Engineering & Infrastructure
Surveying the Iron Road, Part 3: Curves, Grades, Tunnels, and Rights-of-Way
A field guide to the railroad geometry and records that surveyors created—and still recover—along historic corridors.
From the Index
Tag: Series: Surveying the Iron Road
A connected three-part story of railroad surveying. Reading order: Part 1 (post 718), Part 2 (post 716), Part 3 (post 717).
Engineering & Infrastructure
Surveying the Iron Road, Part 2: The Transcontinental Railroad and the Geography of a Nation
The surveys, competing routes, mountain passes, land grants, and field crews behind the first transcontinental railroad.
Engineering & Infrastructure
Surveying the Iron Road, Part 1: How Early American Railroads Found a Line
How reconnaissance, profiles, curves, grades, and maps turned proposed railroads into buildable routes.