# Determining Which Freight Cars Ran on Which Railroads



## ShockControl (Feb 17, 2009)

Is it easy or difficult to determine which railroads' freight cars were used on a particular railroad's lines during certain years? For example, if I wanted to know which railroads' cars I may have encountered on a B&O freight train in 1960, does this information exist someplace, and if so, is it readily accessible?


----------



## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

A mix of about 50% your road, 20-30% nearby roads and the remainder from elsewhere is a good roster. I assure you in the strongest terms that you would not have found BNSF, Penn Central or Conrail cars anywhere in a 60s era Beano freight... :laugh::thumbsup:


----------



## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Shay is right, as long as the RR was around in the time period, it's cars may be found almost anywhere in the country.


----------



## NW Class J (Nov 27, 2013)

You could also check prototype photos from the time period you are after, the photos are a huge source of information.


----------



## ShockControl (Feb 17, 2009)

Thanks, this is all very helpful.

So I don't have to worry about a southwestern freight car on a northeastern line. Not that I've ever lost sleep over this.


----------



## morland (Sep 25, 2012)

So another question related to this, is there a good website or book to identify the year or era of freight and passenger cars? For example I have some boxcars that have hatches on top, some that have walkways on top and some that have nothing on top. So are they from the 1940's, 50's, 60's, 70's etc?

-Trever


----------



## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Roof walks were banned after Oct, 1972, so anything without a roofwalk would come from around '67 forward. anything before the early 60s would have friction bearing vs. roller bearing trucks--roller bearing trucks have round caps at the end of the axles, frictions have rectangular ones. 40' boxcars have pretty much disappeared since the mid 90s and 50' footers are quickly following. Container trains exploded in the early 90s as well. Those would be the majors...the minors I leave to the rivet counters...


----------



## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

shaygetz said:


> Roof walks were banned after Oct, 1972, so anything without a roofwalk would come from around '67 forward. anything before the early 60s would have friction bearing vs. roller bearing trucks--roller bearing trucks have round caps at the end of the axles, frictions have rectangular ones. 40' boxcars have pretty much disappeared since the mid 90s and 50' footers are quickly following. Container trains exploded in the early 90s as well. Those would be the majors...the minors I leave to the rivet counters...



...and no cabeese after 1984...:smilie_daumenpos:


----------



## ShockControl (Feb 17, 2009)

morland said:


> So another question related to this, is there a good website or book to identify the year or era of freight and passenger cars? For example I have some boxcars that have hatches on top, some that have walkways on top and some that have nothing on top. So are they from the 1940's, 50's, 60's, 70's etc?
> 
> -Trever


Another indicator, other than the walkways on the boxcars, is the type of trucks. For example, 50-ton trucks, which had a different shape, were more common in the early- and mid-20th century. I think the use of 100-ton trucks became more common beginning in the 1960s or 1970s. (Correct me if I'm wrong).

Also, looking up railroad names in Wikipedia is very helpful in determining a railroad's years of operation, and also the years that particular logos were used.


----------



## dave1905 (Jul 7, 2013)

If you can read the data on the side of the car there will be a BLT, built date on the car. Cars last about 40 years.

The other issue is the paint scheme. Older paint schemes are more plausible than newer paint schemes. 

Another resource is the Official Railway Equipment Register. A list about the size of a large phonebook of all the railroad cars in service at the time it was issued. They are issued quarterly. Search E-Bay for an "ORER" for you era. They list the number series, AAR car type and the physical dimensions of each car. You can tell that the ABC 123456 was a 50 ft boxcar with a 10 ft door and capy of 70 tons, but not the make or paint scheme on the car.


----------

