Freight car type - breakdown by RR lines for 1940, 1950, 1960 eras

[Anonymous]

You also need to know which train you are trying to model. Scheduled trains usually had a distinct car mix and would make them easily distinguished.

A couple of examples that I know. The NE87/NE84 pair that ran on the RDG/LV/D&H/B&M was a southeastern to New England (thus the NE) train. It was always very heavy with CP, CN, CV, BAR, MEC, and SOU box cars. It also had quite a number of clay and bleach tank cars for the paper mills. The other example is The Bethlehem Star which the Reading ran from Rutherford to Bethlehem and back. It was completely consigned to Bethlehem Steel and the train consisited almost entirely of gondolas from RDG, LV, CNJ, PRR, and the Bethlehem Steel Roads. It also had a number of RDG covered hoppers (for the flux) and quite a number of B&O and WM open hoppers (for metallergical coal). Both trains could not be mistaken for any other.

There are lots of other examples, like RDG trains coming off of the Wilmington & Norhern Branch were full of chemical tank cars. Reading trains coming from the Newberry interchanges would have lots of NYC and EL cars. Certain Pennsy hotshots into Philly would frequently have one or more of the 87 foot long cattle cars, while others would never have a cattle car.

If you want to accurately model trains you need to get some train order sheets, or conductor's lists so you can see what mix of cars and roadnames were common on the trains you want to model.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by JimRCGMO

Somewhere a while back, I had run across some figures (percentages?) for what part of the cars on a railroad were from that RR line,...

[:D]
Jim ,
heres a copy of info from Steam Era Yahoo elist... trust it will help-
not of my making but a really interesting dissertation that I archived to make use of-

From: "Mike Brock" <brockm@...t>
Subject: Characteristics of RRs
Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2001 00:19:33 -0400
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Unsent: 1
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200

There was no such thing as a "typical" railroad for that would imply the

"typical" railroad to be merely the "average" railroad. So what you

really mean may be better phrased as a "multi-dimensional" railroad. So

let's explore a few of the statistical averages of a few

multi-dimensional railroads with the National average in 1947 and note

the differences between them. (I like to use 1947 because that year

combined civilian traffic with hardly any freight car surpluses.)



1947 AVG RR PRR NYC SOU UP AT&SF

% Car Miles Loaded 66.4% 66.9% 64.5% 70.2% 66.5% 67.6%

" - Eastbound 76.0% 81.6% 84.5% 83.9% 72.8% 69.0%

" - Westbound 56.9% 52.1% 45.7% 56.6% 60.3% 66.3%



% Loaded Car Mi - East 57.1% 61.2% 63.5% 59.7% 54.7% 50.5%

" - Westbound 42.9% 38.8% 36.5% 40.3% 45.3% 49.5%



Ton Mi/Loaded Car Miles 32.6 34.8 31.9 28.7 29.5 26.5

Cars per Train 52.3 58.4 57.1 36.8 56.4 54.6

Avg Miles Hauled 227 239 226 219 563 515

Avg Train MPH 16.0 13.5 15.4 17.1 20.0 19.6



Car Mi/Car Day 45.7 31.1 40.8 48.2 79.4 70.0

% Hours Cars Moving 11.9% 9.6% 11.0% 11.8% 16.5% 14.9%



%47 Roster/Cars on Line 92.2% 91.8% 83.7% 88.1% 81.6% 102.2%

" - in. Private Cars 106.3%

%Boxcars/Cars on Line 38.6% 30.7% 42.2% 47.0% 42.1% 44.9%

%Hop.&Gons/COL 45.3% 58.1% 38.7% 32.6% 23.5% 19.3%

%Reefers/Cars on Line 1.1% - - - - 19.1%

%Other Car Types 7.1% 3.0% 2.3% 8.5% 16.0% 18.9%



Home% Total Cars on Line 34.6% 44.8% 28.0% 27.9% 37.7% 46.1%



Because of the multi-dimensions of the five railroads listed above, any

analysis should be delayed until a comparison of railroads having fewer

dimensions are analyzed.



Perhaps, the most one-dimesional of all of the US Class I railroads in

1947 was the Duluth, Messabe & Iron Range. Well over 90% of its traffic

was hauling iron ore from the Iron Ranges down to Lake Superior and

hauling the empties back to the ranges. Because of incompatible brake

systems, most of their ore jennies could not interchanged without a

transition car.



