I just purchased a new book titled “A Railroad Atlas of the United States in 1946, Volume 4: Illinois, Wisconsin and Upper Michigan”.
As the title implies, this is the fourth volume in a series that essentially consists of highly detailed hand drawn maps of the entire rail system in a given geographical area, not only main lines but also yards and sidings.
In the advertisement for this book, there is a commentary which indicates that the book is made up of “painstakingly drawn quadrant maps showing station names, mileposts, interlocking stations, coaling stations, track plans, tunnels, viaducts and bridges”. The book delivers on that promise.
This book of maps is laid out in grid fashion and is divided into individual map sections based upon latitude and longitude.
For anyone who is interested in a comprehensive track map of their favorite railroad(s), I highly recommend this series. Now that I own the Volume 4 covering Illinois, Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, I plan to purchase Volume 3 covering Indiana, Ohio and Lower Michigan.
Who is the author and/or publisher of this series? I have some of the Steam-Powered Video Railroad Atlases authored by Mike Walker, which are great, so was wondering what differences they have between them.
The author of this series of books is Richard C. Carpenter, and the publisher is The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Here are the five volumes in the series so far.
Volume 1 - The Mid-Atlantic States (2003),
Volume 2 - New York and New England (2005),
Volume 3 - Indiana, Ohio and Lower Michigan (2008),
Volume 4 - Illinois, Wisconsin and Upper Michigan (2011),
Volume 5 - Iowa and Minnesota - currently in production by the author.
I also have Vol 4 of the Richard Carpenter/Johns Hopkins University series. it is a hard bound book that shows the area as it was in 1946 (with a few exceptions that the author is careful to note) on the basis that after that point track was more likely to be pulled up than freshly laid.
It is a good complement to the Steam Powered video series which of course has some accuracy issues from time to time but is mostly reliable. One difference is that Steam Powered Video purports to be current or reasoanbly current with former track shown as a dotted line, but otherwise undated as to when it was taken up. And the views of a particular area are closer and more detailed in the Carpenter book. the SPV book might have a supplemental closer drawing of a particular city (and the Carpenter book does the same for clarity) but otherwise the SPV book looks at a far larger territory per page than the more close-in Carptenter atlas. Also the use of contrasting colors in the Carpenter book adds to clarity in areas of complex trackage. But you can get a better sense of an overall area – say, southwestern Wisconsin or Northwestern Illinois, with SPV. The Carpenter book excels when you have a town or city you want to study more closely.
I guess I would say that the railfan interested in the areas shown should really have both the Carpenter atlas as well as the SPV booklets. Neither book shows highways so a good Delorme Gazeteer is a useful companion to both texts.
Dave that is a good point. The absence of roads and highways as markers can be an issue, particularly since there are few cities and towns identified along the way.
I will have to take a look at the SPV booklets. Thanks for that comments.
Volume 4 contains 250 pages of maps, so the coverage is quite comprehensive, quite an undertaking.
That is a great question. So far, it has taken 3 years to produce each volume. It took four volumes to complete the land area east of the Mississippi River and north of the Mason-Dixon line. Volume 5 is in the works, and it covers Iowa and Minnesota, probably to be released in 2014. I don’t know this for a fact, but I believe that Missouri will be part of the sixth volume. So, who knows if the author will ever complete all 48 lower states. I believe that he is in his 70’s.
I purchased Vol. 3 for Indiana, Ohio and Michigan 2 or 3 years ago after seeing it advertisied in MRR. The detail is awsome. At least I think it is. Coupled with some topographic software by National Geographic I have had lots of fun researching.
Personally I love looking at maps. Especiallly system maps & historic maps of places I live. I have access to Sanborn Insuance Maps as well and I have spent many hours just looking at how things were and how much has changed.
I have my atlas bookmarked at the Fort Wayne, Indiana page with an aerial photograph of the General Electric Woodwork building. Part of the reason is that you can see the main line of the PRR (4 tracks in that day) in the photograph about 3 blocks west of the PRR station. Also visible is the Wabash RR ( 4 tracks as well) as it comes in from the SW and one can just make out the Wabash roundhouse on the far side of the GE campus where they had their servicing facility.
If anyone likes to look at maps of how things were these Atlas’ are indespensible! And they are a valuable asset for researching railroads long gone as they also note abandoned roads. Rich I hope you enjoy yours as much as I enjoy mine!
If I’m not mistaken, these are either reprints or edited versions of the originals. I recall them being offered in magazine ads as far back as the '50s, when I first started purchasing train-related magazines, and they probably go farther back than that.
While this series of map books is unique in its presentation style, the author clearly acknowledges reliance on other sources.
For example, he indicates that this railroad atlas can easily be cross-referenced and compared with United States Geological Survey topographic maps, the DeLorme Mapping Company state atlases, and a series of maps produced by the U.S. Army Map Service during the 1940s and 1950s.
Wayne, I could be wrong, but from all of the critical reviews that I have read about this series, I do not believe that the books are simply reprints or edited versions of the originals.
It is newly copyrighted, not a reprint. But what Wayne may be referring to is the possibilty that this series may be based upon prior map books from other sources.