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Railways Atlas of the World Spiral bound 1982 103 pages By John Mahoney
Railways Atlas of the World Spiral bound 1982 103 pages. By John Mahoney This is a set of equal area free hand sketch maps derived from a globe of the eartn. Each maps covers about 1200 miles horizontally and 900 miles vertically. A minimum of on railroad detail is shown.
Most of the sketch maps herein were drawn during the late 1960s and were more or less finished by 1969. The original sketches are on 18x24 inch drawing paper. This size proved to be a disadvantage in costs of printing at that time and the idea was dropped until late 1981. From time to time during the 1970s most of the sketches were updated as rail developments were followed in the railroad oriented media. The project was revived in 1981 for several reasons including the possibility that developments in copying and reduction techniques have made the adaptation from outsize originals more economical.
More important than the improved printing potential is our growing perception that this little set of sketches may actually help to combat a growing void in railroad mapping and in understanding of the railroads' economic and geographic role. This role is admittedly changing in many places and in many ways.
In some areas the railroad is no longer the dominant mode. In many places, notably the USA, the rail mode is being drastically pruned and reorganized. In some localities, usually very short haul situations for passengers or freight, the mode is actually disappearing. In the grand view, however, the rail mode is often found to be expanding and to be fulfilling its most important traditional roles in the strategies of economies and the basic support of industries. In our view the continuing vital role of the world's railways is not being fully portrayed in many current geographic publications.
Probably the most popular and most useful map of today is the highway map. Given the importance of the automobile in the USA, plus the dense network of roadways, it is natural that this type of map should dominate the field. European road maps are also popular and widely marketed and used. The state of the art in such mapping has been advancing steadily and current road maps are generally quite excellent.
Unfortunately the road map has in some instances come to dominate general geographic mapping at the expense of balanced cartography and complete information. It is distressing to consult general atlases which turn out to contain little or no information on railroad lines of the world. Some of the clearest and most legible maps we have owned or consulted show only passenger carrying railroads along with general highways. This type of coverage leads to depiction of a rail line to e.g. Churchill on Hudson
Bay while completely ignoring strategic rail lines of recent vintage to Great Slave Lake or to Fort Nelson. Such an approach when used for maps of the United States provides no useful diagram of the vital and functioning freight railways of the country.
Other matters also suggest that a group of railroad maps might have utility. A recent trade publication attempted to describe and provide data for railways without using maps at all. Then again from time to time writers will be found describing, for example, African nations, from a somewhat doubtful viewpoint of land rovers, jungles and beads while not mentioning that the land rover occasionally had to cross railroad tracks in the most unlikely places.
It is felt that this sketch atlas fills a need and will be useful as a reference along with much more sophisticated atlases or maps. It may also provide interesting insights when checked against a writer's conception of some particular country or economy.
A caption-like treatment has been added to the original maps to highlight the tremendous number of changes which have taken place among the railways in the last twelve years. The captions must be considered in that context (1970-1982). Characterizations, whether expanding or contracting, refer only to that time period.
All pictures are of the actual item. If this is a railroad item, this material is obsolete and no longer in use by the railroad. Please email with questions. Publishers of Train Shed Cyclopedias and Stephans Railroad Directories. Large inventory of railroad books and magazines. Thank you for buying from us.
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