I have some valuation maps from the local railroad company, years ago I had them scanned into a computer file by a company and they have been very useful, they cover the entire county.
But........
There is lots of info on them, ut much of it isn't really useful. The latest right of way I'm doing has a spiral-curve-spiral for the area I need shown on the map, the curve has a degree of curve of 3d01'20".
Of course this is nonsense for the boundary. The right-of-way will be on a simple curve and no way they used an odd degree of curve to acquire it.
Be careful out there using these maps!!!
They were done to catalog property and to value it for taxing.
At the recent RR surveying seminar I attended the speaker said:
"If you perform a survey solely from the val maps your making an appointment for a bad day in court - get the deeds"
Some of the original deeds for the B&O had language in them along these lines "a strip 100 wide as measured from the centerline of the tracks to be laid out by the engineer, plus additional land for cut and fill as needed". The val maps in these areas usually show a 100' wide strip.
In some areas the railroads were not acquired by deeds. The railroad right of way was created by maps that predate the val maps.
So the maps you need are the original ones, not the val maps. These maps won't show the structures and such that a val map will, but will show the actual info that created the right-of-way. You think a val map is difficult to get your hands on, try getting the original right-of-way maps.
But for this project deeds were acquired and of course, no spiral-curve-spiral, just a simple curve, also an even degree of curve, nothing like the val map says..........
In the seminar by Charlie Tucker I seem to remember him saying that the Val Maps were generally well researched, surveyed and checked, at least out here in the East. I could be wrong about this though. I do know that you can get the field notes of the surveys, worksheet maps of how they did the boundary work, and MUCH more info for each Val Map from National Archives. We hired a researcher to get us about 10 miles worth of maps, notes, worksheets, and many other documents from there. Cost around $900. We could tie into many things that were not shown on the Val. maps, etc.
Also the Val. Maps often contain tons of good notes and tables to aid in finding original documents. However in many cases we have found the original documents (almost all Court Orders or Condemnations) which only refer to a parcel on some 150 year old map which is no longer in existence, in which case we have no choice but to rely on the Val. Maps.
The Val maps have some good info, often they will show right-of-way monuments, a good hint is that the PC shown will not align with the PC of the curve on the Val map.
This one I have shows a tie to a center 1/4 and I found a CS1/16th set in 1915. It doesn't match a section breakdown.
I'm not saying to ignore them, use them as part of the puzzle, not the only part.
Many of the structures along a RR have changed and do not match the information.
Bridges appear to be more useful than other things shown. Their center rarely changes even when the end abutments are relocated.
Road crossings are fairly reliable.
Locally, the mile markers have vanished and the ones in place rarely match the maps.
I usually locate whatever is in there and as far away from my project as possible and have resorted to a best fit scenario along the main track.
Learned that a 30+ year old 60d nail can appear as a 6± inch rust ball by finding them every 100ft along the R/W as set for monuments by a previous surveyor.
Ever RR I've ever dealt with brought on its own unique puzzle.
Val Maps In PA
Some counties discarded their Val maps as too much work to maintain. My local county has a few in electronic format but not a full catalog.
Many of the original deeds had blueprint maps attached to the record page. Many had the glue come loose and they were lost. Sometimes the loose maps were inserted in the fly covers. Others were simply stolen, some for internet resale. However without the Val maps giving you the record document the deed research becomes harder since many of the deeds were to RR entities other than the track builders and far removed from construction dates.
Last time I requested an Norfolk Southern map the fee was $75. I kept searching
Paul in PA
Val Maps In PA
Lots of good info here.
The guy I learned from was an old Penn Central surveyor at one time in his career.
In BC (before computers), I had a jealously guarded list of places I could get Val sheets from; railroads, attorneys, DOTs, etc.
In Wisconsin, WSLS found a lot of them in the Office of the Commissioner of Railroads and scanned them and charged $75 a CD set as a money making project for the organization. Subsequently, we found that DOT Rails has some others and some of the same.
They are a snapshot in time, done with varying degrees of care, but I'd much rather have a set than not.
Do the deeds.
