Time Period Help Needed


wstevenson94

New Member
I want to model a particular time period. For conversation, let's say 1945 - 1960. Where can I go to find out the proper engines/rolling stock that was used during that time period? Any help/suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
 
Got any particular railroad in mind? Most railroads have historical societies around that can give you that kind of information. There are also lots of books out there.
 
There are books called "Official Railway Equipment Registers" or ORER's that list every car in interchange service on N American railroads. You can find them, used, on E-Bay and from Westerfield Models on CD's. They are the size of a medium phone book and were published quarterly. Pick one for the time in which you are interested. Westerfield and F and C kits are handy because they include the date with their models in the online catalog so you can see when the cars were made and what they looked like in a particular era, even if you don't buy their models.

That will give you the car initial, number, type and general size. You will then have to track down the actual models. Railroad cars have a maximum life span of 40 years. That means you will be buying cars that were built between 1925 and 1960. On models there is a little date (BLT 10 45 or NEW 10 45) that tell when the car was built. If you buy cars where the built or new date is between 1925 and 1960 those will be the cars. You can then cross reference with the ORER to see if a car built before 1945 was still around.

Then you will have to check photos by searching books and the internet to see if the paint scheme is correct. For example after 1960 the Reading changed from the "speed" lettering (a big italic "READING" on a brown car) to the cigar band style (a big READING in a yellow band on a green car) to the modern scheme (big RDG in yellow on green car). So you could find a 40 ft boxcar in a cigar band scheme that was listed in the ORER, but would be wrong for your era because they weren't using that scheme in 1960 or earlier.

Depends on how picky you want to be.
 
There are books called "Official Railway Equipment Registers" or ORER's that list every car in interchange service on N American railroads. You can find them, used, on E-Bay and from Westerfield Models on CD's. They are the size of a medium phone book and were published quarterly. Pick one for the time in which you are interested. Westerfield and F and C kits are handy because they include the date with their models in the online catalog so you can see when the cars were made and what they looked like in a particular era, even if you don't buy their models.

That will give you the car initial, number, type and general size. You will then have to track down the actual models. Railroad cars have a maximum life span of 40 years. That means you will be buying cars that were built between 1925 and 1960. On models there is a little date (BLT 10 45 or NEW 10 45) that tell when the car was built. If you buy cars where the built or new date is between 1925 and 1960 those will be the cars. You can then cross reference with the ORER to see if a car built before 1945 was still around.

Then you will have to check photos by searching books and the internet to see if the paint scheme is correct. For example after 1960 the Reading changed from the "speed" lettering (a big italic "READING" on a brown car) to the cigar band style (a big READING in a yellow band on a green car) to the modern scheme (big RDG in yellow on green car). So you could find a 40 ft boxcar in a cigar band scheme that was listed in the ORER, but would be wrong for your era because they weren't using that scheme in 1960 or earlier.

Depends on how picky you want to be.
Thank you so much for the reply! It is very helpful!
 
I want to model a particular time period. For conversation, let's say 1945 - 1960. Where can I go to find out the proper engines/rolling stock that was used during that time period? Any help/suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
This was the transition period between steam and diesel, so late steam locomotives and early 1st and 2nd generation diesels would be what you would see, depending on the particular railroad. In general, steam was being/was phased out in the early/mid-1950's, again depending on the road.

The other thing to be aware of when you say "Southern" and "Seaboard" is the question of what roads were actually in existence via mergers, etc. then. I am not familiar with those roads, but you can try looking for articles on "fallen flag" roads, and when they might have merged to become something else. In my case, I model the Burlington Route in the same time period (actually 1940's to 1960). There were two subsidiaries, that utilized some of the same equipment, the Colorado & Southern and the Ft. Worth & Denver City. In addition, the Great Northern and Northern Pacific jointly owned the C.B.&Q. (Burlington Route), and pooled their motive power between Chicago and the Twin Cities on their passenger trains. They all were finally merged into the BN, but not until 1969, followed by acquisition of the Denver & Rio Grande Western and Santa Fe into what is now the BNSF. So you need to check the histories of the roads you want to model, and then check when they phased out their steamers.
Happy Thanksgiving!
 
This was the transition period between steam and diesel, so late steam locomotives and early 1st and 2nd generation diesels would be what you would see, depending on the particular railroad. In general, steam was being/was phased out in the early/mid-1950's, again depending on the road.

The other thing to be aware of when you say "Southern" and "Seaboard" is the question of what roads were actually in existence via mergers, etc. then. I am not familiar with those roads, but you can try looking for articles on "fallen flag" roads, and when they might have merged to become something else. In my case, I model the Burlington Route in the same time period (actually 1940's to 1960). There were two subsidiaries, that utilized some of the same equipment, the Colorado & Southern and the Ft. Worth & Denver City. In addition, the Great Northern and Northern Pacific jointly owned the C.B.&Q. (Burlington Route), and pooled their motive power between Chicago and the Twin Cities on their passenger trains. They all were finally merged into the BN, but not until 1969, followed by acquisition of the Denver & Rio Grande Western and Santa Fe into what is now the BNSF. So you need to check the histories of the roads you want to model, and then check when they phased out their steamers.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you so much for the reply!
 



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