Locomotive Maintenance

First post in February, shooting for once-a-week minimum for now.

As I mentioned in my last post, I picked up two DL-109s at Springfield. One of them had a modified roof, the other Tsunami sound. Together they give me an operating locomotive for 131/136 until I complete my models.

One of them was sold as having the "correct roof." Dale came across the model and sent me a picture, and I could tell what was done. Winterization hatches were added and then the roof repainted. For a truly accurate roof for this locomotive (0702) and era there's more to be done, and it doesn't address any work on the pilot. But for a quick fix to get a locomotive running it's great.

I've owned over a dozen of these models over the last decade. I've bought and sold them many times. They are the locomotive that pointed me to a road and era. I could easily pick up a few of the other paint schemes and do the same thing, since there are four different paint schemes that are in use during my era prior to them being rebuilt.

Here are three models. The one on the bottom is unmodified. The center is the new model with the "correct roof" which has the winterization hatches installed. The top is the shell I've been modifying. It lacks the new winterization hatches, but you can clearly see the other modifications made to the roof. It still needs two square vents that are above the engineer and fireman's doors.

All of these modifications can be made to the roof without impacting the main paint scheme of a factory decorated model. It won't matter if the green is 100% correct because the roofs got black very quickly and will be weathered accordingly.

The rest of the modifications are the pilot, and I haven't figured out the best way to do that just yet. One of the changes would require repainting the locomotive altogether so would be avoided. But I think I could do the other modifications easily enough and still keep the factory decoration intact. So those may happen sooner rather than later on the other ones.

For now, this one is the current model. The problem is, it's not running great. It stutters and stalls, and there is a loud buzzing of some sort near the front.

The first step, of course, was to clean the wheels thoroughly. I have the Woodland Scenics Roto Wheel Cleaner for just this purpose. I use odorless mineral spirits to wet the pads and then run at high speed in both directions, dragging it back and forth in the process to make sure they are really clean.

That didn't take care of the buzzing and all of the performance issues, so time to take a look inside.

The installation was done with a homemade speaker enclosure, which was rubbing against the drive shaft. This was creating the buzzing and may have caused some of the performance issues too.

An easy fix was to build a spacer of scale 6"x6" styerene. I also filled the open screw holes in the speaker and a few other holes in the enclosure with Aleene's Tacky Glue. I'm not sure it made any difference in the sound since noise cancellation caused by the soundwaves from the back of the speaker is complex, but it's good practice anyway to have a properly isolated enclosure.

I used a couple of pieces of Kapton tape to ensure the enclosure didn't lean into the drive shaft or gear tower and to secure the wires.

That resolved the buzzing and 99% of the performance issues too. Although this has electrical pickup on all six axles, there's a good chance that the axles and wipers could use a cleaning. I'll give it a chance to run for a little while, and take a closer look at those if I need to in the future.

One funny thing is that the locomotive is programmed without any momentum at all. It is really strange after all this time to be running a locomotive that instantly stops at 0 speed step. I'll need to reprogram that, but apparently for this older Tsunami I'll need a programming booster to do that. I haven't set it up on a programming track to see if that would work, since I don't have a dedicated programming track. 

Berlin

We were able to get together at Chris' last night for the first in-person NHRHTA Photo Library in over a year. So it seemed like an appropriate time to share a photo or two.

Most likely another Kent Cochrane shot, this time at Berlin c1947.

DER-1 (DL-109) of an unknown road number since this particular scheme didn't have it on the nose. It's on the westbound (southbound) Springfield mainline.

Also of interest is the NYC covered hopper S81352, and just behind that you can see the turnout that firms the west end of the house track and a runaround. What's not clear in this picture is that the track the car is sitting on also curves toward New Britain, which is the actual west leg of the wye.

You can see the tracks in the valuation map below:

The track to the north is the Berlin Line, heading to New Britain. Toward the northeast is Hartford, and southwest is New Haven.

This is the line that is still in use today, and is always an important part of operations on my layout. the NY/YN trains come up the Berlin Line from Cedar Hill, and in later years so does the New Hartford Local. 

This photo I've shared before of YN-3 being hauled by I-4 1367. Yes, an I-4 on a local freight...

