I've read on several occasions on the forum over the years that when modeling a specific prototype, roughly 40% of the freight rolling stock should be the home road. Is that only true for the "golden age" of railroads? Or, would that still hold true for the modern prototypes, as well?
Thanks,
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
tstageOr, would that still hold true for the modern prototypes, as well?
Tom, Here's run down on the weekly report from NS. I hope it helps.
59.5
By car type.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Larry does Private mean leased cars or are there industries that own cars?
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
About 1/3 of my freight cars are lettered for the STRATTON & GILLETTE. That ratio looks good to me.
.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
BigDaddy Larry does Private mean leased cars or are there industries that own cars?
Henry,Those are lease cars. Some of the freight car leasing companies is getting into leasing boxcars GATX already has them as does three others besides TTX/Railbox.
If you are modeling before the 1960's, a typical mix might be 50% home road, 25% interchage roads and 25% others.
If you are modeling after 1980 or so, a mix might be 50% private (car initials end in "X"), 25% home and 25% other.
The mix of cars varies by where you are modeling and what you are modeling. Those percentages are just starting point, not hard and fast rules. If you are modeling the coal regions in the 1940's then about 75% of the cars will be home road. If you are modeling the Gulf Coast in Texas or Louisiana in the 1980's then about 75% of the cars will be private owner (chemical cars).
The classic example I use is Ft Worth on the UP. If you are modeling the E-W former TP there will be auto racks and intermodal cars, if you model the N-S former MKT there will be coal car and grain hoppers. Same road, same location, same era, different lines, different traffic mixes.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
BRAKIE tstage Or, would that still hold true for the modern prototypes, as well? Tom, Here's run down on the weekly report from NS. I hope it helps. By Car Owner System 52,011 49,680 49,936 49,757 49,323 48,838 Foreign RR 27,518 28,200 28,255 29,258 30,319 30,274 Private 102,975 112,526 114,872 114,362 114,863 116,183 Total 182,504 190,406 193,063 193,377 194,505 195,295 Pct. Private 56.4 59.1 59.5 59.1 59.1 59.5 By car type. By Car Type Box 15,114 15,304 15,511 15,762 16,045 16,194 Covered Hopper 48,130 50,584 51,177 50,616 50,827 51,822 Gondola 16,438 16,809 16,896 16,724 16,597 16,632 Intermodal 10,203 10,320 10,309 10,267 10,284 10,665 Multilevel 10,602 10,126 9,974 10,955 11,718 11,275 Open Hopper 38,996 40,165 41,211 40,854 40,482 39,668 Tank 35,278 39,188 39,787 40,172 40,448 41,196 Other 7,743 7,910 8,198 8,027 8,104 7,843 Total 182,504 190,406 193,063 193,377 194,505 195,295
tstage Or, would that still hold true for the modern prototypes, as well?
Larry,
Thanks for that info. One thing that isn't clear, however, is what are the different columns? Different weeks? Different regions? There's nothing in the heading to differentiate them.
I'd have to think the percentage would depend on the RR a great deal.
For example the D&RGW was a bridge route taking traffic from other connecting RR's and passing it on to another on the other side. So my guess is the mix of home road freight cars would be much lower than say 40%. When I look at historical photo's of D&RGW freight trains, that seems to hold true, only a smattering of D&RGW and a broad mix of other roads, perhaps weighted more in terms of friendly connections.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
A huge difference between older and modern fleets is the amount of private equipment. Using the NS as an example, and the UP on the AAR website, modern customers own or lease a far greater percentage of the freight fleet than in the past. UPs percentage approaches 70% private.
tstageOne thing that isn't clear, however, is what are the different columns? Different weeks?
Tom,Those are different weeks in the month.Its a FRA thing.
What is the date of these charts. The boxcar/intermodel #s seem way out of wack for starters. I do have limited knowledge and wish to be informed.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Brent,Here ya go..
BATMAN What is the date of these charts. The boxcar/intermodel #s seem way out of wack for starters. I do have limited knowledge and wish to be informed.
The modern boxcar story is confusing because it is incredibly regional. My railfanning is mostly the NS Pittsburgh Division or CSX in the national capital region. In Pennsylvania, there's almost no boxcars to be had. Here in DC, it is mountains of them. I recently saw a train of about 85 cars. My count put it around 30 boxcars.
I always try to include a few cars of the road name of the loco. As for the original question. I'm sorry but my knowledge of modern trains is null and void...
