Researching 1950 to 1952

[rrinker]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cjcrescent

Jimbo;

Have you tried locating an ORER or Official Railway Equipment Register for the years in question? This has invaluable for me to get car series numbers, type of car (AAR designation), length, wideth, height, weight capacity, door opening size etc. It may not have pictures of the cars but for other information it can't be beat.
Plus rrinker almost had it right, try this, its a good site,
http://www.steamfreightcars.com/

That'll teach me to type them in rather than visit the bookmarked link I have and using cut and paste. [:D][:D]

[orsonroy]

OK, online resources for researching the early 1950s:

http://railroad.union.rpi.edu/
Do not pass go, do not collect $500...this is THE single best resource online for researching freight cars from 1900-1960. Period. It's a pay site, but for $5 a month, you get access to one of the best researched and documented (and illustrated!) "book" on general freight car design, history, and modeling either online or in print. While not every single freight car ever built is covered, the vast majority are. Not only is there a large section on prototype cars, but there's an index to almost every HO scale model ever made, what it was decorated for, and whether or not it's a prototype for anything (and if so, what). This website will answer 85% of all your questions.

http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/
This is the second largest collection of railroad images online, and the most searchable. Once you've spent some time on the RPI site (above), familiarizing yourself with freight car design and appropriateness, you use the Fallen Flags site to fill in your freight car photo collection. While the site concentrates on the post-1960 railroad scene, there is a wealth of steam-era photos buried there as well. For example, the owner of the site spent the better part of the last two months loading 1900-1945 freight car builder's photos, over 300 in all.

http://photoswest.org/
This is the Denver Public Library's photo collection. Tens of thousands of photos and documents scanned and put online. While low res (you're supposed to buy hi-res prints from them), this site is an invaluable resource for period photos. While it's primarily a site for western history, there's a LOT of stuff on it from the midwest and east. I wanted to see what Peoria, IL looked like in the 1940s, and found several dozen images!

http://www.loc.gov/
The Library of Congress' site has hundreds of thousands of documents and images on it. It takes a lot of time to dig through, but there are real gems to be found. How about over 100 photos of Chicago railyards in 1943, in COLOR?

After these three sites, you may not NEED any other online resource. But if you find yourself interested in any specific railroads, chech out RR historical society websites. While most are sparce, they'll lead you to sites with other information on the specific railroad, and will show you places to ask questions. Consider joining at least one of these historical societies as well, since they're all volunteer organizations, and operate on a shoestring budget.

In addition, don't overlook the huge online resource of the Yahoo Groups. There are hundreds of special-interest railroad and modeling sites in the groups, and it's well worth joining several and just reading.

Ans after all this information overload, there's still what's been published in book form. While it gets expensive to collect EVERYTHING ever printed on even one road (books on the Pennsy reach over 1000), buying a few targeted books will really help expand your knowledgebase, especially considering the fact that most RR info is still NOT online. If the proto research sickness has really hit you by this point, you might want to consider collecting official RR paperwork for the information it contains. There's a healthy subhobby that trades copies of this sort of information.

Happy hunting!

[Fergmiester]

You could try a used book store as some can be a wealth of older books on Rail Roads. One author is Ron Ziel, he's written several books that are heavy on the steam photos.

[twhite]

Jimbo: Take a look at the Accurail rolling stock, they've got a really great selection of pre and post WWII boxcars, cattle cars, hopper cars and reefers. I remember outside-braced boxcars and wooden reefers in the early '50's, they were still fairly common, especially out here in the west. Walthers has some good post-war cabooses RTR, and Red Caboose has a line of gondolas that are perfect for the era. Actually, there's a real plethora of late-steam era freight equipment out on the market now, just don't let anyone at your LHS try and talk you into Hi-Cubes or Double-Stacks.
Tom

[cjcrescent]

Jimbo;

Have you tried locating an ORER or Official Railway Equipment Register for the years in question? This has invaluable for me to get car series numbers, type of car (AAR designation), length, wideth, height, weight capacity, door opening size etc. It may not have pictures of the cars but for other information it can't be beat.
Plus rrinker almost had it right, try this, its a good site,
http://www.steamfreightcars.com/

[Anonymous]

Thanx. Familiar with the BLT and NEW numbers. Trying to assemble some images to save for reference while collecting what I need. Been working out of country forever and am jumping back into the hobby. I'm collecting goodies while I await for my layout space. Consider this signed as IMPATIENT! Heh heh, thanx again Herr dehusman.

[dehusman]

Anything labeled "war emergency" would be appropriate. Almost any 40 foot boxcar. Virtually all of the 50 ft "smoothside" boxcars. Any of the Bowser Pennsy cars. Any of the Atheran, Atlas or Accurail twin hoppers. The Bowser covered hoppers. Any riveted tank car (except for the MDC old timer). Any gondola except the Walthers 65 foot or the MDC 50 foot gon. Virtually any steel ice reefer.

When you buy a kit look for a small label on the car like "BLT 4-49" or "NEW 5-48" and buy cars with dates from 1915 to 1952.

Dave H.

[Anonymous]

Doing western stuff. I grew up around the SP and am sticking with Harriman. Love those SP locos! I am centering around the smaller engines and am hauling all kinds of freight to include agricultural, mining, and lumber. I wi***o be able to include a variety of interline stock as it carries product from the west.

[Anonymous]

Danke for your reply. Howsomever..."page not found." I've done a lot of looking on the web and haven't given up. Perhaps I'll find some neat stuff and provide a link to y'all. Jim, CEO of Chugach Northern.

[M636C]

Jimbo,

Can you give us a few more clues? What prototype road's locos are you using? What part of the country is your railroad located? Are you after details of freight cars only or are you also running passenger trains?

If you are using locos from one of the big Eastern roads, NYC, Pennsy, C&O, you could do a lot worse than find the books by Al Staufer - "Pennsy Power" and so on. These have numerous photos of trains in the era you are interested in. Some books, like the Staufer New Haven book, illustrate the pasenger cars of the era, the Pullman built cars known as "American Flyer" cars (because AF modelled them early on).

Peter

[rrinker]

Did you try steamerafreightcars.com?

[Anonymous]

Modeling late steam in this era. I'm OK on locos but need real help on the approrpiate rolling stock. I'm shortline subsidiary of larger line but it ain't real rich. Where can I find info. So far the www hasn't yielded much. Books, links, etc. all welcome. [:D]