A Railroad Atlas of the United States in 1946: Volume 1: The Mid-Atlantic States (Creating the North American Landscape) | 
 enlarge | Author: Richard C. Carpenter
Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $65.00
Buy New: $63.05
You Save: $1.95 (3%)
New (1) Used (2) from $63.05
Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 605703
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 328
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.3
Dimensions (in): 11.1 x 8.7 x 1.2
ISBN: 0801873312
Dewey Decimal Number: 385
EAN: 9780801873317
ASIN: 0801873312
Publication Date: August 7, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Absolutely Brand New In Stock. 100% 30-Day Money Back. Direct from our warehouse. Ships by USPS. 1+ million customers served-In business since 1986. Happy Customers is Our #1 Goal. Toll Free Support
| |
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
A pair of gleaming rails embedded in a farmhouse driveway. A wooded cycling trail that traces an oddly level path through suburban hills. An abandoned high fill that briefly parallels the interstate. Today, little remains of the vast network of passenger and freight railroad lines that once crisscrossed much of eastern and midwestern America. But in 1946, the steam locomotive was king, the automobile was just beginning to emerge from wartime restrictions, passenger trains still made stops in nearly every town, and freight trains carried most of the nation's intercity commerce. PIn IA Railroad Atlas of the United States in 1946,/I Richard C. Carpenter provides a unique record of this not-so-distant time, when traveling out of town meant, for most Americans, taking the train. The first volume of this multivolume series covers the mid-Atlantic states and includes detailed maps of every passenger railroad line in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. When completed, the series will provide a comprehensive atlas of the U.S. railroad system at its post World War II high point--a transportation network that many considered the finest railroad passenger system in the world. PMeticulously crafted and rich in detail, these hand-drawn color maps reveal with skilled precision--at a scale of 1 inch to 4 miles (or 1:250,000)--the various main and branch railroad passenger and freight lines that served thousands of American towns. The maps also include 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. PCurrently, there exists no comprehensive, historic railroad atlas for the U.S. This volume, with its 202 full-scale and detail maps, is sure to remain the standard reference work for years to come, as will the others to follow in the series.
|
| Customer Reviews:
An Outstanding Resource December 6, 2005
L. Rast (Northern Indiana)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This volume is an outstanding exmaple of a railroad atlas. It is pointed, clear, and communicates the status of the railroads of the Mid-Alantic states at a time when track mileage, though past its peak, was still extensive. It is easy to follow and an invaluable resource for the transportation historian, railfan, and model railroader. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
The Best Railroad Atlas, Ever September 11, 2003
Andrew Kull (Hyde Park, MA United States)
If you are interested in American railroads, geography, or cartography--and people who like any of these subjects tend to like them all--this beautifully produced, enlightening book could occupy a lot of your spare time from here on.pIt consists of hand-drawn maps, made with breathtaking detail and a wonderful imagination for the presentation of data. (Fans of Tufte's "Visual Display of Quantitative Information" will admire what the author has managed to fit onto his pages.) The maps follow standard USGS quadrangles for reference, but they show only railroad lines, neatly identified by color, and a wealth of associated railroad features. So there are stations (indicating passenger service or freight only); towers; yards; sidings; viaducts; mileposts; tunnels; track pans, you name it--all as they existed in the richly rewarding year of 1946. To enable you to situate the railroads there are map coordinates, rivers (when a river reaches the edge of a page, an arrow indicates the direction of flow!), and state and county boundaries. That's it. (Plus first-rate indexes.) Sit down with this book, an old copy of the "Official Guide," and a modern road atlas, and you have entertainment and instruction for hours.pThe maps in this volume cover just one region of the country--extending roughly from the southern tier of New York to the Virginia/NC border, and from West Virginia to the Hudson River and the Delmarva Peninsula. It is hard to imagine how a single author (who has apparently done a lot of other things with his life) could ever have found the time to cover even this much ground--the book is one of those rare products of obsessive genius from which the rest of us sometimes benefit--but his publisher implies that future volumes will cover the rest of the country. Long life to Richard C. Carpenter!
|
|
|
