New book, "Niles Canyon Railways"

Review of the new book, Niles Canyon Railways (Images of Rail) by Henry Luna, The Pacific Locomotive Association:

From: Google Alerts

Photography project focuses on Niles Canyon railroads
The Argus - Fremont, CA, USA
... months after hammering the Golden Spike at Promontory Summit, Utah, the Central Pacific Railroad built the final leg of the original transcontinental rail link ...

"Maptech" Tool for Identifying Points on Maps

From: pravoslavna@comcast.net

I offer a suggestion on a website which might be helpful to the members of the CPRR Discussion Group.  

The "Maptech" website allows one to get GPS coordinates by simply running his mouse over a topo map.  Map scales available range from 1:24,000 to 1:250,000.  The adventurous can even toggle and see "navigation maps" of the area.  

So, in discussing specific locations, I no longer have to say "about a mile east of Tonao."  I can tell my correspondence "Lat 41.125142N  Long 114.41475W," and he can roll right to the precise spot.  One may select whether he wants his coordinates in DMS, DM.MM, DD.DD or UTM.  Great tool.  

—Abram Burnett
    in statu pennsylvaniensis