District of Columbia

mahatmakanejeeves

(57,756 posts) Wed Jul 13, 2016, 02:49 PM Jul 2016

All the railroads and ferries DC and its environs had in 1921, in one subway-style map

I believe he left out the electric railway to Fairfax: Washington, Arlington & Falls Church Railway. Maybe I just didn't notice it. I'll write him.

Wow, look at all the service.

All the railroads we had in 1921, in one subway-style map

by David Edmondson • February 24, 2016

In 1921, you could take the train from downtown DC to Annapolis, from Baltimore to Harrisburg, or Winchester to DC. I built a subway-style map of the rail service our region once had.

In the Mid-Atlantic region, hundreds of trains and ferries used to serve passengers at over 1,370 stations. But they were run by dozens of individual companies, meaning there was no single unified system map to let people know how to get from A to B. Passengers had to pour over dozens of often-opaque timetables to know how to get around.

Doing that was no simple task, as I can now attest to after having trawled hundreds of these tables in The Official Guide of the Railways to pull together this one map.

Subway-style maps were a genius invention of the early 20th Century. By combining old railway maps with service schedules, they allow travelers to understand at a glance how the transit system works without relying on byzantine schedules.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/52055881@N07/24975713081/in/photostream/lightbox/

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All the railroads and ferries DC and its environs had in 1921, in one subway-style map (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Jul 2016 OP

I read somewhere that rogerashton Jul 2016 #1

and then there came the Penn Central! elleng Jul 2016 #2

rogerashton

(3,920 posts)

1. I read somewhere that

Reply to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)

Wed Jul 13, 2016, 02:58 PM

Jul 2016

in the 20's you could travel from Boston to Richmond by streetcar and trolley. Of course you had to make a lot of transfers.

I have in my office a map of the roads and transport lines in my county in '26. Many are gone; we are unusual in that some key ones are left. But here and there you find isolated settlements that date back to the 20's -- why here? Checking the map, you find that there was a streetcar line there.

elleng

(131,405 posts)

2. and then there came the Penn Central!

Reply to mahatmakanejeeves (Original post)

Wed Jul 13, 2016, 06:31 PM

Jul 2016

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_Central_Transportation_Company

(kind of joking, but this provides a view of the problems resulting in the 'northeast corridor' when 'sanity' was attempted.

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