Necrosaro420
Member
How can you tell which era or year that rolling stock was in use by looking at it?
How to tell the era of rolling stock?
- Thread starter Necrosaro420
- Start date
lmackattack
old school
most cars have a build date on them (month/year)
if no date look at the trucks to see if its roller bearing or not.
roller bearing being a later style. Look to see if it has a bar code painted on the sides (modern). roof walks were common on older cars and went away on most of the newer stuff. unless the top of the car is used to load/unload.etc...
if no date look at the trucks to see if its roller bearing or not.
roller bearing being a later style. Look to see if it has a bar code painted on the sides (modern). roof walks were common on older cars and went away on most of the newer stuff. unless the top of the car is used to load/unload.etc...
Necrosaro420
Member
Would it be a 4 digit code like 05/43 or something like that? Also is there any words or anything usually in front of it? Also would it contain the / ?? Thanks!
stationmaster
Crusty Old Geezer
'zactly. Some also will have a "Rebuild Date". But, those that haven't been rebuilt will usually say "Blt. Date" or "Date Blt." or something similar.
Bob
Another thing to look for are COTS/Consolidated Stencil white on black boxes. They started in early '70s. There was a long overlap between cars w/ & w/o them. Some people call them just "lube plates" but they have air brake & lube info. Also there were those colored bar labels but can't remember their name. The intent was to be able to track cars but it didn't work too well. Think they started putting them on cars in '69 & stopped a few years later. So if you're modeling '60s or earlier you don't want them on your cars. The attachment shows EL 69325 w/ both labels on right side.
As previous posters have indicated, there are a host of indicators that can possibly indicate just when a particular car was in service. But even with these, the situation is often more open-ended than most would like to admit.
The Blt. date does (supposedly) indicate the earliest year that the car can represent. Unfortunately, in the past many of the model manufacturers played free and loose with the paint schemes without acknowledging just what years they were valid for. Since many real cars lasted 20 or more years in service, paint schemes could change several times. Thus, a car might be labled with a built date of 05-43, but the particular paint scheme might only be appropriate between 1953 and 56. More than anything else, this is what critically defines the era a particular car belongs to.
A few manufacturers now are listing approximately when a particular model, as decorated, is accurate for, but this practice is still far from being universal.
NYW&B
The Blt. date does (supposedly) indicate the earliest year that the car can represent. Unfortunately, in the past many of the model manufacturers played free and loose with the paint schemes without acknowledging just what years they were valid for. Since many real cars lasted 20 or more years in service, paint schemes could change several times. Thus, a car might be labled with a built date of 05-43, but the particular paint scheme might only be appropriate between 1953 and 56. More than anything else, this is what critically defines the era a particular car belongs to.
A few manufacturers now are listing approximately when a particular model, as decorated, is accurate for, but this practice is still far from being universal.
NYW&B
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ICG/SOU
HO & O (3-rail) trainman
It depends on a lot.
For example, with boxcars, ones with running boards/roof walks are supposed to be as late as the mid 1960s. After that, running boards were to be omitted from new cars and removed from older cars.
Most of the post 1970s era cars fall in the greater gross weight ranges of 286K lbs. That means that most hoppers (open and covered) are in the 100 ton capacity range. Flat cars get longer (from 60'+ to 90'), etc. Tank cars become more unibody in construction (as opposed to the older style with a platform that runs the perimeter of the car). Friction bearing trucks begin to get phased out in favor of roller-bearing trucks. Smoothside boxcars give way to exterior post/brace boxcars, with 10' or larger sliding doors. Some even get taller, being the high cube variety, 50' and 60' lengths.
In the 1970s, the railroad went to COTS labels, which is that black stenciled box on the side (usually opposite of the reporting marks, when facing the car). Aside from rebuild/reweigh/lube/etc. data, sometimes the actual build date is on the car, in the COTS label. On recent cars, the separate NEW or BLT date is only on the COTS label. Also, cars that era experimented with ACI labels, which looks like a rectagonal rainbow colored label (on end) on the side of the car, at various places. ACI labels were used to keep track of cars better by using an optical reader trackside to locate and follow the progress of the car. The ACI label was a failure insomuch as when the cars became dirty, the label wasn't readable. (There are newer car identifiers that use RFI technology).
Post 1997 or so railroads started to add conspicuity stripes (those yellow Scotchlite stripes) on their cars. They have so many years to get the majority of the fleet marked, so if you have a model that has those stripes, it's now post 1997 or so in date.
