What kind of rolling stock should I buy?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hello guys. I’m new to the hobby and I’m searching for the right rolling stock for my railroad. I started by inheriting some assorted road cars and bought 4 ATSF SD40s, Now I’m ready to upgrade my rolling stock, but in the Walthers Catalog have a large variety of cars and I don’t know wich to buy. I know they should be SF but I don’t know about the other specifications. Thanks

2

Check out http://www.union.rpi.edu/railroad it is the website of RPI’s New England Berkshire and Western, they have a lot of information on freight cars from all eras.

3

The rolling stock can be from any railroad that existed in the time period represented by the loco’s,and their paint scheme. Check the left side of the long hood, if there is a small “oval
window” in one of the side doors, the locos are SD40-2’s, if not, they’re SD40’s, which could represent an earlier period of time than the 'dash 2’s '. Talk to your local hobby shop, someone there could tell you the latest date that the paint scheme was used, you wouldn’t want rolling stock built after that date.

4

Redleader,

Are you asking about specifications of the prototype or suggestions about which manufacturers of rolling stock to buy that are good?

Tom

5

If your layout is in the planning stages, then you should think about what kind of industries you’d like to model. That should match up with the rolling stock you buy. Not all of it, of course, but if you’re modelling coal mining, then you’ll want hopper cars, while you’d get more flat cars for a logging layout. Oil facilities want tankers, and light manufacturing will need lots of box cars.

A while back, we had a terrific thread about all the railroad activity that could be associated with a brewery. Along the way, various people chimed it with a wealth of information about the brewing of one of my favorite products.

6

Hey,

Mister beasley is referring to this excellent response to my question that helped ALOT!:

http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/871898/ShowPost.aspx

and

http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/850016/ShowPost.aspx

There was also another great threat about % of model railroad from your line and from others:

http://www.trains.com/TRC/CS/forums/876260/ShowPost.aspx

These are just examples… you have to narrow down on an industry or two and then just ask us what would supply it/support it and we can help!

Brian

7

Red Leader;

Your topic took a sixty-six month hiatus until resurrected by tstage day before yesterday; I don’t know whether you ever solved your problem of which type of rolling stock to buy or not, but today we have a much more compelling question which needs addressing, namely, which is better, Atlas or Kato? Certainly the future of model railroading, maybe even the very future of civilization, rests upon our discovering an answer to this question!!!

8

rtpoteet1, I was wondering why this thread appeared after several years myself. I would think after 5-1/2 years, finding the correct rolling stock would have already happened.

Bill

9

Wow! [:O] Actually, the thread was on page 1 when I responded to it on Saturday so one of the three folks above me (presumably Red Leader?) must have resurrected it. I didn’t even notice the original post date.

Tom

10

The old forum software would indicate when posts had been edited after original submission. The new forum software doesn’t seem to do this. I like that because I can stealthily correct spelling errors.

11

Hopefully, Red Leader isn’t waiting for an answer before starting a layout.

Enjoy
Paul

12

…the kind with wheels. Ahem…

13

REAL RAILROADS buy cars that serve its customers.A friut packing operation requires different cars than a grain elevator. Goods are shipped point A to B.

Different parts of the country produce different things.Coal, grain, cattle, oil, autos. That’s where railroads come in.

NEWBIES starting out are more concerned with cost’s of getting started. Avoid the most expensive, and the cheapest. ‘Middle of the road’ is where the most bargains are at.

Avoid E Bay and ‘used’ equipment. That’s where people get rid of problems.

RAILROADS exchange cars. No matter what railroad, you’ll see a mix of different roadnames, slogans, and colors.