A pair of gleaming rails embedded in a farmhouse driveway. A wooded cycling trail that traces an oddly level path through suburban hills. An abandoned high fill that briefly parallels the interstate. Today, little remains of the vast network of passenger and freight railroad lines that once crisscrossed much of eastern and midwestern America. But in 1946, the steam locomotive was king, the automobile was just beginning to emerge from wartime restrictions, passenger trains still made stops in nearly every town, and freight trains carried most of the nation's intercity commerce. In A Railroad Atlas of the United States in 1946, Richard C. Carpenter provides a unique record of this not-so-distant time, when traveling out of town meant, for most Americans, taking the train. The first volume of this multivolume series covers the mid-Atlantic states and includes detailed maps of every passenger railroad line in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. When completed, the series will provide a comprehensive atlas of the U.S. railroad system at its post-World War II high point―a transportation network that many considered the finest railroad passenger system in the world. Meticulously crafted and rich in detail, these hand-drawn color maps reveal with skilled precision―at a scale of 1 inch to 4 miles (or 1:250,000)―the various main and branch railroad passenger and freight lines that served thousands of American towns. The maps also include such features as long-since-demolished steam locomotive and manual signal tower installations, towns that functioned solely as places where crews changed over, track pans, coaling stations, and other rail-specific sites. Currently, there exists no comprehensive, historic railroad atlas for the U.S. This volume, with its 202 full-scale and detail maps, is sure to remain the standard reference work for years to come, as will the others to follow in the series. Surely one of the most appealingly eccentric publishing ventures of the year, this volume of maps was begun by Carpenter, a railroad enthusiast, more than a decade ago. Using colored inks to represent the various local rail companies, he has set about drawing by hand—down to the last coaling tower—the 254,037-mile United States railroad network as it was in 1946. The system was then at its height, swelled by wartime gasoline rationing and not yet depleted by the rise of highway and air transport. This first volume stretches northwest from Grand Central to North Girard, on the shores of Lake Erie (served by the New York Central Railroad), and southwest down to Anthras, Tennessee (on the Southern Railway). The next three volumes in the series will cover New England, the Great Lakes, and the South, after which, if Carpenter's colored inks have not yet run dry, he may expand his project westward. Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker A labor of love . . . nothing short of a miracle. I looked at it again last night, and it took my breath away. It's the kind of work that only a gang of monks would consider undertaking. It really is fabulous. ―Fred Rasmussen, Baltimore Sun In this first of several volumes, Carpenter looks at the Mid-Atlantic states with painstakingly drawn quadrant maps showing station names, mileposts, interlocking stations, coaling stations, track pans, tunnels, viaducts, and bridges . . . An enthusiast can cross-reference locations to visit even if the rails themselves are pulled up. ― Trains Surely one of the most appealingly eccentric publishing ventures of the year. ― The New Yorker The year 1946 was, in short, a pinnacle of American railroading, as Dick Carpenter '55 notes in his new book, A Railroad Atlas of the United States in 1946 Volume 1: The Mid-Atlantic States, which sets out, with admirable directness and startling scope, to map every aspect of railroading in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. ―Brian Doyle, Boston College Magazine This is a fascinating volume for the railroad buff, those interested in the interrelationship of railroads and American history, or those merely investigating the bridge or tunnel in their town from what is now a ghost railroad. ― American Reference Books Annual A vital tool in understanding the layout of the rail network in the Northeast. ―Peter E. Lynch, Penn Central Railroad Carpenter's work will be welcomed by railroad enthusiasts but will also help anyone trying to understand or reconstruct rail presence in urban or rural areas. Highly recommended. ― Choice The atlas is the work of Richard Carpenter: 220 hand drawn maps―a piece of craftsmanship at once so distinctive, and also so useful, it instantly reveals the sterility of computer-generated maps. ―Charles Fishman, Fast Company The most detailed resource ever produced on the American railway system. ―Chris Iseli, Baltimore Magazine A labor of love . . . Mr. Carpenter's