The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has available a map depicting Wisconsin's freight railroads. This map measures 25" x 31" and costs $4.00, plus tax. Each railroad is represented with a different color or line symbol, depending on whether the rail has Amtrak stations, is out of service, has corridors owned by the state, or is for recreational use.

The USGS's 7.5 minute quadrangle series maps of Wisconsin can also be used as a reference for the state's railroad network, especially at the local scale. These maps are published at the 1:24,000-scale and show names of railroads, single and multiple tracks, old R.R. grades, spurs, R.R. yards, and R.R. bridges. Some of the railroad line names are out of date and some of the routes have been abandoned. These revisions are periodically made as the USGS updates the series. The SCO maintains a list of USGS topo map dealers in the state.

Many commercially produced road atlases also show the route of Wisconsin's railroads. An example is the Wisconsin Atlas & Gazetteer, published by the DeLorme Mapping Company. It shows railroad routes and the state's road network at a scale of 1:150,000. These maps include railroad names and the location of single and multiple tracks, although spurs and urban area routes are omitted. This atlas and others are available at many bookstores and at other retail stores and filling stations.

Right-of-way and track maps showing details of interest to surveyors, historians, landowners and railroad buffs (approx. 2300 maps)have been scanned and copied to CDs. Together they occupy 8 CDs (4 in TIFF and 4 in PDF). To purchase a set of the CDs for $75 mail a check to:

Southwest Chapter WSLS
c/o Bowden Surveying
619 Merrimac St.
Dodgeville, Wi. 53533
608-935-5513