Interestingly, the car on the pilot is a PRR X26, a USRA single sheathed car. Available soon from Rapido. The car in front of that is a little shorter, but of similar construction. I can't place it, though. 

I initially thought this was on the west leg of the wye, but upon closer examination of the map and the aerial photo below I determined that was incorrect.

It's actually on the east side of the station, facing eastbound. 

Here's the same train on the eastbound main in front of the station:

Still can't make out the single sheathed car (and indeed, I don't know the sequence of photos. So that could be an entirely different car before or after any switching has occurred). The L&N car is interesting, though. The Murphy end and the inset side sills betray its heritage from an earlier era. The L&N had a large fleet of 1924 ARA Standard XM-1 single sheathed box cars built between 1924 and 1930. Starting in 1939 and through 1941 they rebuilt the majority into steel cars with the same dimensions as the current 1937 AAR Standard. A spacer with 3 additional ribs was added to the top of the ends. A resin kit was produced by Sunshine (64.10-13) for these cars.

Here's the train heading westbound toward Cedar Hill:

Although I've shared these three photos before, they are great shots. This time it's definitely a different single sheathed box car. The angle brace on the door is mounted lower than the other photos. I haven't been able to identify the cars in this shot, but it's representative of the great mix you'd see in the late '40s. 

It's harder to see which tracks remain in use in the 1951 aerial:

But it appears all the primary tracks are in use. It really doesn't look all that different in 1965:

It appears all three tracks on the west side are still in use. If you look carefully, you can also see that there are several cars in Berlin Construction (or whatever the industry was in 1965), accessed via a switchback track that we see the I-4 using in that earlier photo.

Most of those buildings are still there today:

Note that only the east leg of the wye is still in place. The Springfield main was re-double tracked over the last few years. Unfortunately the station, which had been renovated, was destroyed by fire several years ago.

At one point I wanted to model the Berlin wye. The idea was to have a loop of track around a room as the Springfield main/staging. That way I could have the long passenger trains behind DL-109s, plus the trains coming up to New Britain. I could conceivably have modeled Newington Junction further to the east as well. I didn't have room for this, but Chris' Saybrook scene is basically the same concept.

It was the valuation map/aerial photo that clued me into how much space I would need to model just this scene. The wye is huge.

Is it the Highland?

Last week I posted two photos of the Comet in an unknown location, but looks like it may be on the Highland somewere. The primary clue is the line poles on both sides of the track, and their configuration. The general topography and scenery also resembles some areas on the Highland as well.

However, the double track configuration threw me, since this looks like it should be someplace west of Terryville Tunnel, and that was single tracked long before the Comet ran on the Highland Line.

I still don't know exactly where this is, but I no longer think they are on the Highland. I found some other pictures that look like the same location, and unfortunately all of these negatives are damaged. All appear to be Kent Cochrane photos.

Here's a double-headed train led by DL-109 No. 741 in the same location with a good size passenger train. The first car is a combine, and I don't have any records of a combine, nor is there any reason for a pair of DL-109s to be running on the Highland in this era. 

I-2 class 1312 with a short passenger train, with a stainless steel coach on the front. Again, no record of a stainless car ever running on the New Haven except. Bob Vancour pointed out the stainless car is probably dead-heading, since it's in front of the baggage cars. 

Lastly, here's a pair of PAs, led by 0768, again with stainless steel cars. I have no record of PAs running on the Highland, and in this era they were almost all assigned to Shoreline trains, including the most prestigious ones.

No dates on any of these, and they aren't necessarily all from the same day, although they could be. Only the first 10 PAs, delivered in 1948, wore the Hunter Green and Warm Orange pinstripe scheme, and were repainted in the early '50s to match the additional 17 delivered in 1949 in Pullman Green and Imitation Gold. I don't have any specifics on when that repaint happened, but the last photo is most likely c1949-51(?).

Without anything else to go by, the best guess right now is that this was on the Shoreline, someplace in Rhode Island. If you can identify it more precisely, let me know!

DER-1 (DL-109) Locomotives

 OK, I won't be getting to finishing these yet, but in response to a recent Facebook post and to help a modeling buddy, here's some detailed info on these locomotives and what I'm doing to model them.