For older cars, and some of the information is railroad specific, when they were overhauled, repainted, reweighed, etc., often the shop specific to that railroad put its initials and a 4 digit date. Examples include Frascati Shops, out of Mobile, for the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio, and shows up as FRA 5-68. Southern Iron and Equipment Company (SIECO), which built and rebuilt freight cars, used ATL 12-72 for example. For the IC/ICG, the primary shops were Centralia, IL and McComb, MS, and show up as CE and MC, respectively. Other railroads like the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific had their codes as well.
You can figure out era too by who the manufacturer of the car is, as well as the design. Many railroads used to build their own cars (IC did this) almost exclusively (at the Centralia and McComb shops). Pullman Standard made cars for years, most of their freight rolling stock being designated PS-1, PS-2, etc. They've been out of business for a while, but still have a lot of covered hoppers on the rails. AC&F (American Car and Foundry) makes/made many cars, including boxcars, covered hoppers (ACF Centerflow hopper, which is one of the smoothside covered hoppers, was introduced in the 1960s), etc. Trinity (boxcars, covered hoppers, tank cars, gondolas), Thrall (autoracks, covered hoppers, boxcars, gondolas), FMC (covered hoppers and boxcars), Gunderson (gondolas, boxcars, wellcars), Bethlehem Steel (Bethgon coalporters, gondolas), SIECO (boxcars, pulpwood flats), Union Tank Car, Greenville (woodchip hoppers and open hoppers) and others make/made cars that are on the rails today.
For example, with boxcars, ones with running boards/roof walks are supposed to be as late as the mid 1960s. After that, running boards were to be omitted from new cars and removed from older cars.
Most of the post 1970s era cars fall in the greater gross weight ranges of 286K lbs. That means that most hoppers (open and covered) are in the 100 ton capacity range. Flat cars get longer (from 60'+ to 90'), etc. Tank cars become more unibody in construction (as opposed to the older style with a platform that runs the perimeter of the car). Friction bearing trucks begin to get phased out in favor of roller-bearing trucks. Smoothside boxcars give way to exterior post/brace boxcars, with 10' or larger sliding doors. Some even get taller, being the high cube variety, 50' and 60' lengths.
In the 1970s, the railroad went to COTS labels, which is that black stenciled box on the side (usually opposite of the reporting marks, when facing the car). Aside from rebuild/reweigh/lube/etc. data, sometimes the actual build date is on the car, in the COTS label. On recent cars, the separate NEW or BLT date is only on the COTS label. Also, cars that era experimented with ACI labels, which looks like a rectagonal rainbow colored label (on end) on the side of the car, at various places. ACI labels were used to keep track of cars better by using an optical reader trackside to locate and follow the progress of the car. The ACI label was a failure insomuch as when the cars became dirty, the label wasn't readable. (There are newer car identifiers that use RFI technology).
Post 1997 or so railroads started to add conspicuity stripes (those yellow Scotchlite stripes) on their cars. They have so many years to get the majority of the fleet marked, so if you have a model that has those stripes, it's now post 1997 or so in date.
For older cars, and some of the information is railroad specific, when they were overhauled, repainted, reweighed, etc., often the shop specific to that railroad put its initials and a 4 digit date. Examples include Frascati Shops, out of Mobile, for the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio, and shows up as FRA 5-68. Southern Iron and Equipment Company (SIECO), which built and rebuilt freight cars, used ATL 12-72 for example. For the IC/ICG, the primary shops were Centralia, IL and McComb, MS, and show up as CE and MC, respectively. Other railroads like the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific had their codes as well.
You can figure out era too by who the manufacturer of the car is, as well as the design. Many railroads used to build their own cars (IC did this) almost exclusively (at the Centralia and McComb shops). Pullman Standard made cars for years, most of their freight rolling stock being designated PS-1, PS-2, etc. They've been out of business for a while, but still have a lot of covered hoppers on the rails. AC&F (American Car and Foundry) makes/made many cars, including boxcars, covered hoppers (ACF Centerflow hopper, which is one of the smoothside covered hoppers, was introduced in the 1960s), etc. Trinity (boxcars, covered hoppers, tank cars, gondolas), Thrall (autoracks, covered hoppers, boxcars, gondolas), FMC (covered hoppers and boxcars), Gunderson (gondolas, boxcars, wellcars), Bethlehem Steel (Bethgon coalporters, gondolas), SIECO (boxcars, pulpwood flats), Union Tank Car, Greenville (woodchip hoppers and open hoppers) and others make/made cars that are on the rails today.
