maps/books

Hello everyone,

I am looking for books of railroads in Philly (and all of PA), preferably current ones, I am especially interested in obtaining track plans or maps with clear track layouts in them, as I have seen many lines but have no idea what runs on them or where they run to and from (an example is a line outside where I live, didn't know anything about it until the other day when some CSX stuff went past), being new I am totally lost with stations and direction!!!! Hope someone can help

ps. I have tried Borders book store with no success, I can't buy online as I don't have a card to pay with, are there any specialist stores around?

There was a green colored hardbound book that showed all operating RR lines I think from around 1950 for the mid-Atlantic states that is for sale at Barnes & Noble for around $45 which might be of use to you. I'll see if I can find the name of the book.

The name of the book is: A Railroad Atlas of the United States in 1946: Volume 1: The Mid-Atlantic States by Richard Carpenter, published in 2003.

PennDOT has a PDF map (click on PA Railroad Map) online with the railroads in the state, who owns which lines, and who has trackage rights. SEPTA owns some interesting pieces of track, including the Stony Creek branch, and they recently sold the Octoraro branch (I think). Ownership changes, tracks are rebuilt, interlockings are reconfigured. It can get very interesting very quickly.

I've used current USGS topo maps, which have railroad lines marked along with their owners. However, the names of the railroads are usually archaic, since they don't update them every time a railroad gets bought out or merges with another. It helps to know the historic names of the railroads.

In 1946, most Philly-area railroad lines were either the Pennsylvania Railroad or the Reading Company. Starting in 1968, the Pennsylvania became Penn Central (PC). Conrail came into existence in 1976 and took over some of the Reading and PC lines. The Conrail lines are now split between NS and CSX.

As for railroad books, your best bet is a transit or railroad museum. There's a shop at SEPTA headquarters at 1234 Market St.

Lucius Kwok wrote:As for railroad books, your best bet is a transit or railroad museum. There's a shop at SEPTA headquarters at 1234 Market St.

I was there last month, and the cashier told me that SEPTA's new map was due out in December 2004 (this was, of course, February 2005). He also explained that the book about the El (The Road to Upper Darby) was out of print again, and that the guy who had gotten it published was dead, so no more copies were likely. (Maybe DVARP could get the rights. Could be a fundraiser, if promoted well.) There are some other railroad books there that might be useful, though. The cashier, I should point out, was very nice and very knowledgeable. It was unfortunate that much of his job must include apologizing for his employer's mistakes.