In the article Making Tracks, Fast Company profiled Richard Carpenter, a railroad enthusiast who has hand-drawn a railroad atlas in awe-inspiring detail. A Railroad Atlas of the United States in 1946 shows such features as long-since-demolished steam locomotive and manual signal tower installations, towns that functioned solely as places where crews changed over, track pans, coaling stations, and other rail-specific sites.
For a guy like me with an intense interest in where those old tracks went, the book would be just the ticket. Volume one covers the Mid-Atlantic states. I can’t wait for the Carolinas edition.
Mt.net…just make sure that if you decide to follow those tracks some day, leave a trail of bread crumbs behind…since most railways make their money these days leasing right of way land use to fiber carriers, the once-glorious, US railroad infrastructure may not be there on your return journey.
the railroad history in this country is fascinating. Particularly as it relates to the logging industry around the turn of the century. I saw a lot of this vanishing national treasure while living in the pacNW. It is truly an amazing history. enjoy.