Avg RR DM&IR N&W

% Car Miles Loaded 66.4% 51.3% 58.9%

" - Eastbound 76.0% 4.6% 58.9%

" - Westbound 56.9% 97.6% 58.9%



% Loaded Car Mi - East 57.1% 4.5% 50.1%

" - Westbound 42.9% 95.5% 49.9%



Net Tons/Loaded Car Miles 32.6 54.2 47.7

Avg Miles Hauled 227 77 280

Cars per Train 52.3 97.4 77.8

Avg Train MPH 16.0 17.0 16.0



Car Miles per Car Day 45.7 23.6 58.4

% Cars Moving of Total Hours 11.9% 5.8% 15.2%



% 1947 Roster of Cars on Line 92.2% 99.8% 168.2%

% Boxcars of Cars on Line 38.6% 2.2% 26.2%

% Hoppers & Gons of Cars on Line 45.3% 94.8% 138.8%



Home % Total Cars on Line 34.6% 96.8% 77.1%



The DM&IR ran long trains over a short haul at better than an average

speed - no local switching en route. The cars that they owned were

mostly dedicated to this service - no other railroad got involved until

the ore arrived at a port on the Lower Lakes.



The N&W is shown above because it depended, albeit not as completely as

the DM&IR, upon mineral traffic - a higher than average tons per car

ratio is an indicator of heavy mineral traffic. The prime difference,

however, was that the N&W coal was delivered to other railroads for

delivery to consignee.



Because of the delays in unloading off-line, the N&W had to own a lot

more hoppers than required daily on line. The N&W's lower than the

national average of percent loaded car miles (58.9% vs. 66.4%) is a

reflection that empty hoppers were difficult to reload in any quantity

with commodities which were useful at the mines. That the 50.1% of N&W's

traffic went north into Ohio and 49.1% went east to the Coast is because

of the central location of the mines on the N&W.



Both the DM&IR and N&W had high Net Ton Miles per Loaded Car Mile

averages when compared to the national average because of their heavy

mineral traffic.



When tons alone are analyzed, mineral traffic skews much of the analyses

and comparisons with non-mineral traffickers. A case in point is the

Great Northern with its ore traffic. In 1947, GN's Iron Ore Traffic

contributed 43.8% of the GN's Total Revenue Tons, 15.0% of its Revenue

Ton Miles (short haul), 7.8% of its Loaded Car Miles (heavier tons per

car), and 10.7% of its Total Car Miles (inability to reload the ore

jennies on their trips back to the ore pits). Below is a table

separating GN's Ore Traffic from the rest of the GN - the basis of

the Iron Ore data assumes that all of it is from the haul from the

Messabe Range to Lake Superior.



1947 AVG RR TOT GN GN ORE GN OTHER

% Car Mi Loaded 66.4% 64.1% 46.7% 66.3%

" - Eastbound 76.0% 93.1% 100.0% 81.1%

" - Westbound 56.9% 46.7% - 52.1%



% Load Car Mi - East 57.1% 63.0% 100.0% 59.9%

" - Westbound 42.9% 37.0% - 40.1%



Ton Mi/Loaded Car Mi 32.6 34.5 62.7 32.1

Cars per Train 52.6 57.3 NA NA

Average Miles Hauled 227 293 100 443

Average Train MPH 16.0 15.8 NA NA



Miles per Car Day 45.7 48.5 30.0 52.4

%Hours Cars Moving 11.9% 12.8% NA NA



%47Rost of Cars on Line 92.9% 90.1% 100.0% 88.1%

% Boxcars of COL 38.6% 52.7% - 63.7%

% Hops & Gons of COL 45.3% 26.1% 100.0% 10.7%

% Other Types of COL 8.2% 11.3% - 15.7%



% Home of Total COL 34.6% 41.0% 100.0%% 28.7%



Unlike the N&W, both the GN's and DM&IR's ore businesses were seasonal.

When the ore traffic was shut down during the winter, the DM&IR's

operating statistics resembled very much the Long Island RR's freight

operations.



The Long Island's freight operations amounted to little more than branch

lines which terminated more cars than they originated (68.0% of the

loaded car miles were eastbound from the mainland vs. 32.0% westbound).

The two largest manufacturers, Grumman and Republic Aviation, had other

means to ship their finished product. Accordingly, they ran short trains

(21.3 cars per train) at slow speeds (8.1 MPH) not very far (average

haul 18 miles). The average freight car moved only 2.3% of the time and

4.5 miles per day.



