I use to be really exact with the built dates on my rolling stock vs. the era I was modeling at the time. If it was 1935, then all of the cars had to have built dates on or before that year. Over the years I’ve lightened up on this rule, and as long as I’m withing ten years of the era I’m shooting for I can deal with it.
Tracklayer
Unless I were modelling the 1800s I would expect build dates to go back at least 50 years depending on the stock… e.g. special cars that cost a lot and see little use(like centre depressed flats) would last a long time and (usually) be in pretty good order. At the other end of the spectrum coal cars would be worked to death in a fairly short time… possibly 7 to 10 years (someone give us a better figure if you have it please - general use not exceptions).
Build dates are mainly important for me to know when a car is too modern for my preferance - - PROVIDED the model builder has put a correct build date on it [banghead].
Then there’s the question of livery dates… the build may be okay but the livery may be after my period. I can cheat on this as there are very few people in the UK who would know US practice that well. So long as I don’t put a Desert Storm loco back into the 80s I’m okay.
As always it goes back to what makes the hobby fun for you. If you like checking dates, check them. If you don’t mind steam pulling autoracks have them do it.[:)]
The built date is not that important to me but the car must look like it belongs in the era I am modeling. My era is the mid 1950s but I am not too specific on an exact year so that gives me some wiggle room. My motto is “Ignorance is bliss” so as long as something isn’t obviously out of date, it works for me.
Some build dates are more important than others, but as long as I’m within the same technology / design generation, I don’t care all that much. For example, no-roofwalk boxcars are out for me, as are roller-bearing trucks and second-generation (and later) diesels. Most first generation diesels are out, too. Link and pin couplers are out, as is non-airbrake rolling stock. My era is 1935-1945, so stuff from about 1900 to 1950 is in, including K and AB brakes, andrews, arch-bar, bettendorf, vulcan and other trucks, and vertical-staff brakewheels. Covered hoppers are generally out, and certainly center-flow hoppers are. You also won’t see any frameless tank cars.
As long as the car itself and its paint scheme are like ones built earlier than 1953 I am okay with it. Cars first built after 1953 or with a paint scheme after 1953 I try to avoid. I also try to be knowledgeable enough to tell the difference, but I probably have a few that are later than 1953. I am not overly hung up on this; but I am trying for a 1953 look.
Enjoy
Paul
I don’t pay any attention to them anymore. If I like something, I run it. I’m not letting a date dictate what I can and can’t run. It’s my railroad, I’ll do what I want.
I consider built dates as “invetory control data”. Observing built dates gives you an excuse to avoid purchasing models, that you are otherwise drooling over, and run out storage space in your home. The slogan “He who dies with the most toys, wins” also assumes the winner has the room for all of his toys. I do not believe this is the case with most of us, even the home owners.
3-foot rule: If it looks OK from 3 feet away, then it’s OK.
I can’t see the built-on dates from 3-feet away. That’s the “dead zone” of my bi-focals. So, unless they increase the font size to kiss-up to us Boomers, I’m not going to worry about it.
But have you noticed that new street signs have larger letters now? I think it’s because us blind Boomers can’t read the old ones any more.
Built-date conformity does two things for me - I’m not yet knowledgeable enough to tell at a glance whether a paint scheme or car-type is applicable for my year (1954) and the built dates help, and confining my fleet to a cut-off date keeps me from pining after every piece of rolling stock and therefore turning my layout into one huge car float.
The date of the decoration / paint scheme used is much more important than the built date…BTW, always a good idea to check the rebuilt date too !! If a car might say it was built in 1938, but have a rebuilt/shop date of 1958. In a case like that, it would probably have been repainted in the railroad’s latest paint scheme. For example, GN had some wood-sided boxcars that were repainted into the “Big Sky Blue” scheme in the late sixties. Going by the BLT date they should go with a steam era layout, but really they wouldn’t fit in.
I do run things like all current cars together (modern tankers, no roof walk boxcars, etc) and i keep steam type cars with the steamers and modern freight with the newer diesels. I do however cheat and run a caboose at the end of most of my trains, trains just don’t look right with out a caboose, i miss seeing them bringing up the rear of a long train, i do keep the matching road names together though.
It’s my railroad, and I’ll do what I want. What I want is for my trains to look believable, and for my layout to be a time machine to 1949. That means paying attention to the model itself, not so much the mystical (and usually wrong) build date.
The model is the important thing, the paint scheme is the second most important. I can’t use 40’ baby hi-cubes on my layout, nor can I use 34’ double sheathed boxcars. If the base model is OK, it’s fair game; I can always add or delete small details as necessary.
