Prototype Interest 3 - Class of railroad

The third area of consideration in Prototype Interests is Class of Railroad. In the United States, railroads are designated as Class I, II, or III, according to size criteria first established by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) in 1911, and now governed by the Surface Transportation Board.

The ICC classed railroads by their annual gross revenue. In 1956 Class I railroads had an annual operating revenue of at least $3 million (equal to $27,646,267 in 2018). The ICC counted 113 Class I line-haul operating railroads (excluding "3 class I companies in systems") and 309 Class II railroads (excluding "3 class II companies in systems").

The Class III category was dropped in 1956. Until then terminal railroads, belt lines, switchig lines, short lines and special railroads were considered Class IIIs, due to the expected low operating revenues of those operations. In 1925, the ICC reported 348 Class III railroads.

Based on my interest in the Pacific Northwest, particularly the Olympic Peninsula, it was obvious that having a fourth Class I or Class II railroad in the region was not prototypically or operationally feasible for 1955. A Class III operation could easily be modeled as many Class III logging lines had been incorporated and operated in the region throughout the years, then shut down.

My choice of modeling a Class III operation will assist me in identifying and defining my modeling interests throughout the Layout Concept process. It will also play a part in the technical specifications section of Layout Detail.