1947 Avg RR LIRR B&A NH B&M

% Car Miles Loaded 66.4% 56.6% 64.6% 72.0% 72.3%

" - Eastbound 76.0% 77.0% 96.0% 91.1% 82.3%

" - Westbound 56.9% 40.8% 34.7% 53.0% 61.8%



%Loaded Car Miles -East 57.1% 68.0% 72.5% 63.1% 58.5%

" - West 42.9% 32.0% 27.5% 36.9% 41.5%



Net Ton Mi/Load Car Mi 32.6 29.8 26.3 26.0 26.6

Average Haul 227 18 123 149 150

Cars/Train 52.3 21.3 35.9 53.5 51.6

Avg Train MPH 16.0 8.1 15.6 14.0 15.1



Car Miles / Car Day 45.7 4.5 31.2 30.8 43.9

% Cars Moving 11.9% 2.3% 8.3% 9.1% 12.1%



Roster % Cars on Line 92.2% 1.4% 37.3% 33.3% 49.7%

Box % Cars on Line 38.6% - 21.4% 21.0% 25.4%

Hop&Gons % COL 45.3% 1.4% 14.4% 11.2% 21.9%

Other Car Types % COL 8.2% - 1.5% 1.1% 2.4%



Home % Total Cars on Line 34.6% 0.9% 4.2% 6.1% 10.5%



Potatoes & canned goods made up 86% of carloads originated plus whatever

LCL cars were originated. These were primarily boxcar loadings on the

LIRR. What was the source of cars for the LIRR's limited originated

traffic? The owner, PRR, would be unlikely to provide empty boxcars if

some other source was available.



Commodities terminated included coal, lumber, cement and iron & steel,

the LIRR's four largest in 1947. The number of originated carloads could

easily be accommodated in lumber boxcars after unloading and cleaning.

Having to haul empty boxcars to Eastern Long Island caused the percent

loaded of total car miles to hover around 50%.



Where was the source of that lumber? On railroads like the UP and SOU as

well as others - these railroads whose boxcar traffic normally followed

the boxcar ownership distribution on their own roads subject to a slight

bias towards home road cars.



Branch lines having seasonal traffic like the DM&IR probably had many of

the characteristics of the DM&IR in season while resembling the LIRR in

the off-season. Included in this category would be branch lines in

agricultural areas moving livestock, fruit and vegetables or grain after

the harvest.



I suspect that many of the Granger roads owned enough boxcars to insure

a supply for the Grain Rush which they thought was a surplus. Throughout

the 1946-1948 period, RAILWAY AGE reported that there were fears led by

Senator Reed of Kansas of not enough boxcars for the Grain Rush: - any

surplus having evaporated with the reloading on foreign roads, and

entering the general service boxcar pool.



To combat this problem, the Car Service Bureau would order specific

railroads to return a specified number of boxcars to interchange points

empty. These "BC" orders had bite; the B&M was fined for not complying

with an order to return empties to the NYC and CP. To help comply with

this order, the B&M accepted 500 PS-1 boxcars at Pullman's Michigan City

IN plant with these PS-1 sent to the Chicago Area for their initial

loaded maiden voyage.



The difference between the East & Westbound Percent Loaded Car Miles on

the Boston & Albany (NYC's New England subsidiary) may be an example of

how most metropolitan areas terminated more traffic than they

originated. After all, coal, when consumed, goes up in the air; food

ends up in a sewer, and steel mills have slag piles. Did the parent NYC

have similar operating statistics from the Albany Area for their Hudson

Division Line to Manhattan and the West Shore Line to Weehawken NJ? With

a favorable trade balance in 1947, more traffic was delivered to ports

for export than imports received. Would the same phenomenon occur in LA,

San Francisco or Seattle? Inland cities had a through traffic which

would hide the operating statistics characteristics similar to the B&A's

experience in 1947.



While the New Haven's eastbound loaded percent (91.1%) was less than the

B&A's 96.0%, their westbound 53.0% swamped the B&A's 34.7%. The B&A was

a linear railroad with a very limited branch network, while the New

Haven was territorial in nature having a rail monopoly in New England

south of the B&A line. Throughout the New Haven territory were

manufacturing cities where, while many raw materials were imported, at

least some finished product was shipped by rail either in carload lots

or LCL - the New Haven was one of five railroads in 1947 which

originated more than a million tons of LCL. The other four were the PRR,

NYC, B&O and SOU.



