Modeling Interest 5 - Rolling Stock

In the last blog Modeling Interest - Locomotives, we discussed the type of locomotives the modeler wishes to replicate. In this blog we will discuss rolling stock of interest. 

Rolling Stock.  

Rolling stock is equipment which is used by the railroad to move freight and passengers from place to place, or is used to maintain operations. It falls into two service categories: revenue and non-revenue. Revenue equipment includes passenger equipment, boxcars, hoppers, flat cars, gondolas and other specialty equipment. Non-revenue equipment includes cabooses, maintenance of way, and company supply and service equipment. 

Ownership

Rolling stock used by railroads would be primarily owned by the principle railroad. Railroads determined the number of cars by type based on the ongoing needs of their customers. The document to the right is a Northern Pacific analysis of flat cars required for ownership. Notice the bottom line required for ownership to protect loadings, etc is 1954 cars. If the railroad was short cars, additional rolling stock could be available from railroads that interchange with the principle railroad, or the railroad would purchase new or used rolling stock.

 

Age of equipment

The 1940's and 1950's saw a shaking out of railroad operations. Wages, unnaturally low because of the Depression and War, were quickly catching up in the post war decade, and labor costs were a balance sheet item. The Depression also delayed the replacement of rolling stock. John Nehrich wrote Freight Trains, Choosing the Right Cars, in the April 1992 Mainline Modeler. In this article he reviews the age of rolling stock in service. 

 

Period	1949	1953
WWI or earlier	20
1918-1922	12	18
1925-1027	27	19
1928-1930	8	8
1931-1935	2	2
1936-1937	5	5
1938-1941	7	7
1942-1945	7	7
1946-1949	12	12
1950-1953		22

 

Nehrich notes several things. 1) Freight car construction during the Depression plummeted to 1% of previous levels. 2) Rebuilding of existing freight cars with steel understructures occurred to extend service life of existing cars. 3) Freight trains of the 1950s were mainly composed of cars originally built in the 1920s, and 4) in the period 1946 - 1963 2/3rds of the total 1,515,139 freight car fleet in service was newly built. 

 

The WWSL 

Rolling stock ownership. Because the WWSL is a short line railroad with limited finances, it would probably not be able to provide 100%  of the railroad cars necessary to meet customer requirements. Under national car management rules, the WWSL could ask its three interchange partners (the NP, MILW, and UP) or private owners (cars available for contractual lease) for cars.  I have tentatively set the revenue car presence: WWSL %, OPLC %, STC %, NP - %, MILW - %,  the UP - %, private owner  %. 

 

Rolling stock age determinations.

• Class 1 railroads will have primarily newer equipment - based on their revenue capabilities.

• WWSL will have older rolling stock purchased through used equipment dealers with some new equipment purchased.

• OPLC and STC will have the oldest equipment, equipment which had been recycled for newer operational requirement or equipment purchased through used equipment dealers of Class 1 or Class 2 railroad equipment. 

 See Rolling Stock references pages for specific railroad rolling stock ownership information used by the WWSL.