Oh, please, just go by decades in the U.S.
There is no way that the “merger” era began in 1980. There were many mergers before then, and one can argue when the “most” mergers of Class 1 railroads actually occurred, and I bet it’s well before 1980.
It makes more sense from a historical point of view to align the decades with what happened on the rails during each decade.
John
If that’s your definition then early diesel should start with the beginning of the transition period (1940) because there were a whole slew of diesels purchased over that time period. I would consider that a “serious effort”.
That said, I’m in agreement with John that 10-year incriments are probably the best and simplest way of definiing eras. When someone says they model the 50s, that gives me a good general idea what their roster is going to be. The only questions that might come to mind: Is steam included?..Or is it just all diesel?
Tom
actually [in my opinion] there are only two eras… steam and diesel …
you just have various alterations on that time frame
Agreed, one of the most significant mergers/take overs was the 1965 joining of the B&O and C&O.
Sheldon
That is a serious oversimplification. UK railways were definitely not state run for the majority of the eras and certainly aren’t today. Even European state subsidized railways are not “state run”. Canada has two railroad companies, one taken over by the government early in its history and the other launched with a truly massive subsidy but ostensibly a “private” business.
The apparent “private business” nature of US railroading is also not the whole story.
Besides, none of this is relevant to the state of railroad technology at any
This is completely accurate and the most useful dividing line for modellers.
Oh no! Then I model BOTH eras!
I model an exact moment in time, but I am in ALL the eras!
I win! [(-D]
You know, we tend to divid things up by the decades in the United States anyway. I grew up in the 80s, my favorite music is from the 40s, and so far, these 20s have been terrible.
That might be the easiest way to do it, but then we would have 15+ eras.
-Kevin
[quote user=“Lastspikemike”]
ATLANTIC CENTRAL
angelob6660
Here’s the European time period Eras.
Era 1: Approx 1870-1925/or 1835-1925 Country and Private railways.
Era 2: Approx 1920-1945/or 1925-1945 The period after the formation of larger railways.
Era 3: Approx 1945-1970 The new organization of European railroads.
Era 4: Approx 1968-1985/or 1970-1990 Standardized computer lettering on all rolling stock and locks.
Era 5: Approx 1985-2000/or 1990-2006 The modern era of railroading.
Era 6: 2006-present The liberation of new requirements of locomotives and cars.
Europe and North America have nothing in common on this topic.
In Europe and the UK, railroads are state run and standardization easily marks point of major change and tends to create longer periods between change.
North America thru most of the 20th Century, 400 plus different major carriers all developing equipment and having different operational requirements do tot he wide differences in conditions across all of North America.
Sheldon
That is a serious oversimplification. UK railways were definitely not state run for the majority of the eras and certainly aren’t today. Even European state subsidized railways are not “state run”. Canada has two railroad companies, one taken over by the government early in its history and the other launched with a truly massive subsidy but ostensibly
U.S. declared war in April 1917.
All dates are arbitrary, depending on your viewpoint.
Paul
While mergers happen all the time, the last 2 decades of the 20th Century are when the big companies in the U.S. merged together - CSX, NS, BNSF, UP (with SP), KCS. And when Conrail was divided between CSX and NS. These railroads along with CN and CP (both of which are Canadian railroads that have some presence in the U.S.) and Amtrak are the current class 1 railroads in the U.S.
Personally, I don’t think of Amtrak as a class 1 because so much of it operates on railroads they don’t own, but the criteria is revenue not miles of trackage.
So for me the 1980’s to 2000 are the merger era - perhaps I should say the Mega RR Merger Era.
But as others have noted, everyone has their own way of looking at it.
*** WARNING Humor (supposedly) follows ***
I suppose another way to break it down is to have 3 eras [(-D]:
The years before most of my stuff existed.
The years most of my stuff existed.
The years after most of my stuff was gone.
or 2 eras:
The years I like. [bow]
The years I don’t like. [|(]
*** End Of Humor ***
Interesting topic. Personally, I enjoy reading everyone’s take on eras. It reflects the great diversity of the hobby that is united by our love of model trains.
Paul
There is yet another era that I call the ConRail era 1976-1998 due to the mega merers of that time frame and the growth of new short lines based on railroads selling or leasing unwanted trackage…We can not overlook the rebirth of the boxcar in late 70s that includes Railbox.
During the CR era we saw the last EMD Geep(GP60 and its subclasses) as well as the birth of the modern GEs and EMDs and the demised of the caboose.
So,the CR era is a sufficent time frame in the annuals of railroad hstory.
Exactly right. History isn’t about dates, it’s about events and people worth remembering for a very long time.
The thread about modelling “multiple eras” raises some very interesting ideas about this hobby.
Whether railroad modellers are consciously aware of this or not model railroading is a hobby/art form about reliving some aspect of history. The importance of this aspect of transportation and trade cannot be exaggerated.
Whether you value the specific time of your layout and its operations or display of the equipment and the types of operation using that equipment or both the key is that you celebrate and study the history of one of the greatest technical inventions ever devised. Railroads are a far more important invention than the airplane, for example.