DER-1 (DL-109) 0703 on train 136 at New Britain Station. Kent Cochrane c.1945.

The DER-1 locomotives were built for the NH starting in 1941. While there were 74 closely related locomotives built by Alco between 1939 and 1945 of the models DL-103b, 105, 107, and 109 (along with B-unit models DL-108 and 110), only 62 of model DL-109 were built, and 60 of those were for the New Haven Railroad.

I've been compiling information and documenting photos for an eventual Shoreliner article (by me, or anybody who would like help writing it). The information I've been able to glean is a little different from what's been published to date.

The New Haven simply called them by their road numbers (the 0700s) until 1944 when a new classification system was introduced at which point the DL-109s were designated DER-1 locomotives with the following sub classifications in the 1945 Description of Locomotives:

• DER-1 - 0700-0709
• DER-1a - 0710-0719
• DER-1b - 0720-0729
• DER-1c - 0730-0759

Between the 3/30 and 6/30 1949 Summary of Equipment documents the classifications changed:

• DER-1a 0700-0709
• DER-1b 0710-0749
• DER-1c 0750-0759

However, the 1949-1951 engine assignments differ and list them as:

• DER-1 - 0700-0709
• DER-1a - 0710-0719
• DER-1b - 0720-0759

But the Summary of Equipment documents classify them as:

• DER-1a - 0700-0709
• DER-1b - 0710-0749
• DER-1c - 0750-0759

So what is different between the classes? That I don't know. I have seen one drawing that identifies the clearance below the frame to be different between the DER-1 and other classes. The weight differs between some of the classes too.

Most of the differences are probably mechanical and not evident to modelers. What has me the most curious is that there were still 3 classes after they were all rebuilt, so obviously some differences remain (although the fact that the post-rebuild classifications are inconsistent between the engine assignments and equipment summaries is curious).

So I'll identify the locomotives by road number, rather than class to keep things simple here. I'm primarily focusing on how I'm modifying the Proto shells, but I'll point out a few issues with the Overland brass models as well. I don't have the Hallmark brass model, but the nose contour was so incorrect it's not one I would use as a base.

I'm not covering converting the Proto model to the rebuilt configuration. Dave Messer wrote an excellent article for Railroad Model Craftsman in the January 2006 issue. Joe Smith has a post about his conversion, which also includes modeling the new nose of 0727 as a B-unit.  Of course, the easier option is to use the Overland Brass model, which is what I'm doing.  

Roof

The original roofline has a series of vents that are mostly, but not quite, captured by the Proto 1000 model. Good photos that show the roof in detail are rare, unfortunately, so this is what I've been able to figure out. The original 10 locomotives did not have winterization hatches, but they were all added well before my era. Mike Redden updated his excellent Shapeways parts at my request so they now fit over the round fan housing on the model.

Version 1: 0700-0719

Some minor modifications are needed for this class of locomotives. I have not added the winterization hatches yet to these models, the first ten were delivered without them, but all received them long before my era:

There are four small raised vents/intakes (I don't know what they are) in front of each fan housing. Remove the first two by carefully scraping them off with a blade. You want to keep them intact because you'll need one of them. Cover the hole with .005" styrene.

Go easy on the solvent, I used a little too much and the cover deformed a bit.

On the rear of the roof you need to remove the two round protrusions, then add another cover the same width as the existing one with .005" styrene:

I could have sworn I took a picture cutting off the round parts, but I can't find it right now. On the lower picture, I tried embossing rivets (a Joe Smith technique) by putting the .005" styrene over a line of rivets somewhere else on the model, but it didn't work very well for me. You'll also see that I removed the small vent/intake, and used some .005" styrene to create a base to remount one of them a little father forward. On one shell I added styrene underneath the hole, the other shell I've left open.

You'll notice on one of the shells I removed the fan housings. I was using Mike's older winterization hatches which required that. I may drill them out because the new ones are see-through.

There are at least four lift rings yet to be added, on the large panels near the fan housings. I'm still trying to determine if there were more. There are some other details (mushroom-shaped vents on the roof just behind the side doors, as well as some sort of vent that angles toward the back near each fan housing. I'm still looking for better photos of those. I'm also not 100% clear about the arrangement of the final roof panels behind the second fan housing.

