I'm trying not to bother anyone with questions today but it seems the search function doesn't like 3 letter words like "era". What is a good source of information to find out which pieces of rolling stock are from what era? For example, I have noticed that on the Atlas website when you look at their rolling stock, some has the era information and many cars do not. Is there like a book or a website that has information on the many different pieces of rolling stock and when it was being used? -Elwood
Thats a darn good question. The best answer I can give is to go to www.COHS.org and do a search for lets say "40 foot boxcar". They will have some results with photos and text with the date a lot of times. I have found it handy. Although it is mainly C&O stuff I would think it would cross reference. Hope this helps.
Another Source for Rollingstock info Wikipedia, has a great source for many things unknown. Just look up as stated earlier ie; "40' Boxcar" and Hoop there it is. I couldn't get that link earlier to work; stated forbidden access. Hope your able to find what you need
Thanks. I can't believe I didn't think of that because I have used Wikipedia quite a bit for information on locomotives and that has worked very well. Elwood
espee railfan (espee.ralfan.net) has a lot of good information that is SP specific. He also has a link to the SP Freight Cars Page on his site that may be helpful. Paul/
If we didn't have "dumb questions" to answer we wouldn't need trainboard anymore. Keep asking them. I often find that when I read someone elses dumb question I realize I didn't know anything about that thing either and consequently learn something new. The ultimate source for info is to get your train car and read the build date printed on the side of it. Most newer good quality cars can actually be read. Not sure if anyone posted this site, but it is a huge source for train car photos. You can also read the build dates on real cars in these photos. http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/
Thanks Geeky, I will look into that site as well. I know what you mean on reading the car. I have a little 3x pocket magnifier with a LED light my wife bought me a while back, it's really cool and I think it's going to be great for reading car numbers/data whatever you term it. Take Care, Elwood
Sorry to complicate things, but don't just look at the car type when deciding which era it's from, look at the paint scheme as well. For instance a Santa Fe 40' boxcar may have been built in 1941, but if it's wearing the large herald and billboard cooper black 'Santa Fe' scheme it belongs in the 70's.
Yeah I'm learning this stuff as I go. I found a neat site that has the UP roster from the beginning. So for giggles I searched one of the new Atlas U23B locos #563. Well from the Atlas decription (and being a newbie) I thought the engine was new for UP in the late 60's but that wasn't the case. UP #563 was originally MoPac 2280, then MoPac 4529, then UP 563. Found all kinds of information from the date it was built in 1976 till the date and place it was scrapped in 1994. The bottom line, the way that engine looks as it comes to us from Atlas was short lived. It was painted UP #563 on 11/4/86 and was retired 8/28/89. So not even quite 3 years. The site gave all kinds of technical info and it was really interesting to see the history of the loco even if it was less than spectacular I guess. The nice thing for me is now I have an idea of what types of rolling stock will be period correct or however you word it. Learning every day! I'm blown away by how much railroad and model railroad information is on the internet. BTW, on a search I also forund a real life picture of good ol' UP #563 when it was in Houston, Texas in January 1988. That was neat to see as well. I'm to the point I may be enjoying this hobby TOO MUCH.
