Track Maps.

Any historical questions can be posted here. Answers would certainly help as well :)
railroads2000
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Track Maps.

Unread post by railroads2000 »

Hello,

I am looking for Track Maps for Toledo, O. to Clinton, Mi., Adrian, Mi. to Lenawee Jct, Mi. and Grosvenor, Mi. to Morenci, Mi. I would like to know what the track looked like along these routes. I have seen straight line maps for PC and CR, at the Multimodal website, but they don't show passing sidings or industrial spurs. I believe these routes were part of NYC's Western District Maps? I would like to get as much info as I can, including rail served customers, to try an design a track plan using one or all the routes. I plan to proto freelance so I can add or change a few online industries to include steel coil cars and 86 foot hi cube cars. I want to model different eras, to include PC, CR,( DT&I & N&W as interchange), a freelanced short line to be named either the Michigan Central Railroad or the Michigan Southern Railroad and a G&W ownership. I have checked the Adrian to Lenawee Jct. portion on Google Aerial Maps, that helps, but Grosvenor to Morenci was ripped up. Any info would be appreciated, meanwhile, I will continue my search.

Thanks,

James Barnes, Jr.

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Atkinson_Railroad
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Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2015 5:04 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: Track Maps.

Unread post by Atkinson_Railroad »

James;

If you've got a LOT of patience, and many hours of time (days, weeks, etc.) to devote to your search, the US Geological site likely has what
you need to fill in the blanks you're seeking. The website has changed through the years and has become increasingly more complex to navigate.

https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/ngmdb/ngmdb_home.html

A fascinating "admittance" by the U.S. Geological Survey is the maps produced today using sophisticated technology,
lack the level of detail the older, hand drawn maps provided. The reason stated is, field data is no longer authenticated
by actual people on the ground, and also for national security reasons, features like power lines, pipelines, radio towers etc. are not shown.

I traced the entire Detroit, Toledo and Ironton Railroad route, capturing every single map PDF file related to the line from the site.
It took quite a while to accomplish, and returned to the site one day to discover the maps I had saved earlier are increasingly more difficult to find.

Perhaps others may [chime in] on a better source.

John

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SousaKerry
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Re: Track Maps.

Unread post by SousaKerry »

Takes some digging but historical arial photo sites can be a big help as well. Often the resolution is a bit crappy and they watermark the heck out of the images but you get the jist of what was there.
What smells like lube oil and diesel.... Oh wait it's just my "Locomotive Breath"

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