This roofline is correct for the first 20 units (0700-0719). Much of what has been published indicates the second group (0710-0719) had a simplified roof line, but pictures verify they were the same.

Overland 6312 labeled for 0700-0709 is appropriate for all 20 of these locomotives.

Overland 1993 is labeled as a DER-1b for 0710-0749, but is actually appropriate at least for 0750-0759, and potentially for 0739-0759. 

Version 2: 0720-0729(?)

I haven't attempted to model any of these locomotives, but they require more extensive roof modifications.

First, not only are all four of the vents/intakes in front of the radiator fans not present, it is just the two large panels, with no indication they were there. So instead of covering up the location of two of them, you'll need to remove all four in each section, then fill and file the whole panel so it is smooth (except for the rivets around the outside of course).

The two scoops next to this panel also need to be removed, as does the mushroom vent above the fireman's and engineer's windows.

Next to each radiator fan there are two vents molded into roof. Those need to be filed away and replaced with a drop grab.

Version 3: 0730(?)-0759

The earliest road number I've documented with these modifications is 0735. The major difference is the two globe vents in each of those large panels in front of the fan housings/winterization hatches. It appears some of the units had the globe vents removed at some point.

Sides

There are louvres on the side under the first and last windows on the right side, and in the same location on the left side, ignoring the extra window behind the radiator shutters. 

Version 1 (0700-0719)

There is a pair of louvres. 

Version 2 (0720-0759)

On later units there are three louvres, but...

A photo of 0720 in New Haven Diesel Locomotives Volume 2, it has only a pair of louvres in the delivery scheme. (There is a photo on pg 16 that says it is 0735 that also has two louvres, but the caption is wrong. It has to be 0700-0719 based on the roofline). So I'm not sure how many of this class had two, rather than three louvres.

The other variation is how visible the two vertical lines of rivets between side panels are. In some photos they are very evident, others they seem to be non-existent.

Trucks

There are two variations of the trucks, with noticeable flanges along the equalizers on one variation. There really isn't much option other than modifying the model trucks. But photos also show that the trucks seem to have been switched among locomotives, with the same road number being photographed with either, and in some cases, one of each. I will look closer at these details when I get to that point.

Pilot Details

The cut out for the coupler is oversized. I addressed this by first gluing a piece of thin styrene behind it, covering the entire hole. I then filled the actual hole with several strips of styrene and filed to shape before cutting out a new hole.

I still need to add the small steps at the corners of the pilot, along with the grab irons. This will be 0703 so it doesn't need the air intakes (see below).

There were also two different types of number boards, the original cast ones, and (starting with 0730?) later 'built-up' ones. I haven't determined if/how I will address this.

Air Intakes

0700-0719 lacked the small square air intakes on the nose that are on the later locomotives.

Decorative Flair

The nose of most of the locomotives had a curved flair that lead into the original striping on the nose. However, like so many things with these locomotives, there are some oddities. Initially, I thought it was the last ten (0750-0759) that lacked this decorative touch. Then I find a photo of 0750 with it after the rebuild. Also after the rebuild, 0739 is clearly lacking it, although 0738 and 0740 both have it.

Paint Schemes

In the post-war era, the DL-109s were repainted in several different schemes. I've been working to document each road number that wore each scheme based primarily on photos, but also what little documentation we've been able to find. I've noted the date of the documented photo where known.

Delivery Scheme

There are a couple of locomotives that appear to have retained their delivery scheme possibly until they were rebuilt. For a stretch, though, they didn't apply a road number to the nose so in many photos you can't determine the road number.

These are locomotives that I haven't documented in another paint scheme, or the latest year noted that I have seen a photo in the delivery scheme, to give some context for a later scheme:

0710

0715

0717 (1946 - although see below for the Hunter Green and Warm Orange scheme)

0718

0722

0723 (1947)

0725-0726
0727 (1948) 
0730 (1947)

0731-0734
0735 (1946)

0736-0737

0738 (1946)

0739

Hunter Green with Wide Silver Gray Stripes

This was an early pinstripe variation c1944. Only a few have been documented in this scheme, with a color photo of two unknown road numbers in New Haven in Color Volume 1 (Doughty):

0704 (1945)

0705 (1945)

0706 (1944)

0713

0714 (Nov 1945)

Hunter Green with Pinstripes

There are two variations of this scheme, one with Imitation Gold pinstripes, and the other with silver gray pinstripes. The pinstripe scheme itself was first applied c1945, but which one? It is unclear as to when each variation was applied, and the published material is inconsistent. 

