rtr12 posted:If it were not for Mike W., I wouldn't know about it either. As for the books, I have a couple of them and they are not current. I think they are from like the early 2000's or so. If you do find them, check the date of issue.
Mike's map is the best I have personally seen. There is also a CD (maybe DVD?) of RR maps which is also a bit out of date as well and not as good as Mike's map.
You are absolutely correct to credit Mike with this gem. I spent a couple hours examining the area that I model, as well as some of the surrounding region, and found the track itself to be quite accurate.
I do have some reservations as to some of the track ownership as displayed. Examples: Soo Line and Wisconsin Central, if I'm not mistaken, those should say Canadian Pacific and Canadian National. It's not as if those acquisitions happened very recently either. Perhaps those railroads still exist on paper, but not in the real world.
Over all, I would give this website a solid A for accuracy, clean up some minor details to earn an A+.
Chad, I'd say forget the hard copy books, everything you need to plan your layout is right on that site. You can also use it to go railfanning.
