I am new to this hobby. I was reading the December 2005 issue of Model Railroader and saw a reference to never mixing some groups of boxcars. How do you find you what time period or vintage a particular car is?
a good way to tell is by looking at the rolling stock itself…if it has rivets and roof walkways, chances are it’s pre 1960 …welded cars and cars without roof walks are modern day…another way to tell is to purchase books or check them out from a library on railroads…there are more books on railroads out there then don’s got pills…a little research can go a long way to determine what era a piece of rolling stock is…chuck
In some cases the car actually has a built-on date on the side, or it may be a re-build date.
For time periods in general, histories of railroads in general and specific lines in particular, with lots of good quality photos.
For the specific time period of a specific car, equipment registers or the car itself.
For the entire subject; research, research and more research.
Chuck.
If you can find a copy of “Creative Layout Design” by John Armstrong, he has a table that covers changes (by 20 year increments) for freight cars, locomotives, etc.
Newton Gregg reprints of car builders dictionaries can still be found at train shows.
Keep in mind that some cars last for decades. I remember seeing an old VERY rusty PRR boxcar over 30 years after the PRR NYC merger.
Enjoy
Paul
Hey Gismog, welcome to this fine forum!
I was just trolling around on the www.accurail.com website and I realized that it may answer some of your questions for you. Accurail has been good at providing information on build dates for their models.
Also, if you are interested in a particular railroad, I would suggest looking into the existance of a historilcal society for that line. I am a member of the Burlington Route Historical Society and have found the information on the web site and in the excellent publications to be invaluable. Anyway, just a thought.