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diburning
AlcoHaulic
The manufacturer is a good place to start, but is not a great way to figure out which era the car is in because ACF has been building cars since the beginning of time!
By the way, Thrall makes box cars as well.
Another way to estimate the era is to look at the trucks. Truck styles and bearings changed over time and are reflected in the model.
However, some cars had their trucks swapped out as they were rebuilt. An example of that would be Ontario Northland's Modernized 40' box cars. They were rebuilt, had their roofwalks removed, their brake wheels moved, trucks swapped out, and were repainted. They were running up until recently, and were some of the few rare 40' box cars still on the road.
Most box cars are now 50', some are 60'. Also, most owners don't repaint their cars. They simply get patched out. When railroads get taken over by others, they usually get renumbered, or patched, but retain their reporting marks, or receive new ones. Some cars, get repainted and relettered for the original reporting marks and the number may or may not be different. I saw some repainted Erie Lackawana hoppers in Cleveland, OH that were repainted for EL (heritage scheme, I guess?) and were lettered as such.
2 days ago, I saw a MoPac car patched for MoPac
.
By the way, Thrall makes box cars as well.
Another way to estimate the era is to look at the trucks. Truck styles and bearings changed over time and are reflected in the model.
However, some cars had their trucks swapped out as they were rebuilt. An example of that would be Ontario Northland's Modernized 40' box cars. They were rebuilt, had their roofwalks removed, their brake wheels moved, trucks swapped out, and were repainted. They were running up until recently, and were some of the few rare 40' box cars still on the road.
Most box cars are now 50', some are 60'. Also, most owners don't repaint their cars. They simply get patched out. When railroads get taken over by others, they usually get renumbered, or patched, but retain their reporting marks, or receive new ones. Some cars, get repainted and relettered for the original reporting marks and the number may or may not be different. I saw some repainted Erie Lackawana hoppers in Cleveland, OH that were repainted for EL (heritage scheme, I guess?) and were lettered as such.
2 days ago, I saw a MoPac car patched for MoPac
.
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ICG/SOU
HO & O (3-rail) trainman
Something to add: one of the problems I've had with finding suitable cars to decorate (since there isn't as much ICG stuff out there) is that many times, model makers will use their generic car, or a close-enough car, to put on the herald and reporting marks. Sometimes the close-enough car is fine, but with some tweaks. The car itself may be too old (AAR style) to use, but since it is a smoothside boxcar, it gets used for a road that had a lot of smoothside cars.
One thing I've discovered of late about trucks is that many trucks on many cars that started off friction bearing had been converted to roller bearing upon rebuild. Of course, I don't know how to model that in HO.
One thing I've discovered of late about trucks is that many trucks on many cars that started off friction bearing had been converted to roller bearing upon rebuild. Of course, I don't know how to model that in HO.
diburning
AlcoHaulic
Yes, cars that are similar to a prototype that a railroad actually owned, but not identical are sometimes painted for that railroad anyway. They're called foobies. Athearn and ExactRail are the two "major" producers of foobies. They take a car which is only correct for one or a few roads, and slap on logos for other roads that didn't even have those cars.
Some cars had their friction bearings hollowed out and replaced with a roller bearing but without replacing the truck. That would be very hard to model in HO until someone comes out with a mass-produced truck that you can replace your trucks with. The problem with creating such a truck is that the needlepoint axles rest in a cone shaped hole behind the molded on bearing. If the bearing was hollowed out, you'd see the needlepoint on the axle. The only solution would be to make them like the old Athearn Genesis trucks with the rolling bearing caps without the needlepoints on the axles.
However, prototypically, cars with that type of trucks do not interchange as the FRA does have restrictions on them.
Some cars had their friction bearings hollowed out and replaced with a roller bearing but without replacing the truck. That would be very hard to model in HO until someone comes out with a mass-produced truck that you can replace your trucks with. The problem with creating such a truck is that the needlepoint axles rest in a cone shaped hole behind the molded on bearing. If the bearing was hollowed out, you'd see the needlepoint on the axle. The only solution would be to make them like the old Athearn Genesis trucks with the rolling bearing caps without the needlepoints on the axles.
However, prototypically, cars with that type of trucks do not interchange as the FRA does have restrictions on them.
