I am in the process of making a roster spreadsheet for my freight cars and one of the categories I would like to have is prototype service dates. I would just like to know the approximate period in which a particular car would have been in service. Is there an online source for this kind of data... For instance the first car I'm trying to find prototype information for is the Intermountain 4 bay Cylidrical Hopper (round hatch version)... Is it based on any particular prototype? Who manufactured the prototype? That sort of info. Any help would be appreciated... Thanks! Don
Hi Don, A couple of sites I have found useful: http://www.railroadcarhistory.com/ http://www.dgcasdorph.com/ Loads of info if you don't mind digging a little. Cheers, Kev
There is some variation between roads as well. I have found pictorials of freight equipment for Milwaukee Road to be particularly helpful in establishing pretty firm service dates for types of cars. If you look at a given car's build date that can also help. They can be very difficult to see on N scale equipment.