The photo of 0748 in the centerfold of Shoreliner 18.1 looks a lot like Pullman Green with Imitation Gold pinstripes. This would be consistent with the other schemes utilizing Imitation Gold, but some of the other color photos look more like Hunter Green.

The photos don't really clarify things, though. All of the photos with Imitation Gold are 0749 or lower, and the majority of color photos of the silver gray are 0752 or higher. This might lead one to believe that the Imitation Gold was the earlier scheme applied to the earliest locomotives built in 1945 (0739-0749), and silver gray to the final 10.

But we have an undated photo also found in Doughty's book of 0747 in the silver gray pinstripes (we also have one of 0745 in silver gray), and a 1949 photo by John Wallace of the same locomotive in Imitation gold. It wouldn't have been repainted later in '49 without being rebuilt, so the silver gray must have been the earlier one on this locomotive. I know John personally, so I don't doubt the veracity of his date. So the mystery remains.

The only thing I can say is that no color photo of a DL-109 higher than 0749 has surfaced with Imitation Gold pinstripes, and I think it's clear based on the Alco builder's photos that the locomotives built in 1945 were delivered in pinstripes, although I haven't found a photo of 0739 yet. 

Suffice to say, I would rely on photos for this scheme in particular. For my model of 0703 based on a 1946 black & white photo, assuming it was repainted c1945 (since the CT Hat Company in the photo is gone by 1946). I'm going with the silver gray because I think it was more common, and I like it better. But it very well may have been gold...

Verified with Imitation Gold pinstripes

0701 (c1947) 

0702

0720

0740

0747 (1949)

0748

0749

Verified with Silver Gray pinstripes 

0719 (and most probably 0718)

0744 

0745-0759 delivered in this scheme

Pinstripes, but color unknown

These are locomotives that have been documented with pinstripes, but only in black & white photos so I don't know which color:

0700

0703 (1946, 1947)

0704 (1946)
0706 (1946)
0724
0743
0744 (1949)

Hunter Green and Warm Orange

A signature scheme, and the delivery scheme of the first delivery of PA-1s along with the FA-1/FB-1 locomotives. Presumably this became the standard at the same time as the FA-1s c1947. Fortunately it's easy enough to pick these out, even in black & white photos.

You may note that most of the first 20 DL-109s were repainted in either pinstripes or the Warm Orange scheme. At least one was repainted in both schemes (0718). This makes sense as they were the earliest DL-109s built and had already logged a lot of miles during WWII. Why some of the later locomotives, including some built in 1945 would have been repainted in this scheme is unknown. 

Minor Rebuilds?

What has not been mentioned in any publication that I've seen is that any of the first 20 locomotives (0700-0719) that received this scheme were also modified. When they received this scheme they also received the simplified roofline (version 2) and additional louvres and the nose air intake that were on 0720 and later, although no globe vents. 

The earliest locomotives rebuilt with steel sides and screens instead of windows also wore this scheme. I've notated those that have been verified below. This should have included 0740, the first locomotive rebuilt, although it retained its original appearance with windows rather than the screens of all of the other locomotives.

Question marks in the list below denote those that should have received this scheme based on records on when they were repainted, but have yet to be verified by photos. Nearly a third of the DL-109s received this scheme.

0707 (may be 0717, poor scan of photo)

0708

0709

0711

0712

0713

0714

0716

0718 

0757 

0730 

0736 

0757 

 Naturally I would recommend that you model from photos, particularly if you can find one from the era you are modeling. 1949-50 provides the most variations, where all of the following can be found:

• Delivery Scheme
• Hunter Green with Imitation Gold pinstripes
• Hunter Green with Silver Gray pinstripes
• Hunter Green and Warm Orange
• Hunter Green and Warm Orange with rebuilt sides
• Modified Delivery Scheme with rebuilt sides
• Modified Delivery Scheme with road number on nose and windows
• 0722 with rebuilt sides in the Cranberry scheme (after May 18, 1949)

The only schemes not in use during these two years are the wide pinstripes, and the McGinnis scheme that was only applied to 0759 c1955, plus the PP0716.

