One of the biggest challenges in putting together the scenery on a train layout is placing a correct date on it. I am modeling PRR so I make sure I don’t use vehicles on my layout past 1968 when PRR ended. That’s the easy one. I am still trying to find out the date when traffic striping changed from White to Yellow lines so I can paint my roads properly. How about traffic signs? Do you remember when Stop Signs changed from Orange to Red? Mailboxes used to be Olive Drab, do you “Remember When”? Look at the signs on food stores such as A&P they have changed over the years, do you “Remember When”? Wouldn’t you like to go to a forum or category and ask, “Does anyone “Remember When” the Mail trucks changed to White and Blue? A lot of people have this information and could share it on a “Remember When” forum. This would create a huge database, which a RR modeler could search quickly when designing his layout scenery. This would be a great time saver. Let me know if the idea has any merit. Oh, one other thing don’t forget about the “White line” question.
It looks like the “official” change was 1971, which which fits my distant memory, more or less. However, it looks like there may have been variation from state to state before that, so a difinitive answer may be difficult to come up with.
I didn’t read this thing word for word, but it has a lot of info…
It appears that the stop sign turned red in 1954. I’m sure there were yellow ones about for some time (I think I remember some, so there must have been for at least a decade).
There was a yellow one that was still in use when I moved from Hudson, Ohio in 1982. How’s that for behind the times? Heck, it might still be there for all I know! [:D]
Mista Beasly, in the 60’s the going price in Texas was 29.9 for Regular–Ethel was 31.9 and unleaded was unheard of. Ocasionally you could come on a Gas War and I bought a lot of gas for 11.9 — self service was unheard of – if you started to pump your own gas, the kid working in the station would get huffy (the boss would give him a hard time for not being on the ball) water, oil and tires air all checked and windows washed plus Green Stamps ---- times do change!
wow it’d be nice if gas were that cheap now, by the time i can drive, i’m going to have to work an hour to buy a gallon of gas[V][banghead][tdn][tdn][tdn]
Doc - As I’m sure you have gathered by now from the responses, in your modeled era you are safe to go with the red stop signs, white highway marking, and olive mail boxes. Most major changes came post 1970, I often think because youger adults of the period were trying to separate themselves from the ways of the early post-war generation.
Incidentally, it’s a hoot to carefully watch vintage films/movies and note the dramatic differences from pre-war to post-war. In the 1930’s very few roads, including major NYC area highways, had any centerline divider marks at all! You used the form lines in the concrete slabs to indicate your lane. And most downtown, two-way, suburban city streets were unmarked through the 1950’s. Imagine setting today’s drivers loose on such roads!
prr67: Of course, in 1965 the minimum wage was $1.25 an hour! That means about 20 minutes’ work for a gallon of gas. At the current minimum wage it takes about 30-40 minutes of work to pay for that same gallon…
Way cool. I grew up in Monmouth County (Lincroft) and always enjoyed watching the trains go through Red Bank. I would love to model the area around Red Bank’s station. What area do you model?
I guess we were neighbors. I am modeling the PRR and some of its operation on the NY&LB. The layout is HO scale. I include some of the most remembered scenes such the Gallitzin Tunnels, Horseshoe Curve, Raritan River Swing, Morgan Creek Bascule, and Rockville Bridge. I also have included the South Amboy yard and Freehold, Keyport, and Matawan stations to name a few. I am still in the process of finishing the layout and will we back on the forum asking more questions.
Happy Railroading
Awesome! The bridge over the Raritan was always a favorite of mine. Can I ask what you are using for the Matawan station? Once upon a time Micro Mart used to sell a CNJ station kit (Matawan and Redbank style) and I’m still kicking myself for not getting a couple back then. I also remember the smell of the coffee plant in Freehold.
1968!! That’s perfect. I’m sure you could find a green 1968 Mustang fastback and black Charger. Then “Bullitt” could live on in your layout! Or, if you’re truly ambitious, you could model in and around Woodstock…
I still live in Lincroft. The Matawan/Red Bank station is the same sold by Micro Mart. It originally was released as the Fanwood station. Although they were built basically the same there are differences in placement of some windows and doors. This requires some kit-bashing to achieve the right result. Walter’s Golden Valley Depot is close to the Keyport station with some minor changes. If you look around you can find many kits, which come close to prototype for your needs.
I HAVE a real “way back” machine. It is made out of paper usually, sometimes on acetate film.
I looked up sale grocery prices to put up on my Superette from a weekly grocery store newspaper ad in a 1955 newspaper in my local public library on microfilm.
Houses-- I keep a 1950 “dream house plan” book.
Road signs- I have a display of typical road signs of the period on my 1954 state highway map.
I copied about 30 pages from a highway design engineering college textbook of 1940-something for my collection.
One of the cities I want to model had a railroad crossing safety study done in 1953 with a large scale map of the 20 most critical crossings in the city, and photo from the drivers and the engineers point of view of each site— as well as the number of trains using each segment of track in the city per week, the car capacity of each yard, etc. I made copies of course.
What industries operated in my state, and how much railroad traffic was there commodity by commodity in the year I model? I have a 1954 state industrial guide of facts for industrial developers.
I have read through five years of bound volumes of Business Week magazine for 1953 through 1958, and got about 100 chunks of information and pictures to copy from the ads.
By the way, there is a web site which will show you the correct color and design of license plates for almost any state or country over most of the world, year by year.
There IS such a thing as a “way back” machine-- and it is made out of paper.