I was honored to receive one of the 2015 Railroad & Locomotive Historical Society William D. Middleton and John H. White Jr., Research Fellowships to support the indexing and publication of full sets of the ICC Valuation Maps and Engineering Reports.
While my initial focus has been on the ICC Valuation Maps, the Engineering Reports provide additional documentation and photos of the railroad. The ICC Valuation system provides a standardized method of tracking railroad rights of ways. Examples are available as part of a National Archives and Records Administration Finding Aid
I am working with a number of historical societies to publish these materials on DVD or electronically for ease of availability to researchers. Because of the amount of material, including revisions showing changes since circa 1915, this is a never ending project.
Valuation Map Publishing Projects completed or well along:
- NYCSHS: B&A, NYC ML through NY and OH available on DVD. Additional lines being located and scanned for distribution on DVD.
- ELHS: Erie and DL&W circa 1915 complete sets available on DVD. Revised maps being scanned.
- PRRT&HS: Collection includes an incomplete set of early linens and what appears to be a complete set of 1949 revision paper maps for all owned and/or operated railroads. For now, digital or paper copies are being sold individually once they have been scanned (more than 50% scanned).
- FEBT: East Broad Top Railroad available for download.
I have additional projects for other railroads in various stages of completion. My personal website, railsandtrails.com will document this work, but the majority of the digiitzation will be published by the societies not on this website. I have more than 20,000 scanned valuation maps from many sources in various stages of organiztion with thousands more added each year. Many of the original maps and documents are in historical society, university, government or private collections. The public distribution of the digitized copies will be based on the policies of the respective owners.
The maps are being indexed and the rights of way plotted in a geographic information system. Williamsport & Elmira Railroad example
Valuation Map/Engineering Notes scanning projects by others: