Hi all, is there a list anywhere that sorts by Era? I like the way marklin has thier product labeled by Era. For a new person like me it is a chore to research every piece of rolling stock I see to detemine if it is in the Era I am going to model. A list of MTL and others by Era would be great. I have found some list's but they are very confusing.
In North America, we don't refer to railroading by "Era I", "Era II", etc. Maybe that comes from not having nationalized railways, so different railroads use different equipment, paint schemes, etc. at the same time.
Era's of US Railroading! I personally divide the era's into 5+1. The 5 are *Early Steam, *Late Steam, *Transition, *Early Diesel, & *Modern. The length of time varies for each era. The +1 is for narrow gauge like Logging! This is my personal table for gauging era's in the US! Hobo Tim
I was thinking along the lines 30's to 40's, 50's to 60's. 70's to 80's, something like that. 50's to 60's are what I would be interested in. The year that the stock was manufactured would be good.
I like the 50's best too, but I favored the last 20 years of the Northern Pacific, so that's from 1950 to 1970. NP ran steam longer than most railroads due to abundant cheap coal, but also had lots of early diesel too, so my favorite modeling era could be called the Transition Era.
Yes, as was said, I don't think Americans think in terms of Era as much as Germans do since there was so much variation from railroad to railroad. I think in terms sort of a combination between what Tim gave and by decade. You could add first generation, second generation, third generation and fourth generation diesel to Tim's list as well. Modern becomes a moving target over time. For example is early diesel just first generation? Does modern include the 1970's when we had locomotives that were a mix of first generation and some second generation as well as the beginning of the third generation that are still running on the rails today (at least as leasers). Fourth generation would be the new Tier II compliant locomotives like the SD70M-s (SD70ACe for you non-NS types ;-), GE GEVo's and Green goats and other variations like that. I think having standardized railroads makes it easier to know what's what, but that doesn't really apply to the USA (or Canada). For locomotives a good diesel spooter's guide will give build dates and some even show what's still in use today even if just on shortlines. For rolling stock you can also look at build dates on the reporting marks. On MTL cars, you can actually read the build dates (or rebuild dates), but may need magnification to do so. The UMTR (Unofficial Micro Trains Report) is a good source for historical data for MTL cars. Some car types like the new MTL PS-2 started being built in the 1950's I believe (with some simialr types earlier) and similar cars are still in use on the rails today. So a specific car might not be exactly appropriate, but something that looks very similar could be. Do you use it or not, depends on if you are going for an exact model or the right look. Hope this helps a little bit. Randy PS - John, what books were the diesel guides we were discussing a while back? I can't find mine in my mess of a basement right now. ;-)
Randy, how could you missplaced such a important book. My word. Well, the book is A Field Guide To Trains by Gerald Foster. It usually within two feet of me.
I know, I know. Luckliy my local library has a copy, so I check it there when needed. It is frequently overdue. ;-) The various Kalmbach Diesel Spotter's Guides are great too, but I find the Field Guide to Trains the easiest to use when trying to identify locos. Only problem is that it doesn't have anything newer than about 1993 or so. There are a few different versions of the Diesel Spotters Guides and the newer ones do not have the older locomotives in them either. I think there is the Diesel Spotters Guide, Diesel Spotters Guide Second Edition, Diesel Spotters Guide Update and then the current book which is called the Field Guide to Modern Diesel Locomotives (by Greg McDonnell). Note this last one is not the same as the Field Guide to Trains. Randy
Randy, after making fun of you, now I have to admit That I have misplaced my copy of Field Guide To Modern Diesel Locomotives, but it' s not my fault. My wife clean up my mess, and she doesn't know where she put it. She said something like " no mess on my house". I find booth books complement each other, because one uses drawings and the other uses photos to ilustrate the difference between locomotives.
Hah John, that's a good one. My wife won't even go in our basement because it's still yet to be unpacked from our move two years ago. If we just had about 200 SF more in the house, it wouldn't be an issue. Yes, I agree, the Kalmbach books do compliment well with the photos they have. I think the descriptions and history may be a little bit longer as well. Randy
As far as MT rolling stock goes, they generally describe the time frame that the livery was operated on the package. If you do not have access to the package, the UMTRR has the descriptions of the release on their website ( http://www.irwinsjournal.com/umtrr/ ) . The dates aren't in list form, but they can be found here. Dan S.
