I’ve been a reader of Trains since 1974 and Classic Trains since they started. The last photo trip I took of BC Rail they were still a Alco (MLW) railroad in April of 1990. Yes, I know they had a few EMD’s around. Would or should this time frame be considered classic?
My recollection was 50 years, which make early Amtrak “classic”, but there’s a lot of wiggle room in defining classic. One could argue that being out of service for 20-30 years could count as classic.
We talked briefly about this in Forrest Park last June. I need to step up my game from just doing the " An Engineer’s Life" on Train.com. I’ve done a little photography over the years, besides running locomotives.
MDS
Half a century from the current time would basically cover classic in most every case. Various Motor Vehicle Administration have various laws on a state by state basis on what qualifies as ‘Classic, Historic, Vintage’ or some other licensing category.
In railroading there would be different categories - Steam Age, 1st Gen Diesels, Streamliners, Interstate Highways, Penn Central Bankruptcy, creation of Amtrak, creation of ConRail, AC traction Diesels, the ConRail split, Positive Train Control.
I hear you on that one! The latest issue of Trains has a mention of the last dome car was built 4 years after I was born. The last E-unit left La Grange 61 years ago.
I’d say 25-30 years in railroading. Anything before BN and SF merged, SP and UP merged and Conrail was split between CSX and NS. Although you could go back a decade or so, before NS and CSX.
I think it also depends on who youre talking to. Being a young guy at 23 (sorry if I make y’all feel old), “classic” to me is the late 80s and early 90s, with Conrail, BN, and Amtrak Phase III, F40s, SD60s, and Dash 8s and 9s. For some of y’all, that probably still feels fresh, so you wouldn’t consider it “classic”.
No need to apologize. I was born about 5 or so years too late to have any memories of mainline steam, with a lot of final fires being dropped shortly after I was born.
I think N Scale Train Boy is right it dose depend on your age , please do not apologize for your age it nice to have youngsters in the hobby it keep it alive.
Yeah, I was a teenager in the 90s and I’m not ready for the music I heard back then to be on the oldies station. I know this one station near me 3WS 94.5 FM was the oldies station when I was a kid and a few years ago they start playing music from the 80s and 90s. They now call themselves “classic hits” but to late Gen X and early millennial yinzers they’re still the oldies channel.