I big agreement on books. There are a lot of excellent books published for specific railroads with a lot of roster photo's, history of each type, details, modifications, paint scheme etc. By way of example, I got interested in the Rio Grande after making some trips back and forth from California to Colorado in the mid-1980's and then moved to Texas. There was a hobby shop which carried the new Rio Grande Diesels Vol 1 & 2 and I promptly purchased them and have read them many times.
Since the 1990's there Morning Sun Books has published many color book series on most of the fallen flat railroads; they are totally awsome. I've got the Rio Grande in Color series Vol 1,2,3 & 5 among many other books including one from the Track Side" series. They are great resources, lots of excellent large format color photo's taken in the 1950's, 60's, 70's and 80's.
Morning Sun has also published many Color Guide series for individual fallen flat railroads such as the Rio Grande Color Guide to Freight and Passenger Equipment, which has color photo's of most "class" freight cars owned or leased by the D&RGW as well was most of the passenger cars. Similar books have been published for other railroads and are excellent resources for to assist in identifying models that match and building a fairly representative model roster.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Sorry for bringing up an older thread but I use reference material a lot and had to chime in. :)
Go to a train show, the shows that are local to me always have a 'book guy' with 5 or 6 tables of books on just about every railroad and if he doesn't have it, he will add my requests to a list and let me know if he finds it. Books might cost $30-$60 but I find myself looking through them a lot to get inspiration for modeling projects, research the history of the prototype and learn how the railroad was operated. In addition to books, historical societies provide a lot of information on hard to find subjects; if I can't find what I'm looking for, a simple email sent to their archives department often yields a timely response.
Some books show good shots of a good portion of a train (showing what cars were used during a particular date), the surrounding scenery (to help with planning realistic scenes), closeups of a particular car or loco or even dedicate a whole book to one focused subject (like passenger cars or cabooses or a particular locomotive series).
Books are great! Even though they can cost as much as a piece of RTR rolling stock, I probably spend more time looking at the books than I do staring at a particular model and I think those books helped make me a better modeler.
http://delray1967.shutterfly.com/pictures/5
SEMI Free-Mo@groups.io
A couple of Yahoo Groups you may want to join.
STMFC - Steam Era Freight Car Group - covers freight cars up to 1960.
MFCL - Modern Freight Car List - covers from 1960 to present.
BBFCL - Baby Boomers Freight Car List - covers the 60's and 70's many of the same posters as the MFCL.
If you follow a railroad like the PRR they all have modelers groups that have a lot of information.
Rick J
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
Rule 2: I make the rules.
Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!
Another item that's handy is a timeline. I started out with this one from Bluford Shops:
http://www.bluford-shops.com/bluford_93_024.htm
Ed
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
It is very overwhelming. I found that if I broke it down by Railroad and then era, I was more successful in my search.
The way I conduct a search (being a CPR fan) is, go to either the "Province of British Columbia online photo archives" or "The City of Vancouver online photo archives" or "The University of British Columbia online photo archives". There are thousands of photo's there.
I live on the West coast of Canada and these sites serve me well. I often know what a certain car looks like, but not always what it is called. I can usually find a photo of it and thus all the details about it.
You don't say where on the planet you live, but I would bet there are institutions with similar online archives that would be a wealth of information for you.
Also everytime I think I have seen every website that has to do with what I am looking for, up pops an entirely new one with more photo's that I have never seen before. So always search again every once in a while.
Good luck.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Paul,
As you suspect, the subject is incredibly broad, complex, and nuanced. My own personal library has been developed by collecting books, magazines, timetables, company records, photos, etc. for over 50 years. As a beginner, you can't be expected to collect that much material and absorb that much info in a short time. It makes more sense to focus your efforts. If you can tell us about your specific interests, we can probably suggest some books and other sources that would give you the kind of information you need. If you can tell us what railroad(s) are of greatest interest, what era, and what specific industries and locations, then the folks here can probably aim you in the right direction.
For a quick, generic start, I can't improve on Ed's suggestion to get Jeff Wilson's Model Railroader's Guide To Freight Cars.
Tom
There are some features or indicators too, which you can get a sense of era from.
