New York State Public Service Commission Projected Railroad Centerline Maps

In Field Book for Railroad Surveying, (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1910), Cornell University railroad engineering professors Charles Lee Crandall and Fred Asa Barnes state that in planning the construction or extension of a railroad line, a survey for location of the new line generally consists of three more or less complete surveys:

a. The Reconnaissance Survey - A rough, rapid survey, or examination, of the entire belt of country within which there is any probability of finding a practicable route.

b. The Preliminary Survey - An instrumental survey or traverse of the line, following closely the route picked out in the

reconnaissance survey and serving, with its topography, as a basis for the location survey.

c. The Location Survey - A transit and tape survey, in which the curves are run in and the center line is staked on the ground.

The maps and plans in this series were compiled by the Public Service Commission by virtue of its authority to supervise all common carriers, railroads, street railroads, railroad corporations, and street railroad corporations conducting business in the state. Laws of 1907, Chapter 429, Section 53 stipulated that no railroad corporation, street railroad corporation, or common carrier shall begin the construction of a railroad or street railroad, or any extension thereof, without first having obtained the permission and approval of the Public Service Commission.

This series includes centerline maps and profiles of proposed railroad routes, route extensions or alterations, terminus changes, grade crossings, separations of grades, and grade crossing eliminations. Engineering drawings of structures such as bridges designed to accompany railroad line construction, extension, or alteration are also included. Series contains a mixture of manuscript maps, print maps (some annotated), and blueprint copies. Many items indicate the Public Service Commission case number with which they were associated.

Series B1839, Index to projected railroad centerline maps, indexes this series.

Maps and profiles of railroads are indexed in David E.E. Mix, "Catalogue of Maps and Surveys in the Offices of the Secretary of State, State Engineer and Surveyor, and Comptroller, and the New York State Library" (Albany, 1859).

Certain rolled maps in this series are fragile and should only be used under supervision of State Archives staff.