I would really like to know where the railroads go to and come from.?

Question

Is there someplace that I can look at a railway map?

Answer 1

Their are tons of self made maps, pictures and blogs online.  search for personal foamer and rail enthusiast webpages near you.

the mapsofworld.com/usa/usa-rail-map.html

is disappointing, they don't really show my rail and industries/connectors very well.

Answer 2

http://www.mapsofworld.com/usa/usa-rail-...

Is a good general overview.

Answer 3

If you got to www.topozone.com you can get aerial photography topographical maps of almost anywhere in the US.  They will show train tracks.

Of course, I would suggest Mapquest, Yahoo maps, or Google maps if they were half as accurate.

Answer 4

Here is a website that explains U.S. railroads well and also has an up-to-date map of the rail network.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transp...

Answer 5

Start with your local library. They'll have many maps and some will show railroads.  If there are locally produced books about the nearby lines, they're sure to have it too.

You can also get the free maps your state tourism bureau or highway department gives out, they usually show railroads.

Some city street maps will show railroads.

Also search amazon.com for "railroad atlas", there are plenty.

Then check the Web for railfan sites that might talk about your state.  If there's a nearby railway museum, they'll have a gift shop that'll sell maps, and lots of people who can tell you about regional rail history.

http://www.raillinks.com/railfan/pages/R...

Answer 6

They criss-cross the nation in a large network.  

Serving seaports on the east and west coasts they handle a huge amount of inter-modal traffic, where containers from overseas are usually loaded onto waiting freight cars from the huge container ships that transport them on the oceans, as soon as possible after arriving.  From there, they are shipped to different destinations all over North America, not just the US.  When arriving at these many and various destinations, they are unloaded from the trains onto waiting trucks for local distribution.  The word 'local' is a bit misleading in this use however, as 'local' usually refers to trucking moves at 500 miles or less.

In addition, the transcontinental rail network moves a tremendous amount of traffic generated by the petro-chemical industries found primarily among the gulf coast regions of the US.

In addition, the bounty of the breadbasket of the midwest, coal from the southeast areas of Virginia, Kentucky and so on, the steel mills of the northeast, the produce and fruit from Florida and California, logs, timber, lumber and paper products from the northwest and southeast, all are served by rail carriers, with the trains that carry these commodities being 'handed off' from one carrier to the other to reach their final destination.

In additon, there are many 'short lines,' that are basically 'feeder' railroads that handle distribution and collection of freight traffic.  Often referred to as a 'bridge' railroad, it can be said these actually start nowhere and run nowhere.  They are merely an adjunct.

Maps abound, but only those produced recently will display accurate information, due to the many mergers and divestitures that have occured in the past ten years or so.