After emailing them and calling them Rand Mcnally Inc. refused to comment on why they no longer include Railroad Maps for each state and a list of Railroads as they have for each edition for the past 40 years or more. This guide is usally a thick tome that is founf at most major public librarys
Rand Mcannaly used to publi***hje “Official Railway Guide” and the “Handy Railroad Atlas of the United States”.
One could assume that the thinking is that Railroads no longer play a important role in moving freight as far as the General Puplic is concerned and that Locating a Comercial Enterprise next to railroad tracks is not as important as it used to be.[V]
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Possibly 9-11 may have to do with it.
While the source may be dubious, the story is saddening.
I agree. I first “discovered” these in the late 70s, at a local college library. Even today with so much available on the net these atlases are still useful references.
I don’t see the big deal about publishing a rail atlas. It’s not as if it is a top secret; you can search and find rails and make up your own map if you want. Strategically speaking, it is impossible to hide the rail unless you make the area around it restricted. So unless the government intends to Area 55 the rail network, there is no logical reason to not have a public rail atlas.
Junctionfan,
I suspect you mean “Area 51”, the purported secret military test-range in Nevada?
I’ve been in some parts of southern Nevada where the security is intense (and I ain’t talking about casino cameras here). I doubt we could afford it for the entire rail network.
Michael
I have an atlas from the '40s that has plenty of railroads, and NO highways.
I think the real reason for the absence of such lines on maps is the decline of the passenger rail industry. Back in the day, auto-train combination travel was much more prevalent and it was important to know that the Illinois Central and New York Central went through Matoon, Illinois.
I still find identification of rail lines useful–even if I were not a rail fan–for navigational purposes. It doesn’t really affect me too much, as I have most if not all of the lines where I am likely to travel memorized. But if I didn’t, the identification of a rail line on a map would be useful.
Gabe
Opps, yes; that’s what I meant…silly me.[:I]