rtr12 posted:Big_Boy_4005 posted: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 of RR maps which is also a bit out of date as well and not as good as Mike's map.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.
You are a lot more knowledgeable than I on these things, so I defer to your grades! Good to hear from someone that knows though. From what I have looked at in my area it is also pretty accurate, although I don't know all of the tracks around here. I will look some more and see if I can note any errors in with the track owners. I don't know how often the maps are checked, corrected or updated?
Probably just errors as you say, but I wonder if CN could have kept those as Soo and WC for some reason? Taxes, track rights or something like that maybe?
I agree on the books. I wish Mike would have found an d posted this link before I bought the books. Could have saved a few bucks myself.
The SOO and WC are most likely shown as the correct Legal Entities for various purposes of the parent railroads. On paper they still exist. You will find the same thing for Missouri Pacific and Illinois Central, which are carried on the books as legal entities, primarily for accounting purposes.
