I plan on having my railroad set in the 90s, I’m wonderring what are some good ways besides period correct rolling stock to make the layout look period appropreate?
Rolling stock though really does sell the 90’s. It was the last grand age of merger’s; were CNW, SP & DRGW equipment had all joined the UP fleet, Conrail was being split up by CSX and NS, and BN and ATSF flew together under the new BNSF banner! Correct rolling stock is a must for the era.
But if you want more than just rolling stock suggestions, you could also run trains such as MOW work installing new fiber optic cables (SP ran a lot of trains to lay cables for SPRINT before the merger with UP). 90’s got a distinct style in pop culture too, so if you have an urban area maybe put up some billboards advertising Friends or Seinfeld or some other 90’s TV show to help date the era.
Not all of your locos need to have ditch lights.
In my area, the spartan cabs seemed to out number the wide cabs.
Cars and trucks from the 80’s would still work, even some from the late 70’s could be found, like pick up trucks.
TOFCs varied in length and type. Remembering some trains in my area of WI., TOFC trains were kind of a hodge podge of different cars, along with some COFC arrangements.
Some of the earlier cars for container stack trains had the big “bulk head” thing, and I think they all were pretty much 40’ or 20’ containers.
I’m trying to think of things I seen watching the WC, from start-up in 87, and into the 90’s.
Mike.
don’t forget unit coal trains.
Automobiles are a good way to show specific time frame. Not sure whether they fall under rolling stock.
Robert
A couple of things to ad to my list,
The WC used gons with “H” beam bulkheads for pulp wood.
I seen more lumber loads on bulkhead flats than the center beam flats we see today.
If your doing anthing Amtrak, that could get real rolling stock and locomotive specific.
Maybe 3 crew members in the cab? and most didn’t wear reflective clothing.
Box cars from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s seemed smaller, and would still be seen in service. Some are yet today, (not sure about the 60’s) and they really stand out when your watching trains today.
You shouldn’t need to worry about DPU’s, just add more to the head end, and if helpers would be needed, they would be manned.
Remember my experiences are in the upper midwest, not in any mountain areas.
Maybe I’ll think of more for later.
Mike.
Cabooses largely - but not entirely - gone.
If my own railfanning photos are an indication, there is a sizable difference between the early 1990s and the late 1990s in the amount of graffiti on freight cars.
Dave Nelson
Wait! Before I rest my brain from all of this thinking and remembering, and start to enjoy a Friday evening,
That big beautiful hunk of locomotive called the GP30 was still pulling it’s share of load in the early 90’s,
And those BN “tiger stripped” GP50’s ? What a site, as 4 of them, all freshly painted, handled container traffic.
I gotta rest! [D]
Mike.
EDIT: Wait, I think the BN thing was more in the late 70’s and 80’s, never mind.
Businesses are another way to set the timeframe. While buildings can date from the late 1800s onward (at least in the Northeast where I live), what is in them can be updated. Fast food, well known drug store chains, grocery stores, mini-malls, etc will set a tone. Summit USA has a line of modern buildings that can be set amoung the older ones, as well as modelized older style structures.
http://www.summit-customcuts.com/index.html
There have been a number of articles in MR about layouts set in recent times.
Hello all,
When I think of the '90’s what I picture are all the colorful and sometimes premature merger paint schemes.
The “S.P. Kodak” markings spring to mind.
The possibility to freelance mergers and create “what if” railroads, patchovers, heralds and color schemes.
Movie marquees and billboards advertising movies and “quirky” products of the time.
Hope this helps.
We are not supposed to talk about this, so i will call it by it’s modern name TAGGING
Fortunately I don’t have to deal with that in the transition era.
90’s was great in my area 30± trains a day on the Clinchfield 10 of them branch off on the Charlotte sub at Bostic and the NS branch was running a train to PPG industries 7 days a week now things are bad.
The 90s is tricky to model without some basic research.
As a example 90-95 no ditch lights,after 95 they started showing up.
You could still see CSX patched engines.
The word that must not be mention started showing up in the late 90s.
One could still see fallen flag cars including E-L.
There was still manned towers on the endangered species list.
No body said what railroad you are modeling. What 90s is your selection, 1990-1995 or 1996-1999.
Pre 1995 no BNSF freight cars, few locomotives with ditch lights and modifications to the horn, nose and other replacements.