If you're really ambitious, 0727 received its unfortunate nose-job in 1949, along with 0725 without the drastic modification, to be used as a middle unit on the Merchants Limited and Yankee Clipper. Joe Smith did a fantastic job of modeling 0727.

In my case, I'll be starting with:

• 0700 - assigned to 131/136 post '49, and I know it was rebuilt/repainted in May of '49.
• 0703 - photographed on 131/136 in 1945, I'll use it through '48 in the silver gray pinstripes.

If I get to others, I could use:

• 0707 - also assigned to 131/136 post '49, rebuilt September '49
• 0730 - assigned to 157 in 1949, rebuilt in June '48 so it should be the Hunter Green and Warm Orange.

Building a Roster: What is Rare?

K-1-d #404 with World of Mirth train in New Britain.
August 1940. Kent Cochrane 

A question was posted in response to a post by Marty McGuirk on the Modeling Steam Era Freight Cars blog some time ago. The post itself is regarding the percentage that each road comprises of a study of box cars through White River Junction, VT over several days in 1954.

The statistics are quite interesting, with 50% of the 3,605 box cars that were documented in those days. Marty included a pie chart along with a list of almost all of the reporting marks and their individual percentages.

Simon Dunkley questioned why the list showed that 50% of the cars were CN, but the pie chart shows at least 60% of the cars were CN.

The answer is simple - Marty only included the Top 10 roads in the pie chart. In which case the CN accounts for nearly 68% of the cars.

Ignoring the rest of the roads, no matter how small of a percentage of the total, skews the numbers. 

Individually, the roads represent what might be viewed as "statistically insignificant" in many cases. But collectively, they account for almost 27% of the cars during those days. I think it's important to remember that.

Freight Car Syndromes

I think it was John Nehrich that coined the "Pickle Car Syndrome." His point was that people like unusual cars (like pickle cars), and so they are overrepresented on our layouts. In general, I agree with this.

A related syndrome is "RTR Syndrome" in that we also overrepresent cars that are most easily acquired. I have far too many 1932 ARA Box Cars. Atlas made it simple by releasing the model with 10 different prototypical variations, covering nearly every one of the 26 roads that rostered the cars. So I have at least 10, probably more.

But for a prototype with around 15,000 total copies, I probably should only have 1 or 2 on the layout at any time. But because the current size of my roster is barely enough to cover a given operating session, almost all of them are on the layout during that session.

Many modelers combat this by determining how many cars they need of a given prototype (of the roster of box cars in 1950, for example, the 1932 ARA box car accounts for about 2% of the entire fleet of North American Box Cars. So out of 100 box cars on the layout, two of them should be 1932 ARA box cars. So they decide which two to purchase, and that's it.

This approach is often combined with a similar look at a given road's roster. For example, you might determine that you only need 1 box car owned by the New Haven railroad. They accounted for less than 2% of the national box car fleet. The obvious choice would be a 1937 AAR box car, since that was the most numerous box car owned by the New Haven Railroad in 1950. But they also owned PS-1 box cars, and more interestingly, 10' IH PS-1 box cars. What do you do?

This is where I think we fall victim to the "36-foot Double-Sheathed Box Car Syndrome."

In our quest to build a more "realistic" roster for our layouts, and ignoring budgetary concerns, we often restrict ourselves from purchasing rare cars, or too many cars of a given road, prototype, whatever. A number of studies have been done on 36-foot Double Sheathed box cars, which would seem to indicate that in 1950 your typical layout should have only one or two.

In 1950 only 8% of the national box car fleet were less than 40' in length, and of those, 71% were CN or CP Fowler single sheathed box cars. So in theory, out of 100 box cars, you need 8 cars less than 40-feet in length, and 5 or 6 of them should be Fowler cars, and 1 or 2 of them double-sheathed box cars.

The problem is, for many of us those specific 36-foot Double Sheathed box cars are always on the layout. Let's say it's an D&H car, F&C makes four variations of this car. There were about 1,000 still in service in 1950, or 0.1% of the national fleet. 

