Prototype Information
Railroad ownership of cars by type
Here is the the national car fleet, as described in ICC statistics for
Dec. 30, 1950. The table shown below was published in the 1953 Car
Builders’ Cyclopedia, page 69.
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The graph of the car fleet for one’s layout might look like this, but no individual car owner could do so.
Each railroad owned a fleet of freight cars suited to its territory and its traffic. How do we do the same for individual railroads? We turn to the Official
Railway Equipment Register, or ORER.The information presented following was cumulated from the January 1955 edition of the ORER (the
issue I have). See 2.2.9. Equipment Register for additional details. A similar bar graph, like the one shown above, can be assembled for the railroad of your choosing.
 Northern Pacific |
 Milwaukee Road |
 Union Pacific
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Modeling Information
Charlie Tapper taught a NMRA Clinic on Freight Car Modeling. In his section Toward Creating a Car Fleet, he identified the following process:
- Select an Era (or Eras)
- Make a List of Cars Needed to Match Industries (and Those Moving Through on Non‐Terminating Trains
- Estimate Total Size of Car Fleet (Limited by Staging)
- Percentage of Cars Contributed by Each Interchange Road, and Likely Contributed From the Regional Fleet Via Them
- Skew Towards Industries on the Layout
- Percentage Car Types For Each Specific Road For the Era Modeled:
- Time line of Car Classes by Road
- Skew it Again Towards Industrial Needs on the Layout
The WWSL
Using Charlie's process I developeda base line Car Fleet for the WWSL.
1. Select an Era. My era is the 1950's.
2. Make a List of Cars Needed to Match Industries. See Industry Car Requirements List. The primary car types that will be used on the WWSL are hoppers, gondolas, flats, boxcars and tank cars. I have not considered cars for team track activities (stock, refrigerator, covered hoppers, or maintenance of way cars) nor caboose, or passenger cars.
3. Estimate Total Size of Car Fleet.
My first cut of total size of the fleet was based on the total cars available to be stored on existing industrial track. It doesnt work for the large industries (O.K.Coal, Basalt Sand and Gravel, and the interchange activities with the Northern Pacific, the Milwaukee, the Union Pacific, the OPLC and the STC. There would be little or no cars in yards or on mainline trains.
My second cut of total size was to identify the cars required in staging. I basically doubled the number of cars. That would allow cars in route to interchange and cars in the yard(s) and in trains ready to deliver to the industry. Many of those cars would be Class 1 and Private Owner cars.
That raised the question about car density on the layout. I found an article in one of the model magazines that discussed a track density study of the model layout. The purpose was to aid the railroad modeler in identifying the following data points:
- Functional capacity of cars in yards, industry and storage tracks.
- Size of the main line and passing tracks for movement of cars.
I created the spreadsheet identified in the article. That study I have documented in the Tr
Based on the formulas in the spreadsheet, my Track Density for operations were: Functional Mainline Saturation EB was: 24% (25-35%) and Functional Mainline Saturation WB was: 20% (25-35%)
4. Percentage of Cars Contributed by Each Interchange Road. With three Class 1 railroads interchanging with the WWSL I arbitrarily assisgned the following percentages:
- Northern Pacific. Historically, the Northern Pacific was the dominant rail presence in the Grays Harbor area. Operationally I took the liberty to assign 50% of interchange traffic to the Northern Pacific.
- Milwaukee Road. The Milwaukee Road had an inferior route into the Seattle Tacoma area, with less direct access to local customers.The MILW was given a 25% share of interchange traffic.
- Union Pacific. The Union Pacific had a nominal rail presence in the 'Grays Harbor area but had a superior rail presence for points south. The UP was given a 25% share of interchange traffic.
5. Skew Towards Industries on the Layout. Several things come into play.
Mineral traffic is generally moved on western roads in gondolas. I wanted to highlight hoppers on the layout, therefore a majority of hoppers were owned by the WWSL. A presence of hoppers and MWB cars from the Class 1's would provide the opportunity to show Class 1 hopper rolling stock and round out the hopper requirements.
