Western Railroad Discussion > No More Newer Additions Of SPV Railroad Atlases

A recent email from a friend yielded the following. The "chintziness" of us Americans has now brought on the following . . .

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A couple of days ago I heard from Mike Walker in the UK after offering to explore the Seattle area for updates to his northwest rail volume and he wrote:

Thanks for the offer but the bad news is that we've decided not to produce further updates of the atlases.

The main reason for this is that those that have been reissued with new editions simply haven't sold causing the publisher a big loss. This is despite publicising when new editions become available in all the usual outlets. But still we get complaints from those who have old editions that they are not up to date when new editions are available. When you point this out the complainers still seem unwilling to buy new copies as they've already bought one!

This is in total contrast to here in the UK where our national equivalent is reissued every 2-3 years and sells out each time. Not everybody buys every issue, I do about every other, but the market is big enough to justify the investment. As far as the North American market is concerned the market is simply not big enough to justify my effort and the cost of printing and then being left with large, unsold stocks.

That said, thanks for all your contributions which did much to ensure the accuracy of the maps.

We shall of course keep in touch.

So, no more rail map atlas updates!

I sent a email to SPV about a issue for Mexico but never received a reply. Need to order a couple issues to complete my collection. Note I'am guilty of buying only one edition of each so far. Was going to buy next new edition of Arizona and New Mexico to show the recently completed Sunset route double tracking and the Abo Canyon with the New Mexico rail runner additions. They SPV need a better way of numbering the editions such as California first edition, second edition. Not just here is a new one.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/14 13:27 by usmc1401.

They are a valuable asset and value them. But I guess I don't really know what are the latest versions of each and exactly what version I have.

I have bought updates on several but don't see the need every 2-3 years. I travel so updating a large subset of the available would be a little
beyond chintzy and certain areas just don't change that much.



Bob

I have a California and Nevada one from the 1990's and it is a fantastic reference. However, I can't see myself updating it often as while there are some changes here and there, it doesn't change all that much. Maybe I will see about getting an updated set before they go away completely.

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

They need to add major roads, like the old DOT Atlas pages, on which these are based. When I'm out of area, a line from East Stumpbucket to West Nowhere doesn't cut it. AAA maps that show rail lines are frequently more useful. It could be made much more useful.

Hey SPV! Don't add roads-- too much work
and it jumbles the map.

timz Wrote:
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> Hey SPV! Don't add roads-- too much work
> and it jumbles the map.

It's a moot point. You won't have to worry about whether roads will / will not be added, as no new revised publications are planned.