In our attempt to show that short double-sheathed cars are rare by only having one or two in our roster, we have instead given the impression that the D&H short double-sheathed car is relatively common in small numbers. Why? Because it's always on the layout.

This is a similar problem as reducing a list of approximately 60 road names with little representation, to a Top 10 list. We've skewed the numbers. In fact, by attaching hard numbers to several days' worth of data is undoubtedly skewing the numbers as well, almost certainly in favor of the CN and CV in that particular study.

A Cure?

So what do we do? Well, in terms of a study such as the one Marty references, that's among the best we have. So it's a great starting point. If we're modeling a specific prototype like New Britain, I can also look at the industries themselves to help determine appropriate roads based on prototypical offline industries. I can go further and look at the traffic on the through trains, and their origination and destination.

With the Waybill studies that have been done by others, plus other resources (such as American Commodity Flow published in the early '50s) I can see where the bulk of inbound cars are coming from with loads for CT. All of this helps.

But what do we do with this actual data? First, understand that nearly every box car that is owned in 1950 is fair game. This is part of your roster. If you want one 1932 ARA box car for each road that owned one, that's great. The more the better. 

Because what you roster doesn't have to be the same as what you run.

Sure, if you have different operators at every session, then you can run the same cars representing the same day every session. I would like more variety than that. I'm already accounting for changes over the years by building structures that can be swapped out as needed. Autos can be changed, and the era was a busy time for building new freight cars showing the evolution of freight cars in this period. And the New Haven not only retired steam in this era, but their diesel acquisitions were so rapid that the motive power changes on almost an annual basis during this time too.

The data from studies like the one Marty references is fantastic for populating your operating session from your larger roster of freight cars. I classify cars as common, uncommon, and rare.

Common cars are the ones that should not only appear in every session, but probably in quantities greater than one. In my case that includes PRR X29 box cars, NYC USRA-design steel box cars, and CN/CP Fowler box cars, among others. 1937 AAR box cars in general also fit this category. This also includes roads themselves, such as PRR, B&O, NH, CN, CP,  NYC, etc. in my case. For these handful of prototypes I need to figure out roughly how many (usually 2-3) would appear in any given operating session and make sure I have enough quantity to meet this demand. These cars account for about 50% of those in a session.

Uncommon cars are those that should appear in most sessions, but rarely in quantities of more than one or two. In Marty's post this comprises the roads that have a greater than 1% distribution. These cars account for about 25%. The quantity refers to the roads as a whole, individual cars may be different prototypes from the same road, or even the same prototype if there is a large amount of a single type of car on that road. Most of these cars will appear every few sessions.

Rare cars are those that shouldn't appear in every operating session. Or everything that is less than 1%. Of a given road or prototype, there probably shouldn't be more than 1 per session. This is about 25% of the mix based on Marty's post. These can be just about anything. While these make up a sizable portion of what's in the mix on the layout, a given car might appear very, very rarely.

DER-1 (DL-109) locomotives with Strates train at Whiting Street Yard.
June 1949. Kent Cochrane.

So the example of this post are some circus trains in New Britain. In various books are photos of the Ringling Brothers train in New Britain too. But there won't be a circus train every session. Maybe not more than once or twice a year. Most likely one will be used for my more seasoned operators, since they will tie up a lot of yard tracks making regular work more complicated. Otherwise they will be display and photograph models.

Another example is the PRR X30 box car. These were built specifically for servicing American La France in Elmira, NY to deliver fire engines. Sometime c1950 New Britain received new fire trucks, at least two, a pumper and an aerial from American LaFrance which were probably delivered in one of these box cars. The pumper is very similar to the Sylvan Scale Models 700-series open cab model. Corgi makes (made?) an American LaFrance aerial that could be a good starting point. The Jordan fire truck looks a lot like an earlier truck that was still in service as well. There is a fire station next to the police station on Commercial Street across from New Britain Station, so these are models that I'll be able to use. Of course, the station itself will be a flat, but the models being delivered in an X30 box car would make for an interesting photo too.

So buy or build whatever you want. Personally, as a freight car enthusiast, I want pretty much anything that is appropriate for my era that I can get. That's great. Because a larger roster allows you to more accurately populate your operating sessions.