For example 40' box cars were common during steam era and were gradually replaced by 50' box cars starting in the 1940's and by the 1960's 50' box cars were in full swing taking over. By the 1970's 40' box cars were getting pretty thin.
Around 1966, roof walks were outlawed, so box cars being built after that year were without roof walks and those which did have them were being removed, although some lingered through out the 1970's and a few rare cases into the 1980's.
In recent years, conspicuity stripes started being used around 2006 or so (I don't know but thats when I remember first seeing them).
So there are visual cues for many things.
Get Kalmbach's "The Model Railroader's Guide to Freight Cars" by Jeff Wilson. It is a great introduction to the subject. It is also out of print (I think). Amazon's got copies.
For passenger cars, I don't know of a similar book.
You definitely should start considering the locations and eras of interest. Don't be in a rush, but have the question in consideration. I am not interested in modeling railroads from the Civil War. So, while they're "sorta" interesting, I don't follow the subject with intensity. Now, when we start talking about railroads along the Columbia River--whole 'nother story. Or the railroad that had a yard just outside of my freshman English class window (RF&P-Potomac Yard)--another ear-perker.
Also, for freight cars, there's a quarterly publication called "Official Railway Equipment Register". It's mighty handy to have one (or more) for eras you're interested in. It lists "all" the freight cars in operation in the US (and environs, I think) in that quarter. They go back MANY years. I've got one from 1926. There's also a passenger one, though, with Amtrak; that's probably currently not too necessary. You CERTAINLY don't need to be buying these particular books right now, but keep them in mind for later. Plus, when someone references info from the "ORER", you'll know what it means.
Sam,
I am into garden railroading, 1:29 and a little 1:22.5 stock. I set my time era as being 1950 - 1970 which ideally covers the steam/diesel transistion period.
Living in the UK my knowledge of American railroads is limited but I have found the Kalmbach magazine 'Classic Trains' a most valuable and interesting way of getting to know what consists/stock was running on US metals at various times. I know many reference books are quite expensive but Classic Trains and one or two other Kalmback publications are low priced but usually easily obtained.
Alan, Oliver & North Fork Railroad
https://www.buckfast.org.uk/
If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there. Lewis Carroll English author & recreational mathematician (1832 - 1898)
Two scholarly works come to mind
John H White's book on freight car history http://www.amazon.com/The-American-Railroad-Freight-Car/dp/0801852366
and multi volume set on passenger car history http://www.amazon.com/American-Railroad-Passenger-Hopkins-Technology/dp/0801827434
A source I use, but it can get expensive, are the Car and Locomotive Builder's Cyclopedias which are sort of the Walthers catalog of prototype railroads. I model roughly 1970 so I have the 1970 Cyclopedia, which basically shows the cars and locomotives that were new production in that year (actually the year prior). If I see it in the book I feel comfortable running it on the layout and presumably without too much weathering. I also have the 1966 Cyclopedia for "fairly new" stuff for the late 1960s. I have Car Builder's Cyclopedia for the late 1930s which would show what was new in say 1937 -- most of that stuff would still be running in my era but would getting old. I really should get a Cyclopedia from the 1950s to represent the bulk of what would be running in the late 1960s but I have developed a pretty good sense of era.
Back issues of Trains magazine often showcase then-new cars and locomotives. So do older issues of trade publications such as Railway Age. Those can be found fairly cheap at swap meets -- but older Car and Locomotive Cyclopedias are often $100 or more although I have gotten some deals at swap meets.
Dave Nelson
I thought that might be the case. I guess I was hoping there might be some sort of general history book detailing the development of rolling stock from its inception to modern day. That would probably be a big book!
Paul
That's such a broad question it maybe too hard to answer. You may not know what era you want to model, at this point, but a geographical location would help us narrow it down to a few railroads.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Being relatively new to model railroading, I am often somewhat overwhelmed at the variety of rolling stock available. Also, being somewhat old fashioned, I prefer turning pages to surfing the web. (I should mention that I am not a complete luddite, Google is my friend).
All that being said, I was wondering if anyone had recommendations for books that would detail what sorts of rolling stock were used during what era.