BRAKIE Brent,Here ya go.. Historical Average Week Ending 1Q17 Dec 2017 12/29/17 01/05/18 01/12/18 01/19/18 Revisions Cars on Line By Car Owner System 52,011 49,680 49,936 49,757 49,323 48,838 Foreign RR 27,518 28,200 28,255 29,258 30,319 30,274 Private 102,975 112,526 114,872 114,362 114,863 116,183 Total 182,504 190,406 193,063 193,377 194,505 195,295 Pct. Private 56.4 59.1 59.5 59.1 59.1 59.5 By Car Type Box 15,114 15,304 15,511 15,762 16,045 16,194 Covered Hopper 48,130 50,584 51,177 50,616 50,827 51,822 Gondola 16,438 16,809 16,896 16,724 16,597 16,632 Intermodal 10,203 10,320 10,309 10,267 10,284 10,665 Multilevel 10,602 10,126 9,974 10,955 11,718 11,275 Open Hopper 38,996 40,165 41,211 40,854 40,482 39,668 Tank 35,278 39,188 39,787 40,172 40,448 41,196 Other 7,743 7,910 8,198 8,027 8,104 7,843 Total 182,504 190,406 193,063 193,377 194,505 195,295 Train Speed (Miles per Hour) Intermodal 28.6 27.8 26.4 26.6 26.9 26.8 Manifest 21.1 17.8 15.2 16.8 17.5 17.1 Multilevel 22.7 19.3 16.4 19.3 19.4 19.1 Coal Unit 17.4 16.1 14.1 15.2 14.9 15.6 Grain Unit 18.2 15.6 11.5 14.9 17.8 15.8 All Trains 22.7 20.4 18.0 19.4 20.0 19.8 Terminal Dwell (Hours) Allentown, PA 24.8 28.9 38.3 28.5 26.1 25.9 Bellevue, OH 32.2 37.0 56.0 44.4 41.7 49.2 Birmingham, AL 31.1 43.4 66.6 56.0 48.0 55.8 Chattanooga, TN 31.0 51.0 69.4 59.2 53.8 61.5 Columbus, OH 23.2 38.0 47.4 52.5 33.0 78.1 Conway, PA 29.7 30.8 39.8 29.6 26.5 32.9 Decatur, IL 23.3 28.2 41.6 30.3 25.0 32.9 Elkhart, IN 32.5 34.3 42.0 36.0 29.8 35.1 Atlanta, GA 12.7 19.4 30.7 21.3 13.7 14.4 Linwood, NC 26.3 36.4 54.4 36.4 36.0 33.6 Macon, GA 27.4 40.3 58.2 43.5 42.0 46.6 New Orleans, LA 20.3 30.6 32.0 21.6 19.4 22.9 Roanoke, VA 34.5 33.0 39.6 28.7 29.9 29.9 Sheffield, AL 27.4 29.5 40.8 32.7 32.9 39.4 Entire Railroad 24.3 28.1 38.2 32.2 28.4 30.4 http://www.railroadpm.org/Performance%20Reports/NS.aspx
Thanks, Larry! That helps a lot...
riogrande5761 I'd have to think the percentage would depend on the RR a great deal. For example the D&RGW was a bridge route taking traffic from other connecting RR's and passing it on to another on the other side. So my guess is the mix of home road freight cars would be much lower than say 40%. When I look at historical photo's of D&RGW freight trains, that seems to hold true, only a smattering of D&RGW and a broad mix of other roads, perhaps weighted more in terms of friendly connections.
Even on the same railroad, there could be some real contrasts. The standard gauge main lines definitely reflect that assessment. If you look at the coal-generating branches, there's a story that varied a lot by era. They tended to have much higher % of home road coal cars back before the big lease fleet hoppers arrived on the scene. Now the lease fleet hauls a high % of that coal.
But if one looked at the Rio Grande narrowgauge, then home road cars are probably 95%+, the main exception being leased tank cars.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
kingcoal A huge difference between older and modern fleets is the amount of private equipment. Using the NS as an example, and the UP on the AAR website, modern customers own or lease a far greater percentage of the freight fleet than in the past. UPs percentage approaches 70% private.
Looking at the number of car shops that has closed or downsized over the years I've always suspect the railroads would like to get rid of their freight cars and let the lease companies furnish the cars.
BRAKIELooking at the number of car shops that has closed or downsized over the years I've always suspect the railroads would like to get rid of their freight cars and let the lease companies furnish the cars.
You also have to look at the car mix. The UP has over 60,000 more covered hoppers and 30,000 more tank cars because they serve more chemical and grain areas. Most of those car types are private owner cars. Their traffic mix lends itself to more privates. They also have more auto racks and intermodal cars and they are almost all private cars.
dehusmanThey also have more auto racks and intermodal cars and they are almost all private cars.
Maybe in the UP but,I see a lot of railroad owned autoracks in this area including some old SP racks bearing Southern Pacific with SP recording marks.
At near 60% private one can see the slow trend toward lease companies supplying the nations freight car pool-don't overlook those lease boxcars that's beginning to show up. Think of the money railroads would save by not having to maintain their own car fleet.
If you really want to read a eye opener read the special report in the January(2018) issue of Trains Magazine.
There was perceived to be a boxcar shortage in the early 1970's, and it's at that time you started to see the yellow Railbox boxcars, and smaller railroads (Middletown & New Jersey, Providence and Worcester) building large fleets of "per diem" boxcars.
What percentage of cars would be 'home road' in a train partly depends on what the railroad does. A shortline railroad, or a railroad dedicated to switching cars from railroad to railroad, like the Minnesota Commercial in the Twin Cities, or the Belt Ry. of Chicago, may own very few cars. A large railroad with many online industries may have many freight cars to serve it's many online shippers.
wjstix A large railroad with many online industries may have many freight cars to serve it's many online shippers.
We can't overlook the lease boxcars,coil cars,gons from GATX,CIT/CEFX and others.
You can go trackside and you never know what you will see as far as motive power. While railfaning this past Sunday the first two NS trains I saw had BNSF and the second had UP power and the third train had NS power.
Stix,I dunno,seems the railroads is sliding down a greasy tube to the hot place..
...in a handbasket.
dehusmanIf you are modeling before the 1960's, a typical mix might be 50% home road, 25% interchage roads and 25% others.
+1
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
I actually did a survey of all the cars I could identify in my collection of prototype photos and videos, all taken in the same general region and within a few years either way of my modelling date. This yielded hundreds of cars, a big enough sample for a very reliable breakdown both by car type and owner/paint scheme. So I can tell you pretty definitively that on the Santa Fe in Oklahoma in 1964, about 50% of the freight cars were owned by ATSF.
What this says about the UP in Nebraska in the 90s or Seaboard in the Carolinas in the 40s, I have no idea. Try using the photo survey approach yourself - it's fun and you'll notice all sorts of interesting and useful details.