The New Haven's total roster was only a third of the total cars on line

with less a fifth of that third being on line. The bulk of the supply of

boxcars for LCL came from incoming LCL cars although some of the supply

came from emptied boxcars carrying carloads of which there was an ample

supply. LCL was a major contributor to the high percentage of loaded car

miles throughout the nation.



The prime difference between the B&M and New Haven besides size was that

the B&M was the conduit for traffic to or from Maine - major commodities

produced in Maine were paper and potatoes.



Based upon a model of B&M's freight car utilization using operating and

freight statistics in 1946-1948 era, the percentages of cars on line by

car type are estimated to be roughly the following:



Total Cars on Line 12,373 100%

B&M Cars on Line 1,305 11%

Foreign Cars on Line 11,068 89%

12/31/1947 Roster 6,141 50%



Cars on Line - Estimate 12/31/1947

1947 B&M Foreign Total Roster%COL

Boxcars 1% 54% 55% 25.4%

Hoppers 7% 18% 25% 9.5%

Gondolas 2% 6% 8% 12.2%

Reefers <1% 5% 5% 0.2%

Tank Cars - 5% 5% -

Flat Cars <1% 2% 2% 2.0%

Stock Cars <1% <1% <1% 0.1%

Covered Hoppers <1% <1% <1% 0.2%

Pulpwood Racks <1% <1% <1% 0.2%

Total 11% 89% 100% 49.7%



(NOTE - Estimate above is for all of the B&M. Around Boston, the home

road percentages would be higher than those on the West End around

Mechanicville, the largest interchange point on the B&M.)



The B&M required their own hoppers in order to load Pocahontas coal

brought to New England by ship for consignees and B&M engine terminals

inland. There were some gondolas which were transferred temporarily to

MOW service, some of which remained being treated as cars on line.



That does not leave many B&M boxcars to be on line. It was not unusual

for a B&M boxcar to be away from home for four years - the B&M boxcar

yo-yoing around the country with loads originated and terminated on

other roads. To supply boxcars for originated loads, the B&M had to use

empties - too many which caused the "BC" order. These boxcars came from

the national pool which included, by the way, the 500 PS-1 the B&M

acquired in 1947 as well as more than 2,000 other B&M boxes. The B&M

owned 0.4% of the total boxcars nationally; still, there was the home

road bias of B&M boxcars at home being roughly 2% (1 in 55) vs. the 0.4%

(1 in 250) of the national pool.



The third dimension would be the roads which specialized in the through

haul. The classic example of this would be the RF&P: - the bridge line

between the Northeast Coast and the Southeast Coast between Washington &

Richmond. Our problem is that the RF&P was not included in the OPERATING

STATISTICS until 1958. Substitutes would be the Cotton Belt (SSW) and

CNO&TP, Southern RR's bridge between Cincinnati and Chattanooga. Western

Pacific is included because their long average miles hauled put

them into this category which countered the percentage of time spent

loading and unloading cars.



AVG RR SSW CNO&TP WP

Loaded Car Mi% Total 66.4% 75.9% 77.6% 77.4%

" - Eastbound 76.0% 79.0% 78.1% 66.7%

" - Westbound 56.9% 72.7% 76.9% 86.9%



% Loaded Car Mi - East 57.1% 53.0% 53.4% 40.4%

" - Westbound 42.9% 47.0% 46.6% 59.6%



Ton Mi/Loaded Car Mi 32.6 26.6 26.0 29.4

Cars per Train 52.3 51.9 44.9 56.1

Avg Miles Hauled 227 371 202 449

Avg Train MPH 16.0 19.4 21.5 20.2



Car Mi/ Car Day 45.7 97.5 76.9 91.6

% Hours Cars Moving 11.9% 20.9% 14.9% 16.8%



%47 Roster/Cars on Line 92.2% 72.3% 172.9% 85.9%

% Boxcars/Cars on Line 38.6% 56.8% 72.3% 35.4%

% Hop&Gons/Cars on Line 45.3% 7.2% 98.2% 25.5%

% Other Car Types/COL 8.2% 11.9% 2.0% 24.9%



Home % Total COL 34.6% 16.8% 6.8% 41.4%



The daily average of car miles per day on all three railroads exceeded

the "average RR's" by a wide margin. Not much time was spent by the

average car loading or unloading.



