An Incomplete Railfans' Guide to the Internet

This page serves as a quick reference to help get you started in finding information about railways on the Internet.

Why incomplete? Because the in the time it took you to read this introductory blurb, a zillion new pieces of information just were added to the wealth of information online and no such guide could ever be complete.

• Google
  The most popular search engine on the Internet also has Maps, Books, Images, Videos and more (see top bar). Use "Show options" while searching to open a left pane with filtration options in each type of Google search service, or "Advanced Options" for an more granular search options.
  
  In Google Maps, take note of map or satellite views, or drag the little street view man icon onto a street to see it from a ground-based perspective. In Google Books, you can use "Show options" or "advanced search" to narrow search results only to things you can read in their entirety online ("full view"), and even specify whether to only show books, magazines or both.
   
  
• Bing
  Microsoft's competing search engine (or, as it's marketed, "decision engine") has a variety of similar services and its own innovative and unique features. 
  
  The beta (test) version of Bing Maps includes automatic transitioning from map to satellite to "bird's eye" aerial views to Streetside View (a more three-dimensional take on showing localized areas). You need to use the beta version to get the nifty streetside maps demonstrated at the meeting, which also requires the Silverlight plugin be installed (it'll walk you through it) on your Windows PC or Mac.

On search engines like these, which mind-bogglingly advanced, try to keep in mind that they attempt to interpret not just what you typed, but what you really are looking for.

If you want to narrow your search to something really specific, you can perform exact phrase searches by putting your search terms in quotation marks (instead of a search for the North Shore Line being for pages that have the words "north," "shore" and/or "line," you can say "north shore line", in quotes, to get exactly those three words, in sequence, in your search).

Boolean operators
You can also tell search engines that you only want results that definitely have certain words or phrases in the page, or exclude matches that include certain terms, using a plus (+) or minus (-) sign, prefixing a term, without spaces. For example:

"north shore line" -insull +wilmette

...would give you only pages that have the exact phrase "North Shore Line" and mention Wilmette, but do not have any references to Samuel Insull.

You can use the +/- trick on phrases too, by putting the symbol before the first quote in a phrase. Common search engines are typically not case-sensitive (you don't have to use proper caps to find what you're looking for).

Reference

• Archive.org (includes video archive, photographs, and Web site histories via the Wayback Machine)
• Library of Congress (includes massive online digital collections from the LOC, including high resolution historical photographs--try looking for Randolph and Wells in the photo collection)
• Chicago Public Library Online Research (or find your own library--they may have similar resources... in presentation, we visited Sandborn Maps, periodical collections, and Chicago Tribune Historical Archive)
• EPA DOCUMERICA Project, on Flickr (mentioned, but not shown at meeting; learn the backstory of this project in Wired News)
• 1938-1941 Illinois Aerial Maps these moderate-resolution aerials taken of most of Illinois show plenty of railways and geography-that-was, requires special ExpressView plugin from Lizardtech

Software

• Google Earth (full, navigable software version of satellite Google Maps, with realistic world views, animations and dozens of layers of information you can switch on and off maps)
• Adobe Reader (you'll need this if your computer can't read PDFs)

Crowd suggestions from program Q&A

• Communities
  • Look for discussion groups in Google Groups and Yahoo! Groups relevant to your interests
• A few Railfan sites (there are countless and a complete list would be impossible to maintain--these are just ones mentioned in the program)
  • Chicago-L.org
  • NYCsubway.org
  • Dave's Rail Pix
  • Transport Database and Photography*
  • Light Rail Transit Association's Photos*
  • Trolley Motion*
  • Blickpunkt Straßenbahn* (English entry page)
  • Photos of Streetcars All Over the World* (One Japanese man's photos)
• University of Chicago Regenstein Library's Map Library
  • Sample: List of Chicago 1900-1914 maps, including Smoke Abatement Map showing railway lines
• David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
• From Archive.org: 1939 Olcott's Land Values Blue Book (includes maps and zoning)

Other places to begin

A short list of railway museums

A short list of operating electric railways

A short list of railway periodicals of interest

A short list of railfan Web sites

Online Archives

Where can you find:

• Schematics of the Electroliner?
• Roster of the Chicago Surface Lines thru 1941?
• CERA Club Car 300?

Look no further.

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