During 1996 I saw Conrail freight cars that was carrying the new NYC reporting mark for CSX.
Amtrak new locomotive P40 with phase III paint. During this time period the Superliner phase III was getting repainted in phase IV. With the new delivery of Superliner II. F40 was still in service with new air conditioning and ditch lights.
Good point. At least what area of the country he models. The things I mentioned, as I said, were what I seen in the WI., northern IL., MN, and IA.
Mike.
For Amtrak, more long distance service on more routes prior to ‘97 cuts. More short distance service on new corridor routes, and for the late ‘90s, strings of MHCs for the mail and express business. Lots of equipment changes: F40PHs being gradually replaced by P-40/42s, Heritage Fleet vanishing after the FRA edict requiring elimination of direct dump toilets. Phase III scheme replaced by Phase IV.
Reflective conspicuity stripes:
Not mandated on rolling stock till 2005 - keep that in mind in your freight car purchases.
Mandated on truck trailers starting in 1993, and they spread to other truck types by the end of the 1990s.
AEI (& AEI tags)
Mandated by the end of 1994 for interchange, wiki claims 95% of the NA fleet was tagged. ACI tags mostly gone by the early 1990s.
Refrigerator cars were kind of at a nadir, but new and rebuilding programs would be in the offering - no return of the ARMN reporting marks on rebuilds/new builds till the 21st century. The Cryotrans reefers would be around, but not yet rebuilt into mechanical refrigerators.
Hazmat tank cars required shelf couplers since the 1980s (I think double shield ends as well), but crude oil traffic was definitely no where near the level we say at the beginning of the 2010s. Propane and LNG, OTOH, traffic was decent.
By the late 1990s, most passenger motor vehicles were basically “jelly bean” (i.e. early Ford Taurus) style or edge-designs (kind of what most sedans are now), or SUVs, Pickups, and Vans. Cross-overs weren’t too common yet (the debate on whether Cross-overs are simply sedans or, gasp, station wagons with SUVs trappings is left to the reader). As always, top selling colors were black, white, silver, some sort of tan or brown, and blue.
If you plan a down town scene, and you want to model 1990s gentrification, easy - the sidewalks will be brick (or concrete molded in a brick pattern), with trees (semi-lunar cut-outs in the pavement by the curb), metal benches and trash cans in dark green, brown, or black. Don’t forget the handicapped parking.
Speaking of gentrification, some of your big multi-story old factories will have become storage warehouses by then, a number being of the new self-storage concept. Others will have become peforming arts, design centres, learning annexes, charter schools, and the like. Oth
BTW, David, you did NOT get this from me, as a matter of fact, it doesn’t even exist… (odd link of some sort)
In the 90s you still had a lot of locomotives that were pre-safety cab units. Lots of GP50 and SD40 locomotives and also U-boats, some on their own, some with a new unit with a safety cab unit in the lead. Also because of the mergers you might have several different fallen flag locomotives running together.
There were automobiles from the 1970s and 80s still but the SUV and minivan craze had begun so lots of those type vehicles.
As for people, girls wore pants more than in the decades before. Men wore baseball hats instead of fedoras. The lumberjack look was in style thanks to the bands from Seattle. Everyone was flying the flannel. Black Doc Marten boots were worn by a lot of people including women. The soccer mom thing had started too with moms being involved in kids sports and soccer became popular for both boys and girls to play. Almost nobody had cell phone yet. Boom boxes were still popular.
The ADA act was a big deal and all public building started having wheelchair ramps. Also new construction projects used underground wiring so new areas don’t have power poles. Strip malls were popular to the point that people built too many of them and they usually had empty units available for rent. Also a lot of older mom and pop businesses were starting to go out of business and had going out of business signs on their windows. Downtown areas were starting to be redeveloped.
The good economy of the 80s was over. There started to be a lot more homeless in the 90s. Homeless people started using shopping carts to hold their belongings. They also started using cardboard signs to asking for food or money.
Crime was on the rise and ghetto culture was starting. Graffiti was starting to pop up everywhere especially in poor neighborhoods and on railroad rolling stock.
As some mentioned, stores and vehicles are great ways to replicate an era. This period also featured wireless devices, so put people everywhere walking with a phone attached to them. Heck, it wouldn’t surprise me if they did that while crossing the tracks!