1 Oops, make that "local/state/country".... didn't mean to be exclusive to the US.
But you can still track them on the ground using old maps and photos and still find some of the old depots which now have different uses. Some of the old lines have been converted into bike paths (bikes and locomotives both like nice flat grades) but many are just overgrown humps in the terrain. If you like wandering in the woods, chasing down an old, abandoned railroad layouts to look at the engineering and old bridge remnants can be fun.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.