What-If: American Railroads — Maps
I deeply apologize for not coming back to this alternate railroad history topic in over a year, I’ve had a lot of other things to do and i merely scratched the surface of this railroad history topic. and therefore, I’ve thought long and hard about this whole thing.
Aside from that apology, i thought to myself since I have Procreate, why not make maps of the 20 American railroads in my alternate history about said American railroads? And that’s what I did. Each map below shows the 20 railroads after they absorbed the smaller railroads as well as some of them expanding their networks in the 1980s wherever possible.
New York Central — this map shows the New York Central after the road to the future absorbed Boston & Maine, New Haven , Delaware & Hudson, Rutland Railroad, Bangor & Aroostook, Central Vermont And Maine Central railroads.
2. Pennsylvania Railroad — This map shows the size of the Pennsylvania Railroad after it absorbed Lehigh New England, Reading Lines/Railroad, Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac, Lehigh Valley, Lehigh and Hudson River, Central Railroad of New Jersey, Grand Trunk Western and Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines railroads.
3. Chesapeake & Ohio — This map shows the Chesapeake & Ohio after it acquired the Erie Railroad, Lackawanna Railroad and New York, Ontario & Western Railway, plus the northern section of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad throughout the 50s and 60s, as well as expanding its network in the 80s.
4. Baltimore & Ohio — This map shows how big the Baltimore & Ohio got after America’s first railroad absorbed Pittsburgh and Lake Erie, Western Maryland, Wabash, Ann Arbor, Virginian railroads.
5. Union Pacific — Here, this is how big Union Pacific got after absorbing the Western Pacific and Rio Grande railroads, as well as adding more mainlines in the eighties.
6. Southern Pacific — This map shows the Southern Pacific after adding more mainlines to its network in the eighties.
7. Northern Pacific — For this map, it shows how big the Northern Pacific Railway got after absorbing the Chicago Great Western and Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range railroads, as well as adding more mainlines to its network in the eighties.
8. Milwaukee Road — This map shows how big the Milwaukee Road got after the “Route of the Hiawatha” expanded its network by widening its existing mainlines and adding more mainlines (wherever possible) and expanding to northeastern Minnesota throughout the eighties.
9. Burlington Route — This map shows the Burlington Route after it absorbed the Kansas City Southern in the early 1960s and later expanded its network in the eighties.
10. Chicago & NorthWestern — This map shows the size of Union Pacific’s ancient partner; the Chicago & NorthWestern, after it absorbed the Wisconsin Central and the Minneapolis and St. Louis railroads in the 60s plus expanding its network in the 80s.
11. Illinois Central — This network map shows how big the Illinois Central got after acquiring the Cotton Bell Route in the 60s plus expanding its network in the 80s.
12. Gulf Mobile & Ohio — This map shows the size of the arch rival of the Illinois Central; the Gulf Mobile & Ohio, after it acquired the Chicago & Eastern Illinois and Missorui-Kansas-Texas railroads
13. Norfolk & Western — Here, the map of the Norfolk & Western shows how big the N&W got after absorbing Nickel Plate Road and the (original) Norfolk Southern in throughout the 50s and 60s.
14. Southern Railway — This map of the Southern Railway shows how big the Southern got after absorbing Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis railroad and the central section of the Louisville & Nashville railroad in the 50s and 60s, as well as expanding its network in the 80s.
15. Seaboard Air Line — here, the Seaboard Air Line is shown how big it got after acquiring the Central of Georgia and West Point Route railroads plus the southern section of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.
16. Atlantic Coast Line — This map shows how big Atlantic Coast Line after it absorbed Clinchfield Railroad, Oneida and Western and Florida East Coast railroads throughout the late 50s to late 60s.
17. Santa Fe — This map shows the Santa Fe Railway after it absorbed half of the Frisco railroad in the early sixties and later expanded its network in the eighties.
18. Missouri Pacific — This map shows the size of the Missouri Pacific after it absorbed the other half of the Frisco railroad and the Texas & Pacific Railroad in the early to late sixties.
19. Great Northern — This map shows the size that Great northern Railway underwent after absorbing the Spokane Portland and Seattle Railway and adding more mainlines.
20. Rock Island — This map right here shows how big the Chicago Rock island and Pacific Railroad, or the Rock Island Railroad for short, has gotten after absorbing the Colorado and Southern Railroad and adding more mainlines and connecting to other mainlines order Rock Island ownership.
And with that, these maps show how big the railroads above have gotten. And since I’ve just returned to this topic, I’ll dig deeper into my thoughts and ideas about how things would go in this alternate timeline, which includes more posts talking about the history and posts talking about the locomotives and liveries on said locomotives, so stay tuned for all that.