73.7% of the CNO&TP's tonnage was bridge line traffic (received from

connecting RR's and delivered to others). How this translates into cars

is difficult to assess exactly, but the national average "received &

delivered" tons was less than 20%. CNO&TP's parent, the SOU, apparently

used the subsidiary's balance sheet to supply cars - this accounts for

CNO&TP's 12/31/1947 roster being 172.9% of total cars on line. In the

ORER's, all of SOU's subsidiaries were listed in the SOU's pages with no

differentiation in reporting marks.



SSW's percent of Home Cars on Line were low because the SSW did not own

many hoppers and gons. SSW's Hoppers & Gons were primarily in local

service rarely straying far from home. The WP's home road percent was

greater: - one of the reasons being a higher percentage of hoppers &

gons owned than the Cotton Belt.



The WP's net directional loaded car flow westward can be interpreted as

feeding the Bay Area's metroplex - the difference between the WP and B&A

being that the Central California agricultural area created eastbound

traffic versus the relative lack of westbound traffic on the B&A on

account of the B&M and NH garnering a greater share of the LCL

business.



Returning to the five "multi-dimensional" roads, the comparisons may be

more subtle than the subsequent roads discussed, but each have some of

the three characteristics (originating, terminating and through)

discussed

subsequently.



1947 AVG RR PRR NYC SOU UP AT&SF

% Car Miles Loaded 66.4% 66.9% 64.5% 70.2% 66.5% 67.6%

" - Eastbound 76.0% 81.6% 84.5% 83.9% 72.8% 69.0%

" - Westbound 56.9% 52.1% 45.7% 56.6% 60.3% 66.3%



% Loaded Car Mi - East 57.1% 61.2% 63.5% 59.7% 54.7% 50.5%

" - Westbound 42.9% 38.8% 36.5% 40.3% 45.3% 49.5%



Ton Mi/Loaded Car Miles 32.6 34.8 31.9 28.7 29.5 26.5

Cars per Train 52.3 58.4 57.1 36.8 56.4 54.6

Avg Miles Hauled 227 239 226 219 563 515

Avg Train MPH 16.0 13.5 15.4 17.1 20.0 19.6



Car Mi/Car Day 45.7 31.1 40.8 48.2 79.4 70.0

% Hours Cars Moving 11.9% 9.6% 11.0% 11.8% 16.5% 14.9%



%47 Roster/Cars on Line 92.2% 91.8% 83.7% 88.1% 81.6% 102.2%

" - in. Private Cars 106.3%

%Boxcars/Cars on Line 38.6% 30.7% 42.2% 47.0% 42.1% 44.9%

%Hop.&Gons/COL 45.3% 58.1% 38.7% 32.6% 23.5% 19.3%

%Reefers/Cars on Line 1.1% - - - - 19.1%

%Other Car Types 7.1% 3.0% 2.3% 8.5% 16.0% 18.9%



Home% Total Cars on Line 34.6% 44.8% 28.0% 27.9% 37.7% 46.1%



The much longer hauls of the UP and AT&SF led to having operating

characteristics similar to the so-called "bridge lines" such as the

Cotton Belt (SSW) and CNO&TP. That the AT&SF included their SFRD reefers

in their roster while the UP did not include its share of PFE was the

principal factor in the differences in the percentage of the 1947 roster

and home car at home as a percent of total cars on line. Another factor

was the UP serving as a bridge line between the SP and Chicago which

increased the miles per car day. The AT&SF had a more balanced

directional flow than the UP because:



1) The grain hauled from the Kansas could be hauled to Chicago on Santa

Fe's rails while the UP had to interchange their grain at either Council

Bluffs or Kansas City.

2) The AT&SF had a larger share of the terminating market in the LA

metroplex than did the UP.



The lower than average ton miles per loaded car mile ratio of both roads

indicates that both roads had less than average mineral traffic in 1947.

The Pennsy's tons per car ratio of 34.8, however, was higher than the

national 32.6 average. Their low 31.1 miles per car day (only 68% of the

national average) was not entirely attributable to greater

loading/unloading times in the mineral trade. The PRR owned too many

cars; within two years, their roster fell from 225,769 cars owned on

12/31/1947 to 197,397 on 12/31/1949, a 12.6% decline - 10.4% decline in

boxcars & 13.2% in hoppers & gons. Much of this decline was due to

retiring finally relics of a by-gone age. A good portion of these relics

were not used in interchange service in 1947 meaning that the home road

cars on line were "padded." Instead of the 44.8% reported, the

serviceable PRR cars on the PRR would be reduced to 39.5% and car miles

per day increased to 34.5 miles per day - still significantly different

from the national averages.



