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The SPATIAL LOCATION of railroads/ is based upon locations as given in the National Transportation Atlas Database (United States Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics) and contemporary and historical U.S. topographical maps (United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey)./
The EXISTENCE of a railroad serving locations at a specific date (see variable "InOpBy") was determined using the following resources:
1911: state maps from William D. Whitney and Benjamin E. Smith (eds) The Century dictionary and cyclopedia, with a new atlas of the world, New York: Century Co., 1911 (using scanned images from http://www.goldbug.com);
1903: regional maps from Rand McNally, Rand McNally & Co.'s Enlarged Business Atlas And Shippers' Guide ... Showing In Detail The Entire Railroad System ... Accompanied By A New And Original Compilation And Ready Reference Index…, Chicago: Rand McNally & Company, 1903 (using images 2844006, 2844007 and 2844008 from http://www.davidrumey.com);
1898: regional maps from Rand McNally, United States. Rand, McNally & Co., Map Publishers and Engravers, Chicago, 1898. Rand, McNally & Co.'s New Business Atlas Map of the United States…, Chicago: Rand McNally & Company, 1898 (using images 0772003, 0772004 and 0772005 from http://www.davidrumey.com);
1893: state maps from Rand McNally and Company, Rand, McNally & Co.'s enlarged business atlas and shippers guide ; containing large-scale maps of all the states and territories in the United States, of the Dominion of Canada, the Republic of Mexico, Central America, the West Indies and Cuba. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1893 (images courtesy of Murray Hudson, www.antiquemapsandglobes.com) except for Louisiana, Maryland/Delaware, Michigan, and Mississippi which were taken from Rand McNally, Universal Atlas of the World, Chicago: Rand McNally, 1893 (images courtesy of the University of Alabama Cartographic Lab) and Texas which was digitized by Amanda Gregg from Rand McNally & Co. Indexed county and railroad pocket map and shippers' guide of Texas : accompanied by a new and original compilation and ready reference index, showing in detail the entire railroad system ...Chicago: Rand McNally & Co., c1893 (Yale University Beinecke Library, Call Number: Zc52 893ra);
1889: state maps from Rand McNally, Rand, McNally & Co.'s enlarged business atlas and shippers guide…, Chicago: Rand McNally & Co., 1889 (using images 2094016 through 2094062 from http://www.davidrumey.com);
1881: state maps from Rand McNally, New Indexed Business Atlas and Shippers Guide, Chicago: Rand McNally & Co., 1881 (photographed by Amanda Gregg from a copy in the Yale University Beinecke Library, 2009 Folio 63);
1877: state maps from Rand McNally and Company, Rand McNally & Co’s Business Atlas, Chicago: Rand McNally & Co., 1877 (digitized by Matthew Van den Berg from a copy in the Library of Congress, Call no. G1200 .R3358 1877);
1872: regional maps from Warner & Beers, Atlas of the United States, Chicago: Warner & Beers, 1872 (using images 2585069 through 2585078 from http://www.davidrumey.com);
1868: national map by J. T. Lloyd, Lloyd's New Map of the United States The Canadas and New Brunswick From The Latest Surveys Showing Every Railroad & Station Finished … 1868, New York: J. T. Lloyd, 1868 (using image 2859002 from http://www.davidrumey.com)
1863: national map by J. T. Lloyd, Lloyd's New Map of the United States The Canadas And New Brunswick From the latest Surveys Showing Every Railroad & Station Finished to June 1863, New York: J. T. Lloyd, 1863 (using image 2591002 from http://www.davidrumey.com)
1861: regional maps by G. R. Taylor and Irene D. Neu, The American Railroad Network 1861-1890, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1956;
1858: national map by Hugo Stammann, J. Sage & Son's new & reliable rail road map comprising all the railroads of the United States and Canadas with their stations and distances, Buffalo, NY: J Sage & Sons, 1858 using image rr000360 from the Library of Congress at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3701p.rr000360;
1856: national map by Richard S. Fisher, Dinsmore's complete map of the railroads & canals in the United States & Canada carefully compiled from authentic sources by Richard S. Fisher, editor of the American Rail Road & Steam Navigation Guide, New York, 1856 using image rr000300 from the Library of Congress at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3701p.rr000300;
1854: national map by E. D. Sanford, H. V. Poor's rail road map showing particularly the location and connections of the North East & South West Alabama Rail Road, by E. D. Sanford, Civil Engineer, n.p.: 1854 using image rr004950 from the Library of Congress at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3701p.rr004950;
1852: national map by J. H. Colton, Colton's Map Of The United States, The Canadas &c. Showing The Rail Roads, Canals & Stage Roads: With Distances from Place to Place, New York: J. H. Colton, 1852 (using image 0172002 from http://www.davidrumey.com)
1850 and earlier dates: Curran Dinsmore, Dinsmore & Company's new and complete map of the railway system of the United States and Canada; compiled from official sources, under the direction of the editor of the "American Railway Guide.", New York: 1850, the early railroad database assembled by Professor Milton C. Hallberg (deceased, Pensylvania State University) and appearing on http://oldrailhistory.com/, various railroad histories, on-line google search results and Wikipedia entries for specific railroads appearing in Hallberg’s database.
Digitized maps were geo-referenced using ArcGIS 10’s spline algorithm against the National Historical Geographic Information System’s 2009 TIGER-based historical state and county boundary files (see www.nhgis.org) and the U.S. National Atlas’s database of cities and town.
No effort was made to identify or preserve double tracking. Sidings, yards, and turnouts, etc., were deleted whenever possible absent any knowledge as to when these features were constructed.
See Jeremy Atack "Procedures and Issues Relating to the Creration of Historical Transportation Shapfiles of Navigabale Rivers, Canals, and Railroads in the United States" available at https://my.vanderbilt.edu/jeremyatack/files/2015/09/HistoricalTransportationSHPfilesDocumenation.pdf. Also Jeremy Atack, "On the Use of Geographic Informations Systems in Economic History" Journal of Economic History, 73:2 (June 2013): 313-338. Also available at https://my.vanderbilt.edu/jeremyatack/files/2011/08/EHAPresidentialAddress.pdf
Revision History: Edited = 1 ==> minor modifications by Jeremy Atack, September 20, 2015 amending dates for "InOpBy" and/or endpoints to fix microfractures and inconsistencies,1861 or earlier.
= 2 ==> JA; 9/21/2015 switched dates and names (1861-1903) on Charleston & Savannah RR just west of Ashley River to accurately reflect LOC map for this RR
= 3 ==> JA: 12/22/2015 modification to RR dates and locations around Baltimore, New York city, Philadelphia and Washington DC reflecting (some but not all) of the 1860 mapping by C. Baer et al., Canals and Railroads of the Mid-Atlantic States, 1800-1860 (Hagley Foundation 1981)
SHP file edited 5/9/2016 to fix error message in ArcCatalog caused by 4 "phantom" features (InOpBy=blank/zero) that had no geometry associated with them.