Maps?

France has excellent road atlasses with loads of details, including railways. The ones to go for are the Michelin at 1:200.000 or the IGN at - I believe - 1:350.000. Both are very affordable. Any good bookshop will be willing to order it for you.

Try www.stamfords.co.uk

Great shop for travellers in Central London - also do mail order.

Maps, guides, travel accessories and even general books too.

Helpful staff too and one might suggest that if you do send in any specific requirements by email that they would do their very best to advise you.

I prefer IGN which is what France (the country) uses in its online mapping.
If you have a good computer and monitor, check out the site
http://www.geoportail.gouv.fr/accueil
It gives access to all sorts of maps...
Voies ferrées is for railroads, there are also the most detailed maps available for major cities including Paris.
You'll need to use an online translating site and get used to using the zoom, etc. but once you're used to it, you'll find lots to explore.
The site also gives access to the oldest complete maps of France, done by the Cassini family (and the Cassini space probe is named for them)...I've used that to track old roads and discover ruins of churches and chateaux unmentioned in guides...(the maps are pre-Revolution).
Here's a site with links for maps for both TGV and regular routes for France:
http://www.bonjourlafrance.com/france-map/france-train-maps.htm
Here's the SNCF site itself:
http://www.sncf-reseau.fr/en
This is for the regional lines: (and there's a link on the left side to show what cars are used..)
http://www.sncf.com/en/passengers
You might like this one also: (more than just France)
http://www.bueker.net/trainspotting/maps_france.php
This is for the scenic railways..probably find many of them on youtube...
http://about-france.com/scenic-railways.htm

Have you already discovered the wonderful site for all things to do with rail travel
http://www.seat61.com
You'll enjoy reading it for the pleasure of reading...(he writes well) and there are
so many photos, some videos, just a treasure trove to explore.
And because I love railroads, I'll share a site I really like to dip into occasionally:
http://onlineengineeringdegrees.org/50-best-blogs-for-train-enthusiasts/
Hope this helps you...
this is a video of the Sierra Railroad #3 (steam engine) I grew up in this area.
You'd see this and other of their rolling stock in many western movies, famous and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUnClE8mLnQ
and this is the story of the Sierra railroad...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3THQsZgnk

Both the Michelin and the IGN maps are excellent, but I usually go for Michelin since I grew up using them and feel more comfortable with them.

However, nobody can beat IGN for the ultra detailed topographical hiking maps that they publish.

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