Interplaying with these averages is the fact that the PRR only

originated about a half of their total coal tonnage meaning that they

did not have the hopper supply/ownership problem that the N&W had which

led to N&W-owned hoppers & gons being in excess of 100% of the daily

average number of cars on the N&W. A lot of the PRR hoppers appear to

have been employed in the relatively short haul business which increased

their loading/unloading times in proportion to moving time in contrast

to the longer average haul of the N&W hoppers.



The large differential (38.8%) between the NYC's east & westbound

percent car miles loaded (85.5% vs. 45.7%) is less than the B&A's

differential (61.3%), but is higher than the average. This may be a

confirmation that the NYC south of Albany including New York City

originated little westbound traffic.



While 1947 was a year in which there was a car shortage, 1949 was a year

of recession which created car surpluses. By 1951, however, the economy

strengthened again partially due to the outbreak of the Korean War. The

effect upon the Average Railroad in this five-year 1947-1951 cycle is

shown in the table below - the most significant being the car miles per

car day cycle and the fluctuation in the percent of Home Road Cars on

Line:



AVG RR 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951

Percent Car Miles Loaded 66.4% 65.6% 63.7% 66.0% 66.0%

" - Eastbound 76.0% 74.1% 71.9% 72.9% 73.3%

" - Westbound 56.9% 57.2% 55.7% 59.0% 58.8%



% Loaded Car Mi - East 57.1% 56.3% 56.2% 55.2% 55.4%

" - Westbound 42.9% 43.7% 43.8% 44.8% 44.6%



Net Ton Mi/Loaded Car Mi 32.6 32.9 31.3 31.6 32.9

Cars per Train 52.3 53.8 56.2 57.9 60.2

Average Miles Hauled 227 224 228 229 232

Average Train MPH 16.0 16.2 16.9 16.8 16.6



Car Miles per Car Day 45.7 45.3 40.3 43.6 45.0

% Hours Car Moving 11.9% 11.7% 9.9% 10.8% 11.3%



% Roster/Cars on Line 92.2% 92.5% 92.0% 91.9% 92.3%

" - in. Private Cars 106.3% 106.5% 106.0% 105.9% 106.4%

% Boxcars Owned/COL 38.6% 37.8% 38.2% 38.8% 38.6%

% Hop & Gons/COL 45.3% 45.9% 46.5% 45.9% 45.7%

% Other Car Types/COL 8.2% 7.9% 7.8% 7.9% 7.9%



% Home Cars on Line 34.6% 39.4% 51.2% 42.2% 38.7%



In 1949 with the economy in Recession, there were not enough loads

available to reload foreign road empties so those empties returned home

in order to avoid per diem charges. This empty car movement is reflected

in the dip in the percent of car miles loaded. Mineral Traffic appeared

to be affected more than Other Traffic because of the decline in Net Ton

Miles per Loaded Car Mile from 32.9 in 1948 to 31.3 in 1949. Because

cars were in surplus, they were not moving causing the decline in both

Car Miles per Car Day and the Percent Hours Cars were moving.



In late 1948 in early 1949, per diem was increased from $1.15 to $1.75.

This increase, however, had minimal effect in the increase of Home Road

Cars on Line to 51.2% in 1949 because, when the economy started to pick

up again in 1950, the percent of Home Road Cars on Line began to

decrease although not to 1947 levels when there was a severe car

shortage.



The slight overall increase in the percent of Loaded Car Miles Westbound

from 1947 to 1951 is a reflection of the southern and western economies

growing faster than the northeastern one. The overall 1947-1951 increase

in Cars per Train, Average Haul and Average Train Speed may be

attributable to two factors - dieselization and less local freights

being operated - I have no way in determining how much of each.



