The Delorme Gazetteer is indispensable if you want to railfan in unfamiliar territory.
It's great for finding paved roads that take you near to (or alongside) railroad tracks. The dirt roads are there too, but there is much more latitude in what kind of a road it actually is. It could be a nice, graded, road, surfaced with gravel or caliche, or it might be two ruts through the grass and mud. Also ranch gates are sometimes surprises.
Overall, though, I highly recommend Delorme. Out west here, you can be a very long way from civilization on 40 miles of bad road, if you are looking for photo sites, and Delorme can help you return to town. Probably it is similar in the hollows of Appalachia.
