GPS Units that show RR tracks

Can anyone offer me some advice on a portable GPS unit for my car that shows railroad tracks?? Im not familiar with these but am looking to purchace one. What is a reliable brand w/ out spending an arm & a leg??? thank you very much!

Try sending a PM to "Steamer". He showed me one that he selected because it had railroad tracks. I've solved the problem differently. I use maemo-mapper on my Nokia n810 running maemo-mapper, and I load it up with my database of NY abandoned railroad ROWs. It shows me EVERYTHING I've been able to locate. Unfortunately, it's only for New York State.

Amtrak700 wrote:Can anyone offer me some advice on a portable GPS unit for my car that shows railroad tracks?? Im not familiar with these but am looking to purchace one. What is a reliable brand w/ out spending an arm & a leg??? thank you very much!

The Garmin map databases have railroads on them, at least the ones I have seen have. My current Garmin is a GPS396 but that fits into the two (not one) arms and legs category since it is also an aviation unit, but uses the same land database as other Garmin models more reasonably priced. See http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/site/us

I have the garmin nuvi 200 for about 150 bucks. Its great, shows most odd branches and spurs along with the main lines.

My Dad's TomTom shows tracks, and not just in general, it shows all the tracks in the yard. Very nice.

Ken W2KB wrote:

Amtrak700 wrote:Can anyone offer me some advice on a portable GPS unit for my car that shows railroad tracks?? Im not familiar with these but am looking to purchace one. What is a reliable brand w/ out spending an arm & a leg??? thank you very much!

The Garmin map databases have railroads on them, at least the ones I have seen have. My current Garmin is a GPS396 but that fits into the two (not one) arms and legs category since it is also an aviation unit, but uses the same land database as other Garmin models more reasonably priced. See http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/site/us

Looks like Ken likes to fly IFR "I Follow Railroads" . I have a little Garmin nuvi 360 and its great for rail exploring. I just locate something interesting on google earth with my home computer or cell phone and plug its lat/longs into the gps and away we go. The nuvi shows quite a few rails but I find its name/ID database could use some updating. When I select the ROWs near where I live it names them as "Central Railroad of NJ" and "Lehigh Valley Railroad". Kinda cool actually.

Railjourner wrote:Looks like Ken likes to fly IFR "I Follow Railroads" . .

Of course!

I used to use my Garmin 76S (handheld, great for on the run or geocaching) or 770 to determine if the speedo on the loco was with tolerance and both show the RR tracks just fine. I liked the 76S better as the database showed more detail about the track than the 770 does. I knew a few guys down in Milford, UT who used a 76S who set up routes if you will on their GPS's that would show where absolute blocks, speed changes, etc. for use during heavy snow and fog. It was a great tool until the Chatsworth incident banned their use while running.

The DeLorme topo series shows RR tracks, and more importantly, elevation and relief, usta take 5 cd's now it is on one.. Gives you an idea whether walking to tracks is feasable. Entire country, well meybe not Alaska & Hi, but I never wuz there... About $125 INCLUDING their very sensitive "earthmate" or whatever it is called, GPS with USB cable and very friendly software.... I rest laptop on the right front seat, and darned if I cannot see it a lot better than the @#$%## AvMap geosat5.., and a lot more user friendly... ... Ed

I have a tom tom one. It show all the railroad line even the "Ghost" one. ( line that are no longer there but some times you can see the right of way)

By the way it worked great on my last Amtrack trip to orlando.