The distribution of foreign cars on line by car type by owner will be

discussed later. In the meantime, I would appreciate any legitimate

questions, challenges and comments about this general material.
Thank You,
Tim Gilbert
---

[Anonymous]

Hi Jim,
well at least you have the right kinda 'puter... [:D]

Apart from a basic starting point for a completely new, unresearched or fictional model railroad, the data looks like bunkum to me...
>44.0%--Boxcar ---------------22%----------11%---------6.6%------4.4%
is just a linear extrapolation of extremely subjective/ or at least selective representation and unlikely combination. There are significant defects in the 'assumptions made' like most rr didnt own [many] tank cars, shippers did; a lot used leased reefers and had no own-named stock, etc. and as you've said takes no account of regional differences...
great discussions on the Yahoo groups about the PRR gons fleet, where reefers got to in the East, why loaded coal hoppers passed each other in Pens. etc.
I think you're better off without that particular info jim,
regds
dave

[JimRCGMO]

Finally found the figures I had on the distribution by (general) kinds of freight cars for time periods, and the usual portions by Home RR line, primary connecting line, secondary connecting line, and other lines. Never did find out where I got these breakdowns, so take them with a grain (or two) or salt, and adjust as you see fit. As others have already mentioned here, the figures are different with lines where there is a very dominant type of industry (such as DM&IR, etc.)

In the first (Early 1940’s) ‘table’, I’ve put the calculated percentages for each car and line, but it shouldn’t be too hard to have a spreadsheet set up to calculate things for you. Put an entry area near the top (of the ‘table’ for your RR’s time period) where you can plug in how many total cars you want/have for you, and let the spreadsheet calculate what the numbers of cars for your line, the primary connecting line, etc. will be (how many boxcars in your line, how many boxcars for ATSF (if that’s your primary connecting RR), how many SP boxcars, how many D&RGW, etc. The column for your Home RR will be 50% of the total (leftmost column) of that type of car (boxcar or hopper, or...), and the Primary column will be 25% of the car type total, the secondary line’s column will be calculated at 15% of the leftmost column’s number of cars of that type. For the others, I just listed the breakdown by percentage totals for the types of cars

So, hope this will make it easier to ‘see’ what I was writing about:

Early 1940’s: [Total # of cars here]
Percent (of total cars)-----------------------Connecting lines
-----------Type of car-------Home RR-----primary-----2ndry------Other
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
44.0%--Boxcar ---------------22%----------11%---------6.6%------4.4%
20.0-----Hopper---------------10%-----------5%----------3%--------2%
0.5-----Cov. Hopper---------0.25%------0.125%----0.075%----0.05%
17.0-----Gondola--------------8.5%---------4.25%------1.7%------1.55%
7.0-----Refrigerator----------3.5%---------1.75%-----1.05%-----0.7%
6.0-----Tank car--------------3.0%----------1.5%-------0.9%------0.6%
5.5-----Flat car---------------2.75%--------1.375%----0.825%---0.55%
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(100%) Totals< - - - - - - - - (50%) - - - - - (25%) - - - (15%) - - (10%)


Late 1940’s: [Total # of late 1940’s cars here]
Percent (of total cars)
Type of car
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
20.0 Hopper
3.0 Cov. Hopper
15.0 Gondola
8.0 Refrigerator
6.0 Tank car
6.0 Flat car
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(100%) Totals

Late 1950’s
Percent (of total cars)
Type of car
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
39.0% Boxcar
21.0 Hopper
6.0 Cov. Hopper
14.0 Gondola
6.0 Refrigerator
8.0 Tank car
6.0 Flat car
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(100%) Totals


1960’s
Percent (of total cars)
Type of car
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
38.0% Boxcar
22.0 Hopper
7.0 Cov. Hopper
12.0 Gondola
6.0 Refrigerator
8.0 Tank car
7.0 Flat car
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(100%) Totals

If I had Excel, I’d just set up a spreadsheet template for you (but I don't use Excel). Of course, if you use a Macintosh and have AppleWorks, I can send you a spreadsheet with the calculations built-in. Let me know which time period you want it for in your email.

As has been discussed, if you have a specific line you're following on your layout, use a historical society or one of the industry's books/figures to go from. These figures were useful for me because I'm freelancing a short line.

Hope that is of use to someone else out there looking for a starting point for quantities of different cars and lines for your layout.

Blessings,

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by DSchmitt

You can crunch statictics about car types and ownership all you want, but that will never tell you what mix you should have to be prototypical at a given location (or even a general area) and time period.

[:(]Yes you're right. The figures stated would have been gross generalisations anyway as the volatile 40's included specific cause and effect of where cars would be- economic, military, legal, car type shortages, expiry periods and operational interventions ALL impact on a month to month, year to year and seasonal basis.

