Online resource for era/timeline questions...

[Dave V]

You also missed CR being created, April 1st 76.

Also, in regard to the NP centerbeam info. Id rather know when the 70' cars became common than when the first small group of cars were made.

He didn't, it's there under 1976, far right, top of page.  It was the first thing I checked! ;D

[John]

You also missed CR being created, April 1st 76.

Is that significant?

[lock4244]

A couple of additions:

1999 - you list WC and AC as merging into CN, but in reality, AC had disappeared in the 1995 purchase by WC.

Cheers,

Kev

CN aquired WC in 2001.

[lock4244]

...given that I model Clinchfield in the 70s

I find it fascinating that you model CRR, considering Bluford makes the finest 86' autoparts boxes on the market... a car the CRR didn't own!

BTW, thanks for the July GTW cars... can never have enough of those. CPAA's in August?

[GaryHinshaw]

This is a very nice resource Craig, thank you for posting it. 

I have one format suggestion/request: it would be handy to have a fixed row of links to each page (~decade) at the top of every page, so us modern modelers wouldn't have to scroll and click through half a dozen pages.   [Unless you intended that.  ]

-Gary

[Ed Kapuscinski]

You also missed CR being created, April 1st 76.

Is that significant?

Eh, on second thought, not so much.

[sirenwerks]

Also, in regard to the NP centerbeam info. Id rather know when the 70' cars became common than when the first small group of cars were made.

Define "common"? Kind of a McDonald's approach to history, isn't it? Over 1,000,000 sold? They became common sometime after NP introduced them. Boom. There ya' are. Are we going to add when box cars became common? Tank cars? Flat cars?

[Bluford Craig]

Okay, regarding centerbeams, Seaboard Coast Line also got 70 centerbeam flats (and they look like 70 footers to me) in 1969 but 70 cars still qualifies as "rare" in my book. How many were in NP's 1969 fleet?  The CN cars I found from that year are actually bulkhead flats with a row of center posts (with no beam connecting the posts) so from a loading standpoint its the same thing but from a modeling one, probably not.

As for Algoma Central, WC did buy them but my impression was that it remained "Algoma Central Railway" until the purchase by CN. Is that not the case? Did they begin to paint AC engines for WC, because that should definitely be mentioned on the timeline.

Yes I do model Clinchfield but both Steve and I came to the conclusion long ago that its the rolling stock that YOU guys want that's important and not what we need for our personal layouts so we don't let that affect our project choices.  CPAA? really? The original brown with the silver door?

Craig
www.bluford-shops.com

[Mark5]

Also, in regard to the NP centerbeam info. Id rather know when the 70' cars became common than when the first small group of cars were made.

Stuff in here:

http://therailwire.net/forum/index.php/topic,20333.0.html

[sirenwerks]

Okay, regarding centerbeams, Seaboard Coast Line also got 70 centerbeam flats (and they look like 70 footers to me) in 1969 but 70 cars still qualifies as "rare" in my book. How many were in NP's 1969 fleet?  The CN cars I found from that year are actually bulkhead flats with a row of center posts (with no beam connecting the posts) so from a loading standpoint its the same thing but from a modeling one, probably not.

I think NP's roster was only eight cars in March of 1969, as it was a test of the concept, but it stands out because it revolutionized the means of rail transportation of a significant product class.

I have to argue this point because it begs to be argued, how does introduction of a paint scheme differ from intro of a car type? Should the former not be listed as when it became 'popular' as well, using whatever popular definition of 'popular' that has been ethereally assigned? History, IMO, is factual. Popular history is politics. Will we ignore history like Krauss-Maffei locomotives because they were never 'popular'?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

For the purpose of this list, I'd love to see the Kauss-Maffei locomotives ignored. I get the impression it's not supposed to be a comprehensive list of railroad history, but one that is targeted towards modelers trying to figure out the eras of things.

For example, now I know that if I were to model the 70s, I had better put nose ladders on my Fs.

But by pointing out NP having the first centerbeam car in 69, it doesn't help the guy looking at it on his iPhone while at MBK and trying to figure out if he'd too far off getting that bargain prices RC 3 pack of TTX centerbeams. THAT seems to be the point of this list, unless I'm incorrect.

[Bluford Craig]

For the purpose of this list, I'd love to see the Kauss-Maffei locomotives ignored. I get the impression it's not supposed to be a comprehensive list of railroad history, but one that is targeted towards modelers trying to figure out the eras of things.

For example, now I know that if I were to model the 70s, I had better put nose ladders on my Fs.

But by pointing out NP having the first centerbeam car in 69, it doesn't help the guy looking at it on his iPhone while at MBK and trying to figure out if he'd too far off getting that bargain prices RC 3 pack of TTX centerbeams. THAT seems to be the point of this list, unless I'm incorrect.

Yes that was my intention. After having read the suggested centerbeam thread, I think I'm safe in stating that Centerbeam flats began appearing in quantity in 1977.

Craig
www.bluford-shops.com

[jmlaboda - RIP]

Cab-unit ban?  Wonder if the Peoria & Western knows about this... could get them in trouble running their FP9s.

[cv_acr]

As for Algoma Central, WC did buy them but my impression was that it remained "Algoma Central Railway" until the purchase by CN. Is that not the case? Did they begin to paint AC engines for WC, because that should definitely be mentioned on the timeline.

The Algoma Central Railway name does still exist today for the passenger trains.

When WC took over in February 1995, all the AC diesels were immediately renumbered and had WC emblems placed on the nose and rear. Eventually they were all repainted into WC colours.
The exception is the AC F-units. They were aquired in 1995 and put into service _after_ the WC takeover. These were fully intended for the passenger trains and repainted into an AC scheme that matched the ex-VIA/CN passenger cars that had been acquired starting in 1992.

CN took over the WC in October 2001, and immediately retired all the F-units and ran everything with standard CN family power.

[cv_acr]

Actaully, it is true that when WC took over, the Algoma Central still had its own timetable. I have a copy of Algoma Central TimeTable No. 1 from 1995, the first WC era timetable. The previous timetable (the last actual Algoma Central timetable) was something like 157.