Railroad Maps from the 1945 Official Guide

                    

214 Railroad Maps from the 1945 Official Guide to the Railways

This work is to help me and other modelers figure out the relationships between the many railroads extant at the end of WWII, the period I model.  How did things get from New York to San Francisco?  Mostly they went via Chicago or St. Louis as the following maps illustrate.  The Official Guide contains listings for all the railroads and shipping companies transporting freight or passengers, along with the passenger schedules.  Many companies placed maps of their systems with their listings.  Their marketing departments usually drafted these maps, so there can be certain distortions that make the owner’s line look superior to the competition.  Some of the small roads emphasized their connections to the continent.  Delusions of Grandeur or a Desperate Sell?  It’s interesting to note which connecting lines show up on whose maps.  Some roads had friendly connections and steered each other business, sometimes they were fierce competitors, sometimes they were either depending on which city they were serving. 

The map pages were extracted from the 1945 Official Guide and not edited other than to add an alphabetical index, pp i-v; table of contents, vi-x; and bookmarks to selected roads. 

The reporting marks column in the index and contents is based on the 1953 Official Register of Railway Equipment.

You can find the document on Google Drive at:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6Ussn0SB6pfX1ZWb0hNeWkyYjA/edit?usp=sharing

It is a large file at 32MB

And why did this ATSF modeler choose the BCE map above as the teaser image?

Turns out that  a lot of alcohol destined to Richmond's Lawrence Warehouse for the Russians during WWII originated at distilleries served by the BCE and routed south via GN SP Stockton ATSF or NP SP.  

JOHN BARRY

15 February 2014

Cameron Park, CA