The significant public interest in heritage rail shows that many others share this interest although not modellers themselves.
This thread gets me going along this heritage rail idea. I now need a 4-4-0 to create a “real” heritage aspect to my layout. Since the scenery is currently entirely imaginary I can run this with a few of my brass wooden passenger cars either in “real time” or in “heritage”…
Very often I find myself looking at the hobby exactly like that. I tend to refer to anything built after 1956 as being “modern”, and that point of view simply does not work.
Great point, humor and all.
-Kevin
Actually, these innovations are all intimately wrapped up in the transition from wood to steel. This probably isn’t anyone’s particular interest here but mine, but the best brief description I have ever found was written by the late Bob Sloan in his “A Century + Ten of D&RGW Narrow Gauge Freight Cars.” His intro includes a section called “The Interstate Commerce Commission and Narrow Gauge Rolling Stock.” Probably of serious interest only to those of us who are modeling at the intersection of multiple regulatory requirements for car marking and safety appliances, but a great explanation of how much happened, and how it was tied to fleet development.
I agree with the idea that we can sort of invent categories and classifications of many types, depending on what we choose to examine, but I think if you really want to classify the industry by changes in equipment types, there are really three big periods that completely transformed fleets (and, to some extent, infrastructure): Wood to steel, steam to diesel, and containerization. I think the first is in many ways the most transformational, because it brought infrastructure changes that the industry has been living off of ever since. For example, as train weights started to rise after 1900, most railroads completely rebuilt their infrastructure to accomodate not just the weights they could forsee, but those they imagined they might have to accomodate. They built so strongly that, a century later, the industry is still living off their investments.
And I will renew my position that railroad technology, or even railroad specific history, should not be the only defining criteria.
And that is why every 10 years, or every five years makes sense.
Sheldon
Characteristics
Standardized railroading. Four railroads plus those two Canadian ones and KCS. Also Short lines. Massive unit trains, 80’ cars, massive locomotives, re-emergence of tank cars and resurgence of oilfield traffic
Transition period from the old days to modern standardized railroading. COFC, TOFC, enclosed autoracks, mostly a variety of EMD and GE locomotives with the odd 2nd generation diesels appearing; boxcars still show up battered and bruised
Diesel only but operated like the steam era with a variety of freightcars and road names. LCL and industrial spurs still existed and handling less than 10 cars at a time.
Period traditionally known as the transition era. Steam and diesel operating side by side along with great variety of railroad equipment.
Dominated by steam. Yes, diesels exist but they are a minority. Team tracks can refer to trucks or horse drawn wagons. Era covers everything from vertical boilers and the Best Friend of Charleston (name?) to Superpower steam locomotives. The reason this era is so huge is because these earlier time periods are so underrepresented in the hobby. If you’re modeling the 1840s you are pretty much scratchbuilding most of your equipment. Same with 1900. That’s why I lump this era all together.
I contend that picking nice, even decadal periods or even propulsive technology is not the way to go. Broader, but visually distinctive, periods carve out times that give the individual model railroader an “era” that defines what they run without trying to tie it to years:
Contemporary: Ditchlights, reflective striping, COTS panels deleted from rolling stock, headshields on tank cars, PTC antennas
Modern: Roofwalks deleted, ACI labels, yellow dots from wheel inspections, IPD boxcars, the first wide cabs.
Mid-Century: no steam, wood rolling stock has all but vanished, pre-Amtrak passenger trains
Late Steam: early generation diesels are around, but steam rules the day. Steel rolling stock dominates, but wood hasn’t disappeared.
Golden Age: Steam-only, the classic age of wood reefers and stock cars, rivets everywhere.
Earlier than that, you’re already so niche that you’ll just say “Civil War” or whatever, because you’re in a different category compared to the more mass-market model builder.
I was leaning towards the “decades” idea, but MJ4562 and Nittany Lion made some really great points.
Saying I model “the 1950s” sounds different than I model “the late transition era”.
This has been a good discussion. Please keep posting your thoughts.
-Kevin
By way of expanding the reach of this tar-baby thread, perhaps a better ‘working definition’ is what is not included: no wooden-under frame cars or AC synthesis-drive engines; no plain bearings in interchange but no 53’ well flats… you get the picture, but it could be any day in a range of years that your favorite equipment might ‘plausibly’ run the way you want it to operate.
This neatly handles the ‘don’t care’ parts, too – if you don’t care what year muscle cars got redlines or when radios became road standard you can just ‘let it be’…
OK, I get and like the “visually distinctive” idea, but this is still not enough of a breakdown in my mind.
And again, if you are modeling “whole scenes” there is much more to it than rail technology markers.
Yes there will always be those big key changes. For my modeling one of those is the late 1953 appearance of 75’ piggyback flats on the PRR, WABASH and the ATLANTIC CENTRAL [:)].
Those cars were rare and regional in 1954, but a year earlier they did not exist.
By the early 60’s those same cars were obsolite for piggyback and replaced by 85’ cars.
That sets a pretty small window…
I just can’t see any of these 40 to 60 year windows people have suggested, no matter the criteria.
I don’t care if you decide that the bes