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Home vs. away reporting marks for N&W

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Posted by NHTX on Monday, August 27, 2018 1:25 AM

     In my reply via PM, the third paragraph should begin wit "Not".

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Posted by BigJim on Sunday, August 26, 2018 6:06 PM

kasskaboose
Gotcha. Where to put the layout along that line


What exactly are you wanting to do?
If it is strickly coal, anywhere between Bluefield, W.Va. and Williamson, W.Va. would be good. That is where the biggest concentration of coal mines/branch lines are located.

.

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Posted by kasskaboose on Sunday, August 26, 2018 1:57 PM

Gotcha. Where to put the layout along that line?

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Posted by BigJim on Sunday, August 26, 2018 1:12 PM

kasskaboose
or Waburgn, VA


That is Wabun and Wabun is only a curve or two from Glenvar and for all intents and purposes nothing is at either one.

.

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Posted by kasskaboose on Sunday, August 26, 2018 12:40 PM

Thanks for this helpful information.  Where to put the layout?  Should I shift it between Glenvar or or Waburgn, VA?  Both areas are between Roanoke and Bristol, TN. 

Thanks!

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Posted by BigJim on Saturday, August 25, 2018 10:22 PM

kasskaboose
Is there a suitable theory of "home vs. away" reporting mark for a layout depicting N&W in the early 1980s in southern VA (by Radford).

Well, first you have to understand that by the 80's, Radford was no longer on the coal hauling line between Roanoke and Bluefield. It is on the line between Roanoke and Bristol, TN. Except for maybe a few cars of coal for local customers, the Bristol line is all time/manifest freight, so, coal trains are out of place.

.

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Posted by dehusman on Saturday, August 25, 2018 4:18 PM

What do you need?  Do you have industries that use boxcars or industries that use hoppers?  Do you have staging tracks that can hold a solid coal train?  How long of a train can you hold on your layout?

 

Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com

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Posted by kasskaboose on Saturday, August 25, 2018 4:06 PM

I can't decide now between getting more N&W boxcars or hoppers.  The latter are a 50% more expensive on the HO swap site.  I have some boxcars, but hardly any N&W.  Should I bite the bullet and get more N&W hoppers?  I already have 10 and about eight non-N&W..

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Posted by kasskaboose on Saturday, August 25, 2018 4:04 PM

Perhaps I might have one or two non-N&W cars and the rest off the rails.  Of course I can put those cars in a yard or tipple to get picked up for future consists.  Ah, the possibilities!   

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Posted by dti406 on Saturday, August 25, 2018 2:16 PM

I used to drive by the lakefront docks in Toledo in the late 70's and early 80's and the yard which held all the coal cars for transhipment to the upper lakes by boat was made up of a lot of N&W cars. In the strings of cars I would see Virginian and NKP Triple Hoppers, but never saw a Wabash car. In each string there would be one or two Virginian and NKP cars but not very many, almost 100% N&W.

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Posted by dehusman on Friday, August 24, 2018 2:25 PM

The answer to any "should I get more cars" question is always yes.  Big Smile

Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com

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Posted by kasskaboose on Friday, August 24, 2018 11:53 AM

This is very helpful information.  Thanks!  I have very few coal hopper cars that aren't N&W.  They can still get added in a consist and no one will question the realism. 

Here's my coal hopper breakdown: 10 N&W, 1 B&O, 2 Clichfield, 2 RRR, 2 SOO, 2 SCL.  Should I only have the 10 N&W in a consist or add a couple of other lines?  Should I get more N&W coal cars?

 

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Posted by NHTX on Friday, August 24, 2018 10:23 AM

     A model based on the N&W of the 1980s may plausibly include cars from the Nickel Plate and Wabash as well as the Virginian which became a N&W component in1959 or 60.  The Official Railway Equipment Register, Vol. 103, No.3, issued January 20, 1988 lists a total of 98 cars still bearing VGN reporting marks.  An interesting note is, 24 of these cars are pulpwood racks, paying homage to an important secondary source of traffic in the mountainous regions the coal roads served.

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Posted by dehusman on Friday, August 24, 2018 10:12 AM

Normally the "classic"  1950's mix is 50% home, 25% direct interchange, 25% all other.  That would exclude coal trains, which as mentioned before would be virtually all N&W.  That mix can vary by the specific area of the layout and the mix of traffic.

A modern, 2000's era, layout would be 50% private owner, 25% home road, 25% other.  In the modern era private owner cars are waaaaaaaaaaaay more common.

The 1980's would be somewhere in the middle.  I would suggest about 20% private (tanks, covered hoppers), 40% home, 20% direct interchange, 20% other. A lot of it depends on if you have a lot of intermodal or finished auto business.  Then the private owner piece goes up because the TOFC/COFC and autos will be on TTX cars.

The caveat is the mix is entirely dependent on the traffic mix.  The classic example I use is Ft Worth, TX on the UP.  A main N-S route crosses a main E-W route.  But it would look like two different railroads.  The E-W route would be heavy on auto parts, intermodal and reefers.  The N-S route would be heavy on covered hoppers, tank cars and coal cars.

If you are modeling the N&W near Buffalo or St Louis, it will look VERY different than the N&W near Roanoke or Norfolk.

Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com

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Posted by 7j43k on Friday, August 24, 2018 9:33 AM

"Local" roads should certainly predominate, but there should be a diminishing number of farther-away roads, based on distance.

I photographed an N&W hopper in Oakland, CA in 1975.  For example.  It seemed rare enough that I photographed it, which kind of makes my point.

Of course, a lot depends on how much rolling stock you will have.  If you have 50 cars, and 80% is N&W, then that leaves 10 cars for not-N&W.  That small a number could certainly argue against one of them being SP.

 

Ed

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Posted by wjstix on Friday, August 24, 2018 9:30 AM

Probably N&W coal trains would have been 100% N&W cars unless they were part of a run-through agreement with a connecting railroad.

For general freight, 80% seems way too high. My guess would be having 20% of general freight cars being N&W, 40% connecting railroads (Southern, Chessie System) and the other 40% being non-connecting railroads (Conrail, ATSF, BN) would be more accurate. 

N&W would primarily be using their own cars for situations where both the company shipping the freight and the company receiving it were both located on the N&W. N&W wasn't a huge railroad geographically (compared to say Conrail or Santa Fe) so those shipments wouldn't have been going very far, only a few hundred miles. By 1980, they probably would be going by truck.

Stix
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Posted by DavidH66 on Friday, August 24, 2018 9:22 AM

Make sure to Have Southern freight cars too! Radford is up in Coal country so plenty of coal cars, I don't think any VGN cars would still be around by the 80s.

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Home vs. away reporting marks for N&W
Posted by kasskaboose on Friday, August 24, 2018 8:42 AM

Is there a suitable theory of "home vs. away" reporting mark for a layout depicting N&W in the early 1980s in southern VA (by Radford).  I have a few other reporting marks cars too--C&O, PRR, and Reading.  I figure that 80%+ N&W is a suitable representation.  What other reporting marks to consider that would appear (VGN since N&W bought it)?

In this part of the country, coal is king, so I have plenty of open-top cars.  I also have other industries represented (e.g., hoppers, boxcars, tank cars, etc.) in the sidings and yard.

Thanks,

Lee

 

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