Comprehensive Model Train Resource: Book or DVD

[modelrailroadforums]

The last time I was involved in HO model trains, I was a teenager, so returning after over five decades has been a learning experience. For example: Service types, reporting marks, road numbers, AAR, couplers, trucks, etc . Then, there’s information about the plethora of types of engines and locomotives: WDM-3A, GP-35, GE B23-7, etc. Surely, the numbers/letters mean something.

The long and short of this email is how can a person catch up/learn about this stuff, short of spending hundreds of hours poring over various web sites and gleaning bits and pieces of data and information, then compiling it in a notebook. Surely, there’s some comprehensive source: book or DVD that covers it all.

Are you aware of any such source?

PS - I'm not looking for a how-to-book on layouts, buildings, scenery, etc. I'm looking for information that explains things in a comprehensive manner. E.g., if someone told you they purchased a new HO scale GP-35 locomotive - do you know what they're talking about? I don't. If you were given an older model freight car and needed to replace the hooked type coupler, do you know right away, using the Kadee website, what you need to update the coupler - knowing the type of receptical already on the older car and what you need to do the conversion? I don't.

Thank you.

 

[OCN Guy]

welcome back!
Sadly, I can't think of a single source. There's a lot of info on several websites, such as the NMRA website, and others.
I couldn't answer on the Kadee couplers myself, so I wouldn't worry too much about that.
The more you research a particular railroad, the more you pick up on the kind of knowledge you're talking about. So as you re-research your favorite line (like NS or Pennsy or MEC etc) the more you learn about the different kinds of engines, signals, etc.
There's no standardized system for say engine 612 from NS and engine 611 B&M... It doesn't mean they're both 4-8-4 Northern types (which it wasn't for the B&M). It just happens that when they bought the engines, usually they said "Okay, this series is the 600 series" and those were engine numbers 11 & 12. When they began buying a different series of engine (Pacifics instead of Whatevers, or F3's instead of whatevers) they would switch to another set of numbers.
some railroads would start with a consecutive set of numbers and stick to that, others like MEC would bounce all over the place, so Engine 400 could be 50 years older than engine 500.
Someone else handle the reporting marks aspect? As far as I know, they just list the car, length, weight, axle, and last maintanance date...