Hi gang. Just for fun, I challenge those of you that are interested to assemble a 1940s era freight train using the rolling stock from that period with a limit of fifteen pieces of rolling stock.
Have fun.
Tracklayer
That’s easy!
How about an L3B Mohawk followed by 14 Pacemakers and a caboose!
Are you looking for photos? And is the limit of fifteen cars a maximum or a minimum? [;)] One other thing: prototype roadnames only, or are freelance cars allowed?
Wayne
H10 on the point, 14 PRR flatcars loaded with Sherman tanks and a cabin car carrying the markers.
(If there were more cars, the loco would be bigger.)
Next question?
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
No, no photos required. 15 cars exactly. Actual road names of rolling stock that existed back in the 1940s - no freelance cars please…
Tracklayer
Funny you should mention that. I’ve got eight flat cars with two Shermans per car. However, I couldn’t find flat cars that were all from the same road, so I had to take what was available and ended up with everything from UP to NP, but all are pre-1953, so that I could say they were hauling the tanks to be shipped from the west coast to fight in the Korean war…
Tracklayer
12 box cars, 8 all wood, 2 woodside with dreadnaught ends, and two newer all steel box cars. At least half should be lettered for your home road. 1 wood refrigerator car, PFE or ART depending on what side of the counry you’re modeling. 1 two bay coal hopper. 1 flat car with your choice of either a load or empty. Caboose from your home road. Done. [:)]
I need switch list, car cards, a yard, switch engine, fuel, railroad men shipper and reciever requirements, etc etc etc.
It would be war time freight and they groaned with tonnage, no way limited to 15 cars.
It’s so nice to see someone play along without making a big deal out of it or wanting to make it complicated…
I’ve got an old photo right here in front of me Safety Valve with a Mikado on a branch line in the 1940s pulling a consist of about 15 various cars, some of which are reefers, a few box cars, a tank car, an open hopper and a couple of gondolas with a caboose on the rear. That’s where I got the idea for the topic in the first place.
Tracklayer
I recall some Mikado photos in some of the older railroading books at the library where they were hauling about that number of cars and on a small grade no less.
Make them about 750 tons (50 ton a car?) more or less on that Mikado over the ruling grade. They certainly can haul more when it is flat.
GN’s O-8 Mikados regularly hauled 6000 ton trains. That’s about the upper end for that wheel arrangement of course.
Thankfully, I’m modeling the 1940s…1949 to be exact. I’m pretty careful to only buy cars that fit into the time period, so just about any train I run is appropriate!
But if I were to assemble a train for photo purposes, it might look something like this (model sugestions in parentheses):
NKP H-6d class 2-8-2 (modified BLI USRA light Mike)
NKP 1200-series rider/LCL car (with only 15 cars, this is definitely a local!) (custom resin)
ATSF steel 40’ boxcar (Branchline)
NYC 42’ steel gondola (Funaro & Carmelengo)
SFRD 40’ steel reefer (Intermountain)
GN 40’ plywood-sided boxcar (Sunshine)
RI 40’ USRA double sheathed boxcar (Accurail)
IC 33’ steel twin hopper (Atlas)
NKP 40’ steel boxcar (Branchline)
GM&O 40’ steel boxcar (Branchline)
IC 42’ composite gondola (custom resin)
PRR 32’ GLa twin hopper (Bowser)
CB&Q 40’ steel box (Red Caboose)
MILW 40’ composite boxcar (Accurail)
PRR 40’ steel boxcar (Red Caboose)
L&N 37’ double sheathed boxcar (kitbash of MDC car)
Erie 52’ flatcar (Proto 2000)
NKP 47-145 series wood caboose (Division Point brass)