Correct Rolling Stock for pre-1967

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone. This is my first time posting in a forum. Hopefully, someone can help me with my question.

I'm freelancing a layout set in the pre-1968 era. What I need help with is a source of info which would tell me what freight cars would be appropriate for my timeframe.

As one example, Walthers has Funnel Flow Tank Cars "...developed by UTC during the 1960's". What I guess I'm looking for is a reference which would tell me when these cars were built/used, that is, before or after 1967.

Hope somebody out there can give me some ideas how to track info like this down.

Thanks in advance.

[dknelson]

Look around for the 1966 Car and Locomotive Builder's Cyclopedia, which is a sort of Walthers catalog for prototype railroads. Some cars shown were experimental and rare but apart from that, it would pretty much establish what the very newest cars would look like in your chosen era. The Cyc's can be found at swap meets BUT be prepared to pay as much for one as you would for a high quality locomotive. And of course remember that freight cars have a useful life of over 30 years so cars from the 1930s on up would be fairly common. In the late 1960s the local tannery got very old wood outside braced boxcars built 1919 - a full 50 years old. Very likely the car had been modernized from time to time but basically it was old and looked it (we won't mention the odor!).
A full train of nothing but the very newest cars is pretty rare, and was even more rare then when most trains were mixed freight.
Dave Nelson

[johncolley]

Also remember that they still had full height ladders and roofwalks. There were a lot more 50 footers but still a lot of 40's. Very few wood reefers by then but the new refrigerated steel ones were being built. Still a lot of steel ice bunker cars, though. Tankers were 16,000 gal mostly but still a lot of 10,000 gal ones around.

[Anonymous]

To those who have sent in ideas already, a big "Thanks". I'll start looking into these ideas to help me out.

If there 's any other ideas, I'm open to all. Any help I can get is appreciated.

Thanks again.

[nfmisso]

Check out Red Caboose's freight cars on line http://www.red-caboose.com/ and Kadee's http://www.kadee.com/ca/allcars.htm. BOth provide information about build and paint dates.