atlas is then divided into three sections: Key Map, Map Symbols and Abbreviations; and the maps themselves. Enhanced with an Appendix listing all of the railroads in the atlas, with copious notes on the maps and a list of references, "A Railroad Atlas Of The United States" also features indices that include coaling stations, interlocking stations and former interlocking stations, passenger and non-passenger stations, track pans, tunnels, and viaducts. Comprehensive, authoritative, and thoroughly 'user friendly', "A Railroad Atlas Of The United States" is a highly recommended addition to personal and academic library American Railroading History reference collections.

If you are a true rail fan, or a rail historian, or just like railroads, buy this series of books. The maps are wonderful, the ability to figure out what rail lines ran where is unsurpassed (unless you want to spend many hundreds of dollars more on the original maps) and it takes you back.

These books (currently three in total) that are presenting a history of rail lines in this country are absolutley necessary for your library, should you wish to know, in detail, what ran where.

Great books...buy them all.

This is an amazing piece of work. All of the railroads are shown as they existed in 1946, along with a vast array of other information including mileposts, stations, towers, yards, tunnels, track pans, etc. etc. The railroads are distinguished from each other by color, although some of the colors are used for more than one railroad. The amazing thing is that the whole thing is hand drawn, including all the lettering. Every railroad line location that I have any personal knowledge of is correct.

The main maps are based on the US Geological Survey 1:250000 maps, and cover about 25 miles east to west and 35 miles north to south. There are lots of detail maps at various scales. The main maps break the area covered into a regular grid, and there are no overlaps between maps.

Maps are scaled so that yard detail is not discernible. Mainlines all visible, but number of sidings are a mystery.