Hello!
I am creating a PRR N scale micro switching layout with a GE 44 ton switcher as my primary locomotive. Can anyone suggest road names for 40’ boxcars or reefers that appeared on PRR’s rails in the 1940s - 50s?
THANKS!
Depends on location and the industries you are planning.
Pick any North American standard gauge common carrier railroad and chances are at least one of its cars visited the Pennsy at one time or another.
Wayne
This question has come up many times. For the PRR you can comfortably divide your rolling stock to 60% PRR, 25% adjoining roads such as N&W, NYC, NH, and B&O. and 10% non adjoining roads such as SF, UP and Southern. with 5% special or seasonal cars such as FGE. This would apply to general freight and refers, gons, and flats. For hoppers and ore jennys you can bet 90% or more would be home road.
MRC did a series of articles a few years ago on essential freight cars. All the large class ones could be broken down this way. Smaller roads would have different percentages.
Pete
This is a daunting question, and of course railcars can be diverted away from home rails for years so that even cars of arch rival New York Central could be seen on the Pennsy.
The Pennsy was so huge it had connections with just about every railroad east of the Mississippi River. The PRR also had interests in the Wabash, TP&W, DT&I, Lehigh Valley and other roads. I can’t swear as to your era however. For example, well before your era the Pennsy partly owned the Norfolk & Western. So for a while N&W steamers had Belpaire fireboxes.
Maybe what makes the most sense is to settle on what area of the country you model and then look at what railroads the PRR interchanged with. For example in some parts of the east, I would imagine the Western Maryland was a major interchange.
Dave Nelson
Virtually any railroad in the US could be on the PRR in the 1950’s.
GE 44 tonners were used in the Philadelphia area, to replace 0-4-0’s along the docks. They missed WW2.
Don’t forget Canadian National and Canadian Pacific.
In fact CP had a direct connection with the Pennsy through the Pennsylvania-Ontario Transportation Company (owned by the PRR and CPR). The P-O operated the car ferry Ashtabula across Lake Erie between Ashtabula, OH and Port Burwell, ON. Mind you, most of the traffic was coal for CP in southern Ontario, but some lumber and paper products went south, too.
Candian National had one of the largest railway car fleets in North America at that time also.