Hello all:
I have a question about which freight cars to use. Not the type of car, but the owners of that car. Let’s say that I was modeling a section of the Pennsy and was using the appropriate PRR locos. Aside from PRR freight cars, what other companies’ cars would be appropriate to use. How about AT&SF (not BNSF). Thank you.
Pete
Pete,
I think you have the idea. Several books has suggested this mix of freight cars:
50% - Home Road(PRR in this case)
25% - Connecting Roads(like ATSF, NYC, etc…)
25% - Non-connecting roads or private owners(GN, SP, URTX, UTLX…)
Off course these percentages can vary depending on what you are modeling(DM&IR would be ‘heavy’ on home road ore cars, and very light on just about every other type of car or roadname).
I use this basic ratio for my layout and it works out very good.
Jim Bernier
I believe jrbernier has hit the nail on the head. There has been a lot of research on this very topic at the New York School which houses the New England, Berkshire and Western layout. I can’t begin to spell the school’s name so I won’t put it in here. The club has a website and you can order several books, etc. there. There is also a publication competitive to the hosts of this website which run pictures of a specific train on a specific day and breaks down the cars one by one as a modeling aid (Railmodel Journal) from time to time. As you get more insite into this topic please share with us.
Cheers,
Ed