FREE Railroad Maps Complements of the Federal Railroad Administration

While researching a blog post regarding grade crossings in the Cajon Pass area of southern California, I came across a very cool tool that most railfans and rail photographers would find useful.

If you are in search of some railroad or railfanning maps then point your browser to the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA) website.  The FRA was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966 and, according to the website, its purpose is to:

Promulgate and enforce rail safety regulations

Administer railroad assistance programs

Conduct research and development in support of improved railroad safety and national rail transportation policy

Provide for the rehabilitation of Northeast Corridor rail passenger service

Consolidate government support of rail transportation activities

The FRA is a gold mine for those interested in the railroad industry at any level.  One particular nugget I found while researching the closure of some grade crossings in Cajon Pass is called the FRA’s GIS Application.  The URL (web address) for the map is http://fragis.frasafety.net/GISFRASafety/default.aspx.

The map and its interface should be rather easy to use.  Simply select the various levels of information that you are interested in in the left-most pane and use the tools pallete at the top edge of the map to move around and zoom the map in or out.

Below is a screenshot of the map zoomed in to an area  in California’s Cajon Pass called Sullivan’s Curve.  Notice the level of rail-centric detail: milepost markers, station names, and even subdivision names.  Not shown on this map, but available for you, are a vast array of other features including showing all of the grade crossing locations.  Pretty slick.  Our hard-earned tax dollars at work.  Thank you FRA, a job well done.

Screenshot of FRA’s GIS Application

iPadded. Did you?

On Friday, a mere two hours after Apple began accepting pre-orders for their newest device, the iPad, I placed my order for two of them.  (I also bought one for Deb since she deserves the best.)

I opted for the 64GB Wi-Fi version, without 3G.  Since I am already an iPhone owner and devotee I didn’t feel the need for yet another data plan.  At some point I plan on getting a MiFi™ device and the capabilities of that connection should be easily leveraged by the iPad, no matter where I am, provided, of course, that I have a 3G connection.

The device is scheduled to be delivered on April 3, 2010.  I opted to have the iPad shipped to my house rather than try to deal with the craziness certain to be prevalent at my local Apple store.  It should be a fun day because I am very impressed the devices that Apple the designers and engineers produce.  They tend to be extremely well-engineered and the software and operating system are always intuitive and very integrated.  I am looking forward to having all of my existing iPhone apps work seamlessly on the iPad out of the box.  I am also looking forward to browsing the internet with such a large screen!

So, iPadded, did you? ;-)

Green is Good - For the Environment and For Your Pocket!

Being the technology nut that I am, I have numerous older models of personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular telephones, laptop computers, and game consoles stored in the garage.  In part because I hate to throw out things that I might be able to re-use at some point, but also because of the disposal issues associated with electronic devices and their components, I have been resistant to getting rid of my “collection.”  Well, things are different these days.

The element of potential technological value has been greatly reduced due to the factors of Moore’s Law and the commoditization of devices such as computers, laptops, and cell phones.  It is so much cheaper to get a new one today rather than bring an older device up to snuff to be a productive component in almost any endeavour.

As for the disposal issue and its effect on the environment, a new breed of businesses have filled that gap.  Not only will these companies responsibly recycle your old devices, they will even give you fair market value for them.  One such company that I intend on trying out is Gazelle.

According to their website, Gazelle is the “nation’s largest reCommerce company.”  They provide a means to resell or recycle those old (to you) devices and put some money in your pocket as well.  Based on their demo video below, the process seems rather simple and good for everyone involved.