I have enjoyed the site www.steamerafreightcars.com for getting an idea on early freight cars (pre 1960s).
The Official Railway Equipment Register was already mentioned above. Published quarterly, this publication is a roster list of everything in interchange service. It lists number ranges, quantities and important dimensions, but no pictures or information on colour, builder, etc. However it is very helpful to cross-reference with your favourite photo books and websites.
Morning Sun Books' various Color Guides are great resources, with different books for different railroads:
http://morningsunbooks.com/alphalistingcolorguides.html
And the following web sites are great resources for freight car photos:
http://railcarphotos.com
http://rr-fallenflags.org
http://rrpicturearchives.net
http://canadianfreightcargallery.ca (despite the name, covers equipment from railroads all over North America)
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
Tommasini53What are your favorite sources (books and onl-line) for researching freight cars of a spicific era?
hard to find on line....but i found a copy at the local hobby shop. just the information i was looking for. thanks. - adam
The Model Railroader's Guide to Freight Cars by Jeff Wilson has an over view from WWI on.
Enjoy
Paul
For me, any of the books by John H. White Jr are indispensable for anything before the 20th century. The American Railroad Freight Car and The American Railroad Passenger Car I&II are wonderful. It's lacking in some specific prototypes but gives a good, rough overview that should get you close enough.
The prototype I model has a great historical society that prints books on freight and passenger cars. They also output a quarterly magazine that includes great articles. They also do a quarterly online PDF download that is all modeling. Here is an example.
http://www.prrths.com/Keystone%20Modeler/Keystone_Modeler_PDFs/TKM%20No.%2075%20Autumn%202010.pdf
The B&O, NYC, and other historical societies have copied the modeling PDF downloads from the PRR. They all include great modeling articles.
Monthly model magazines like Railroad Model Craftsman run articles. They are on part 47 of essential freight cars of the transition era. MR does some good articles sometimes too.
Pete
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
i would like to suggest the various historical societies,depending on you railroads of interest.the southern pacific historical and modeling society have published a number of books that detail all of the freight cars that were built by the sp as well as companys that contracted with the sp.other societies have done much the same thing.there are other books about freight cars,ie gatx,acf,etc.hopefully this will help. tuxedoj
You should start with a copy of "The Official Railway Equipment Register" for the era(s) in question. It's published quarterly. It lists every freight car and gives certain key dimensions. Back issues are available (not from the publisher, though). It won't tell you about the trucks and brakes, but it will tell you whether a car was in interchange service at the time.
Also handy would be the "Car Builders Cyclopedia". It's published every few years and has photos, plans, and etc. of SOME cars and equipment in current usage.
Also useful is joining one or all of these Yahoo Groups:
MFCL---modern freight car list--after 1960
STMFC---steam freight car list--up to 1960
bbfcl--baby boomer's freight car list---1954 to 1986
I would encourage lurking with the occasional narrowly focused question.
Ed
What are your favorite sources (books and onl-line) for researching freight cars of a spicific era??
I'm looking for some research material to learn which freight cars were used in different time periods. Preferably with enough information that i can learn about the types of trucks, brakes and other car details.