Is there going to be a 16th Rail Atlas?

Meglodon 5 · 27 Jul 2023

Is S. K. Baker planning to release a new edition of the Rail Atlas of Great Britain and Northern Ireland soon?

RailUK Forums

Peterthegreat · 27 Jul 2023

Meglodon 5 said:
Is S. K. Baker planning to release a new edition of the Rail Atlas of Great Britain and Northern Ireland soon?

Unfortunately Stuart Baker passed away a couple of years ago.

Mcr Warrior · 27 Jul 2023

Peterthegreat said:
Unfortunately Stuart Baker passed away a couple of years ago.

November 2020, I believe.

Meglodon 5 · 27 Jul 2023

Peterthegreat said:
Unfortunately Stuart Baker passed away a couple of years ago.

I had a feeling that might have happened.

Lynford1976 · 27 Jul 2023

Peterthegreat said:
Unfortunately Stuart Baker passed away a couple of years ago.

But Joe Brown, the author behind the London Railway Atlas and others, is preparing a new edition for publication next year.

Railsigns · 27 Jul 2023

The Baker atlas covers the whole of Ireland.

Baxenden Bank · 27 Jul 2023

Joe Brown has tweeted examples of some of the changes he is proposing in the next edition, so preparation is underway. I didn't take notes of what those changes were.

Mollington St · 29 Jul 2023

I have just been sorting out my stock and now have a full spare set of the Baker Rail Atlas of Britain and Ireland , so if you need an issue or two please just , e mail or message me .
Came across a couple of oddments , which i thought i would share
A GB Rail Freight special issue for 1988 and then the Railway Enthusiasts Society Atlas cover , again if you need just let me know
Oliver

PeterY · 31 Jul 2023

I love the format of the Baker Atlas. I have several editions but one is well bashed, (excuse the pun) the 14th and I colour this one in, on lines I've travelled over.

MK Tom · 9 Aug 2023

Baxenden Bank said:
Joe Brown has tweeted examples of some of the changes he is proposing in the next edition, so preparation is underway. I didn't take notes of what those changes were.

I can't find his account. Can you link it?

I absolutely love the Baker atlas, although it has a tendency to be a little over-optimistic with reinstatement proposals and heritage line extensions.

I also wish it would extend the single/double track distinction to freight-only lines. Perhaps Joe Brown will implement that!

Baxenden Bank · 9 Aug 2023

MK Tom said:
I can't find his account. Can you link it?

I absolutely love the Baker atlas, although it has a tendency to be a little over-optimistic with reinstatement proposals and heritage line extensions.

I also wish it would extend the single/double track distinction to freight-only lines. Perhaps Joe Brown will implement that!

Sorry, I don't follow him, he popped up a couple of times either as a suggested link or forwarded by somebody.

Mcr Warrior · 9 Aug 2023

MK Tom said:
I can't find his account. Can you link it?

Twitter handle is @JoeBrownLondon

Cartographer, author, railway historian, former train driver and current transport manager.

https://twitter.com/JoeBrownLondon/status/1647175075546689537

Am Broc · 12 Oct 2023

I didn't realise that Stuart Baker had passed away. Very sad. His atlas has given so many people so much pleasure over the years but I'm glad it's in good hands for the future!

Quick question - and apologies if this is the wrong place to post it - but does anybody know if there is decent atlas or series of atlases of contemporary US railways?

DelW · 12 Oct 2023

Am Broc said:
Quick question - and apologies if this is the wrong place to post it - but does anybody know if there is decent atlas or series of atlases of contemporary US railways?

Surprisingly, the best (possibly only?) detailed ones are from a British publisher :

SPV - Railroad books and videos

SPV for railroad books and videos, scale modelling and United States Atlases.

www.spv.co.uk

(Link to the relevant page of the SPV website)

Am Broc · 17 Oct 2023

Thanks

DelW said:
Surprisingly, the best (possibly only?) detailed ones are from a British publisher :

SPV - Railroad books and videos

SPV for railroad books and videos, scale modelling and United States Atlases.

www.spv.co.uk

(Link to the relevant page of the SPV website)

Thanks so much for that!

ac6000cw · 18 Oct 2023

DelW said:
Surprisingly, the best (possibly only?) detailed ones are from a British publisher :

DelW said:

SPV - Railroad books and videos
SPV for railroad books and videos, scale modelling and United States Atlases. www.spv.co.uk

Click to expand...

(Link to the relevant page of the SPV website)

I second the SPV atlases (bought my first one nearly 30 years ago, and have 9 of them on the bookshelf). I went on an enthusiast tour to the Chicago area in 1996, and the author Mike Walker was one of the tour leaders - an extremely knowledgeable guy, who (at that time at least) drew all the maps by hand. Just think about the amount of research involved, let alone the all the map drawing...

If you're out there linesiding by car and just need to know how to get to places, websites like OpenRailwayMap and apps like OsmAnd (both using open-source mapping data) are really useful, as they show roads and communities as well as railways (and hill-shading sometimes, to get an idea of the landscape). The SPV atlases are basically just railway maps, with some rivers and lakes shown, but no roads.

Some of the US railroads have freely available system maps e.g. BNSF - https://www.bnsf.com/ship-with-bnsf/maps-and-shipping-locations/rail-network-maps.page

This BNSF network map in particular shows the significant rail lines in the whole of the US (and part of Canada and Mexico), not just the BNSF system - https://www.bnsf.com/bnsf-resources...s-and-shipping-locations/bnsf-network-map.pdf

etr221 · 18 Oct 2023

Getting back to the Baker/Brown atlases, I think one of the main railway mags (Modern Railways?) had a feature/supplement including comments by Joe Brown as to his proposed way forward with them. But I forget details.

Am Broc · 18 Oct 2023

Thanks so much

ac6000cw said:
I second the SPV atlases (bought my first one nearly 30 years ago, and have 9 of them on the bookshelf). I went on an enthusiast tour to the Chicago area in 1996, and the author Mike Walker was one of the tour leaders - an extremely knowledgeable guy, who (at that time at least) drew all the maps by hand. Just think about the amount of research involved, let alone the all the map drawing...

If you're out there linesiding by car and just need to know how to get to places, websites like OpenRailwayMap and apps like OsmAnd (both using open-source mapping data) are really useful, as they show roads and communities as well as railways (and hill-shading sometimes, to get an idea of the landscape). The SPV atlases are basically just railway maps, with some rivers and lakes shown, but no roads.

Some of the US railroads have freely available system maps e.g. BNSF - https://www.bnsf.com/ship-with-bnsf/maps-and-shipping-locations/rail-network-maps.page

This BNSF network map in particular shows the significant rail lines in the whole of the US (and part of Canada and Mexico), not just the BNSF system - https://www.bnsf.com/bnsf-resources...s-and-shipping-locations/bnsf-network-map.pdf

That map is fantastic!

Is there going to be a 16th Rail Atlas?

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