In Minnesota, the primary rail routes to the Pacific northwest--the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific--ran westward from Minneapolis-Saint Paul.

At its postwar peak, the North American railroad industry comprised as many as 100 lines. The classic system maps produced by the railroads of the day, collected for the first time in this volume, offer a sweeping view of the industry’s remarkable reach in the period of its greatest power. Each railroad’s routes unfold in multi-page spreads featuring a capsule history, vital specs such as track mileage and years of operation, and period photographs, all detailing the mid-twentieth-century might of North American railroads.