For anyone doing research on existing railroads I just discovered a valuable resource online. Microsoft’s free Terraserver website provides synchronized aerial photos and topographical maps of the entire United States which you can search by city or other place names. I highly recommend this excellent site for anyone looking for photo locations, researching a route, or just in general looking for a map to view. The link for this site is:
http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com/
Fairmont Motorcar Fan
I have used the terra server, it is very helpful, I used it to look at places I wanted to visit went we went to KC on vacation. I was able to locate Neff yard, Santa Fe junction etc without any problem.
Yea, it’s a real slick tool. Just for kicks, I zoomed in on my own neighborhood, and could see the somewhat grainy image of my pickup truck in my driveway! I have found it excelent for tracking old abandoned RR’s too. You have to know what to look for, but once you have found what you know to be the line in question, it’s just a matter of panning to the next image, and so on.
At the highest level of zoom, you can usually tell if bridges are still in place!
Todd C.