The paint scheme is the second most important thing on a model. Some cars I’ll have to paint myself (resin and kitbashes) but full half of my fleet will be RTR and kits right out of the box. Those cars MUST have a correct paint job. Frankly, the correct paint is MORE important that cars with fully accurate detailing, as the paint is more visible. It won’t do me any good to have a correct 1916 NYC steel auto box on my layout if it’s painted Jade Green.
Over the years, I’ve found that most manufacturers have ZERO clue as to what the build and reweigh dates on cars mean. 90% of them are dead wrong. Thankfully, it’s very easy to fix them before weathering the car by adding a small amount of paint over the old lettering, and adding a new decal. It takes longer for the paint to dry than it does to add this detail!
Actually make that at MOST 50 years. And that’s before 1971. After 1978, that time stretch needs to be lowered to only 40 years. The rule is "no car with an underframe
I’m in the exact same boat as jsmaye on this one. It matters to me. So much so that when I found out that I had purchased and assembled an Accurail boxcar that was 5 years older than my era, I turned it into a shed.
Tom
I have started well behind the scratch line…why do I model USA trains ? Because they are great models, they are affordable, they run well, there is plenty of operational opportunity, but what do I know about them ? Only what I read and gleaned from books,magazines and forums etc. I need lots of help and I wish when manufacturers offer a new item they would indicate era, date whatever to help me know if it fits into my time line. European makers do…'epoch 1, epoch 11 etc. gives modellers a big clue as to whether its a model for their layout. The era is important to me, give or take a few years.
Each of us has our own “givens and druthers”, which “dictate” what appears on our pikes. If you have to have 18" radiuses, then running one of the new PCM or Athearn Big Boys is possible, but rather ungainley not to mention the clearance issuses around the curves. I am cursed by Christmas 1953 when “Santa” brought the WarBonnet F3s for “my Lionel” layout. The Lionel stuff is long gone to a collector, but the date is etched in my “givens”. That, as I continue to learn and pay attention to, allows a ton of rolling stock and engines, but rules out many many more.
The unfortunate things that occur are the wooden billboard reefers that I acquired before I knew any better, and I still like for their color, and historical perspective. Still they don’t fit in 1953, but that doesn’t mean that some day they might, if like some other noteable modelers, I change my era to the Roaring Twenties. It ultimately comes down to what we know is era correct and what excuse we want to make for why our “world” is the way it is. I applaud the manufacturers who are at long last providing more acurate information about their product in exchange for our hard earned dollars. Perhaps we should hold ourselves to the same high standards we hold for the entertainment industry in their portrayal of stop on a dime trains that better fits their " it’s my railroad, I’ll run it like I want" attitude. In todays culture you can always blame what you do on a Catholic priest from your childhood, rather than doing the work required to do the “right” thing. You would think that with a 40 to 50 year time span we could get some of “it” right. [2c]
Will
Yes, I am very careful to check both the built/shopped dates and the paint scheme/logo, because I model GN in quite a narrow period, ‘47 to ‘50. Any dates before’51 are OK and all of my freight cars are 36’-40’. The only cars that are bigger are Railway express reefers and passenger cars for the '49 Empire Builder. The funny thing is that in setups of Free-mo modules I run alongside other fellows with all the latest big locos and cars. Go figure? jc5729
I am not a rivet counter, but the built dates are important to me. I model the early 1980’s and try and use the built date a guide in developing my roster. I have removed the roof walks from all of my box cars and watch to make sure that nothing was built prior to the mid 1940s. I also agree with the above comments that paint scheme is important too. The car may be appropriate for the era but the paint is too new.
My desire to have on my layout what is plausable. I have found Tony Koester’s book Realistic Model Railroad Design (Model Railroader) to be a valuable resource. That being the case I have a nice set of KCS Southern Belle passenger equipment and locomotives which I run from time to time. I have considered developing a roster for two eras 1960s and my current 1980s, but I am developing a large layout and don’t know if I have the resources to develop two distinct rosters of equipment.
JIM
No…I prefer my cars to fit the era I model…However,by close attention to the prototype I have seen several cars lettered for SP,MP,C&NW without the UP shield A recently spotted SP gon still had the "Sunset"herald…I still see some Chessie cars with B&O/C&O/WM recording marks…My biggest observation was 2 D&TSL covered hoppers still having DTSL recording marks.
I try to keep all my cars at a pre-1952 date so the railroad seems realistic. However I really like some of the later paint schemes (1955 & up) like PRR large shadow keystones, BAR red-white-blue, Monon & NKP wide stripes, etc. so I’m getting a little less restrictive. I don’t have any cars built past around 1954 though. There’s no danger of auto racks and mega-ton covered hoppers ever hitting the rails and all trains will be required to have a caboose and steamers on appropriate ends!
Roger
July 1956 or earlier (with 1 exception). I figure that although my eye can’t see it, the camera can, and who knows what kinds of pictures I may want to take.