HOW MANY types of car a road owned bears a POOR RELATIONSHIP to WHERE those cars may be found, except as cited for very sepcific reasons and periods (i.e. dates).

I monitor about 25 rr related yahoo elists/ groups as well as here and other forums and am amazed at, tho not surprised (as I am a stats man anyway), the 'dipersion of cars' and causes of it.

Soome groups to join and search for selective data would be
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/STMFC/
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/wplist/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nscale1930-75/
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CBQ/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/citrusmodeling/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Reefer-madness/

hope this helps your search,
dave
[:p]

[DSchmitt]

You can crunch statictics about car types and ownership all you want, but that will never tell you what mix you should have to be prototypical at a given location (or even a general area) and time period.

The only reliable data would be the actual train consists and switch lists. This info can be hard to find but some is available. There are also some railfans who occasionally record car type and/or reporting number information on trains they see. I have also seen videos which show an entire train.

The relationship between railroads which interchange may be cooperative or competing depending on the location and type of traffic and specific industries served. This affects the mix of car ownership that would be seen. Railroads don't want to give business to a competitor. As observation, in no way definitive, in the early 1980's, I saw a few SP cars on the WP and can't remember ever seeing a WP car on the SP although they could interchange at numerous points. Also I don't remember seeing a WP train with anything close to 50% home road cars. Some but not all SP were probably well over 50% home road if you count subsidiaries.

[ericboone]

I've heard a good rule of thumb was to have 50% home road cars and 50% foreign road cars.
For the types of cars, especially if the railroad you model is regional, the home railroad's ratio of car types would probably be representative of the ratios of foreign road cars on the line as the industries on the line will drive that freight car ratio type and the home road will have cars in line with the industries they serve. Of course, this is just a generality. I would assume that this does not apply to coal and iron ore hoppers. Those cars would be mostly from the roads that service the mines.

[jimrice4449]

But would the data be useful? I assume you would want to build your car fleet in a prototypical ratio of car types but different roads would have different mixes. I would guess that the DM&IR is 90% or better ore cars and that coal pipelines like the C&O, N&W and L&N would have a far greater proportion of hoppers than, say, SP or Santa Fe.

[SSW9389]

The information you are looking for is also in Moody's Transportation Manuals and Moody's Steam Railroads. These large hard bound books may be available at larger reference libraries.

[JimRCGMO]

QUOTE: Originally posted by orsonroy

In a general sense, the annual ORER's are what you're looking for. These listed the number and types of cars each railroad owned during that year.

...<snip>

As an alternative, the NEB&W website lists compilations of this same data on their website:
http://railroad.union.rpi.edu
It's a pay site, but full of more information than you can buy in the printed word for it's annual fee. Join monthly, and it's the cost of a magazine.

Thanks, Roy, but those would only list for one RR at a time - the info I recalled showed it in terms of something like this (say for 1940's in this example):
-------------(such as, ATSF)---(like SP, UP, WP)
----------------Main road---------Connecting road------Other roads
Boxcars-------52%-----------------29%----------------------19%
Flatcars-------47%-----------------32%----------------------21%
...

(etc.)

The figures I recall having found showed what the usual distribution by lines was - within each time period, by each type of car.

Still looking... [sigh]

Blessings,

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[orsonroy]

In a general sense, the annual ORER's are what you're looking for. These listed the number and types of cars each railroad owned during that year. They're great references, but aren't online. Westerfield sells several of them on CD-ROM, and the NMRA has two published in book form. The originals are getting pricey.

As an alternative, the NEB&W website lists compilations of this same data on their website:
http://railroad.union.rpi.edu
It's a pay site, but full of more information than you can buy in the printed word for it's annual fee. Join monthly, and it's the cost of a magazine.

[JimRCGMO]

Somewhere a while back, I had run across some figures (percentages?) for what part of the cars on a railroad were from that RR line, what were from immediately connecting (secondary) lines, and what part were from other lines. The figures I had broke it down by boxcars, flats, hoppers, etc. - general car type - and had percentages for the 1940's, 1950's and 1960's (with different percentages as the years progressed, natch).

Anyone know where that information can be found? Preferably, I'd like something online rather than one more book I have to buy (since funds are very limited currently). I was looking for the figures to have more realistic composition of the types of cars on my layout. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. Or if someone from Kalmbach is reading here, there's an addition to your Freight Cars book... (hint, hint).[;)]

Blessings,

Jim in Cape Girardeau