Choosing the right rollingstock

[S Class]

Hi Guys

As I'm Aussie and I can tell bugger all about the subtle differences between most american rollingstock. It all frankly looks the same to me which brings forward the problem I'm asking your assistance on.

I want to build a layout set in NYC based in the 1980's. My main LHS has sold up in retirement and will be gone by end of April which means most of the stock has gone Dutch and will only get cheaper as time progresses I'm looking to start my acquisitions now, but basically the only thing I know is that I can expect lots of 50ft boxcars and I can go by paint schemes (Conrail, Penn Cent, BN, etc.) in getting period or near period correct items.

What I need to know is what sort of covered hoppers for grain, pressure hoppers for things like sugar/flour/plastic and tank cars should I be looking for and who makes them so I can put together a shopping list of appropriate items.

Tanks and things like the ACF centreflows really screw me up in ID'ing (I really wish a date of introduction was put on the box, hello Atlas?) so I would really need help there.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
Note: He also has a lot of stuff that may not be available in the US any longer, let me know if you want me to be on the lookout for specific items, it'll be Australian prices but most will be new in box.

[eja]

If you actually want to model in NYC (New York City and not New York Central), you need a lot of subway car passenger cars !

[nkalanaga]

Grain hoppers were usually the three-bay Center-Flow or the larger 3-bay ribbed side cars.  By then the smaller three-bay cars, such as the Atlas and Athearn 3-bay PS-2, were used for other stuff. 

Sugar and flour were often shipped in Airslide or other pressure-differential cars. 

The two-bay covered hoppers, by the 80s, were usually limited to dense materials, such as cement, sand, clay, etc.

Many plastics are in the 4-bay cars, such as the Atlas Trainman car, as they were even lower in density than grains.  However, the GN used these cars for grain loading, installing trough hatches instead of the round ones on the Atlas cars.

Tank cars depend on the density of the cargo, and can vary widely.  Almost any tank car made in N scale could have been seen in the 1980s, although the Micro-Trains and Intermountain "small" ones are older cars and may have been retired or relegated to company service.  I say "may" because most tank cars are privately owned and may not be retired as quickly as railroad owned cars.

[Nato]

                 The "Flexi-Flo" pressure aided hopper cars that Trainworx is about to release is from the era you want to model,they were first New York Central, then Penn Centrail,and finally some Con Rail as well as the private owner cars that Trainworx will be offering. Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

If I was independently wealthy, and didn't have to work for a living, I would make a website called the "N Scale Freight Car Project" that would be a database of N scale freight cars with Microtrains Release Report style info for each, that was easily searchable by categories like appropriate years and appropriate services.

Ahh, to have the time for that...

[jnevis]

ummm Ed, Spookshow has a lot of that put together already.

http://www.spookshow.net/trainstuff.html

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that!

It's a great resource for the basics, but I feel like a lot more info would be great too: proto photos, paint scheme listings and ATPs, etc...

Basically, that on steroids and bacon.

[ljudice]

check out  traintapes.com  (Big E Productions) - they make videos that show entire trains for 1-2 days at one location.

Very good resource for figuring out traffic, consists, etc...

[Alwyn Cutmore]

Tony,
I live in the great down under and model the road next door so if I can help you just PM me and I will assist where I can. What period are you modelling and the like. Your modelling period finishes on the same day as mine, 2 Feb 1968, that is when the merger took place and the unspeakable formed. Nearly as bad as NYC

With a call sign like S Class you must be from Victoria?????



Regards

Al

[chicken45]

Aww! Al found a new friend! 

[S Class]

With a call sign like S Class you must be from Victoria?????

*Cough*

Whatever gave you that Idea? 

Am I right in believing you're a banana bender like Leggy yeah?


I hadn't realised that the dates Mark had on the Ncyclopedia were the build dates of the prototype, I assumed they were model intro dates. That is good as a guide, though I do wish I had product numbers to go by as well, anyway I can put a list together. 

If you actually want to model in NYC (New York City and not New York Central), you need a lot of subway car passenger cars !

Awwwww man "Money Train" was on the other night, I would kill for some cheap R31's/33's/46's/60's

[Alwyn Cutmore]

I was thinking more Blue and gold with a bulldog nose. 

Yep hail from the wilds of the banana bending state.

When I am not making Australian trains I model the late great Pennsy.

See you in the soup