Atlas of North American Railroads - Tapa dura

A compact and interesting volume for any railfan s collection --S gaugain

I awaited delivery of this book with some trepidation; what were the chances it would properly cover my three favorite railroads? I need not have worried. Coverage of these is great but I've hardly noticed as there is so much else to read and learn about. I drive many of these [virtual] tracks in MS Trainsim and it's great to see where my tracks fit in to the big picture. The packaging was very thorough and the book is well produced, of very good quality and the right sized format. I would certainly recommend this atlas to anyone interested in this subject. --Robert l Bach

This is not a typical atlas in the classical definition of the term. Rather the author somehow found maps produced by the several railroads he covers in his book to provide the mapped details of each specific route. This makes it a bit unconventional and some who think every atlas author should provide original maps may well be disappointed. But I like this book. I give the author credit for finding so many different maps. Some actually are available online, but others seem to come from railroad promotional literature (and difficult to find except for true railroad collectors). The scope of the book is surprisingly broad. Some of the railroads shown here have been defunct for decades. The book has good text and several photos that show lines that many people only know as memories. It covers modern routes that have emerged from buyouts and mergers (i.e., BNSF) but omits Amtrak. This book has good nostalgia value but the maps, regardless of their origin, are quite informative. A good historian can decipher information for any type of source, even old rail route maps. I enjoy reviewing this book and recommend it fully. --S Linder

At its postwar peak, the North American railroad industry comprised as many as 100 lines. The classic system maps produced by the railroads of the day, collected for the first time in this volume, offer a sweeping view of the industry’s remarkable reach in the period of its greatest power.

Each railroad’s routes unfold in multi-page spreads featuring a capsule history, vital specs such as track mileage and years of operation, and period photographs, all detailing the mid-twentieth-century might of North American railroads.