Can Experience Please Tell Me?

[ShermanHill]

are only DC which add to the complexity of converting.

While I agree, the wiring is pretty much straight forward, however time consuming. The challenge, for me, is isolating the motor from the frame, and still keeping it secure to the drive train.
The $100 or so difference between DC and DCC ready can't be reconciled (to me) for new power. Older units can be few and far in between. There are some Mantua models that are simply not available in current forms.

 

[MikeOwnby]

Also this followup, in which the main take-away is the date that running boards (roofwalks) and tall ladders were no longer required: 1966.

http://vanderheide.ca/blog/2018/03/16/dating-via-the-details-2/

So if you're interested in a 1965 target, you should avoid anything that lacks roofwalks as "too new".

(Also those 52' bulkhead flatcars discussed earlier in this thread were built in the 1970s, so no good for a 1965 time frame. And that Alaska scheme is definitely newer as well.)

I'll just throw in a minor detail here. 1966 wasn't the date the roofwalks were no longer "required", it was the date they were outlawed to improve worker safety. No more jumping across the roofs of the cars. Besides removing the catwalks, ladders were cut down to just a couple of handholds and brake wheels were moved to the bottom of the cars from the tops.

 

[cv_acr]

1966 wasn't the date the roofwalks were no longer "required", it was the date they were outlawed to improve worker safety.

Sorta. 1966 is when they *started* to be removed, and were no longer installed on new cars. Removal of running boards from existing in-service cars had an original deadline in the mid seventies but wasn't completed until around 1980. Before 1966 every house car had them.

They didn't instantly disappear at the snap of a finger.

Besides removing the catwalks, ladders were cut down to just a couple of handholds and brake wheels were moved to the bottom of the cars from the tops.

New cars were built with brakewheels in low positions and had half-height ladders; SOME existing cars modified the brakewheel position, but many/most didn't. Ladders were cut down to half height on the non-brakewheel end, but left high on the brakewheel end if the brakewheel position was still high. If the brakewheel was lowered these ladders would be cut down as well. Often a small "keep off roof no running boards" stencil would be added next to the tall ladder on modified older cars with high brakewheels.

 

[trailrider]

The other thing about "era" is whether you have a caboose (aka "waycar on the Q and some other roads) on the end of your freights, or an End Of Train Device (basically a red light on the couple of the last car...some models will also flash red, some just steady). IMHO, a train without a caboose is agin' the laws of nature! But then my layout ends about 1960.

 

[MikeOwnby]

Thank you for the clarification. I knew I over-simplified the whole thing, and that there was a transition period, so thanks for those details. One new detail I had no idea about was that some of the brake wheels weren't moved. It was my previous understanding that in the end they all had to be modified, even though it took far longer than it was supposed to. You sound like you have first-hand knowledge, though, so I'll bow to your knowledge of the topic.

 

[McLeod]

Thank you, for all of that wonderful input.
I realize that if I increased my target time frame to include the 1970's, I would be allowed a far greater abundance and latitude in rolling stock and diesel power selection.
I suppose my main reasons for not exceeding the 1965 time frame are these: I like a photograph I downloaded, captioned as taken in 1965, but, showing a 1960 Chevrolet CN pickup and a CN 3rd class depot in the actual town I live in. The depot is not there anymore, but, I have a set of well drawn plans to scratch build the depot, along with boxes of balsa left over from my R/C aircraft days, and a supply of basswood.
Also, I already own eight Oxford 1:87 vehicles representing 1956 - 1965. I may as well put them to use.
Besides, I really like the look of the older olive grn/yellow CN engines. There seems to be an available supply of those between Athearn, Rapido, and Atlas.
At this early stage in the game, thoughts on rolling stock are only occupying a small area of my pea-brain. What little is there is envisioning coal hoppers being pulled by green/yellow diesel, and winding through the forested foothills in the pre-Rocky Mountain area that is my home. I can see, that I have a huge amount of hobby work to do before I can successfully achieve what I want to do. Perhaps, a few years worth.
Guy

 

[tootnkumin]

It's your model railroad remember. We can suggest, give opinions, ideas, advice. The only one you have to please is you. Modelling what you are familiar with and the added bonus of accessibility, can't be beaten.