i bought out a guys train collection and need to know how to tell what era it is from.i dont want to build a layout from the 1920’s and have trains from lets say the 1950’s
Welcome to the forum! It seems that you have essentially answered your own question. If you suspect the items look as if they are representative of trains from the 50’s, then your era is what is called the transition era, and I would call it the late transition era.
Both in Canada and the USA, the transition commenced two decades earlier, although steam was widely used in Canada for about six years after the last large scale revenue-based steam use on American roads. Even so, steamers were still in use on smaller enterprises for several years in both countries.
If you would like to know what years, exactly, the railroad items represented in your new cache would have been in use, go to this site and find the types based on the Whyte notation.
http://www.steamlocomotive.com/ Find “Wheel arrangement” and click on that at the top banner. A drop down menu will steer you to the type you need to identify and also opens to a history. Lower on each page is a list of images that will help.
Good hunting!
thanks for the help i really dont know what era they are but i will ck. the info. you gave me.i needed a starting point and you gave it to me thanks again.Rick
Your best bet is to crise E-bay, and match the cars you have. Or post pictures here and we can tell you. Post them in groups so that we aren’t flooded in pictures.
Need help posting pictures? SIgn up with a hosting site like Photobucket. It’s free. Upload pictures, then mouse over them. A drop down will appear, then click n the link with [img] in it. it shoukd come up with a little bx that says copied. If not, Press Ctrl and C on the keyboard. go back to this page, hit Ctrl and V on your keyboard. SHould appear.
If you could post some pictures of them I bet I could tell when they are from.