Pulp and paper products require the cleanest and most waterproof cars. All three Class 1's had extensive car building programs after WW2 and would have a proponderance of new cars meeting those requirements available for loading through car distribution agreements and interchange.
Lumber products would have two car types: gondolas and flat cars for rough lumber, and boxcars for finished lumber. WWSL would have a proponderance of gondolas and flats available for loading, with some aged boxcars for finished lumber. The Class 1's would have the remainder of the loads.
Basalt Sand and Gravel has a contractual agreement with Northwest Portland Cement Company for providing sand and gravel. NWPX has agreed to provide a certain number of cars weekly to BSG. This adds a unique private owner cars to the WWSL operation.
The Olympic Peninsula Lumber Company has its own fleet of rolling stock needed for forest operations. Those cars are not for interchange traffic.
The Saginaw Timber Company has its own fleet of rolling stock needed for forest operations. Those cars are not for interchange traffic.
6. Percentage Car Types For Each Specific Road.
Bruce Chubb, in his article 'Motive power and roling stock on the Sunset Valley RR' (September 1979 Model Railroader), discussed the development of a freight car fleet based on home road, primary connection, secondary connection, private owner and miscellaneous railroads. He created a spread sheet that identified the numbers of car types by railroad. His last row recapped the percentage of cars to each railroad. Bruce 's values were 48% home, 39% primary, 22% secondary, 24% private owner and 9% miscellaneous.
I created a spreadsheet similar to his (9.0.4.2 Car Matrix). Because I had a tertiary connection, I reduced the home road percentage. My initial values were 40% WWSL, 20% Northern Pacific, 15% Milwaukee, 7% Union Pacific, and 17% Private Owner.
I did not include the OPLC the NWPX and the STC. With some fiddling of the numbers based on Class 1 vs Class 3 ownership, a 100 car fleet on the layout would have 47 WWSL, 22 NP, 18 MILW, 14 UP, and 16 Private Owner. The OPLC operation would have 23 cars, the NWPX 11 cars, and the STC an additional 17 cars.
7. Time line of Car Classes by Road
John Nehrich in his article Freight Trains Choosing the Right Cars, in the April 1992 Mainline Modeler, had a discussion of rolling stock on the railroads based on the age of the cars. His analysis was that the freight train of the late 1940's - early 1950's was mainly composed of cars built in the 1920's. He identified that, based on AAR data, the following car ages might be present:
- 18 cars built prior to 1923
- 19 cars built 1923 to 1927
- 8 cars built 1928 to 1930.
- 2 cars built 1931 to 1935
- 5 cars built 1936 to 1937
- 7 cars built 1942 to 1945
- 7 cars built 1928 to 1930.
- 34 cars built 1946 to 1953.
- The NP would get loads for destinations in the Seattle - Tacoma area and points north. By inference those loads would be the high price loads - veneer pulp paper etc. Those loads would require cleaner cars, newer cars. so cars buit in 1940s - 1950's would be the norm.
- The MILW would get loads for destinations east of Washington state. By inference those loads would be lower value loads - rough and finished lumber, gravel and stone. Those loads would not require cleaner or newer cars, so cars built in the 1930s - 1940's would be the norm.
- The UP would get loads for destinations in Oregon and points south (California) . By inference those loads would be lower value loads - rough and finished lumber, gravel and stone, with some high value loads - veneer pulp paper etc. A mix of new cars for high value loads and older cars for low value loads would be modeled, so cars built in the 1940's and 1950's would be the norm.
- The WWSL would be primarily be pre-1937. The OPLC, the NWPX and the STC primarily be the oldest cars on the layout.
8. Skew it Again Towards Industrial Needs on the Layout.
As the layout develops, I will reassess the rolling stock numbers based on reality, especially since I am a lone wolf operator and can't see myself doing 24 hour operating sessions that would include double set outs at the major industries in the area (American Pulp and Paper and O.K Coal Company). .
References
Bruce Chubb, 'Motive power and roling stock on the Sunset Valley RR', Model Railroader, September 1979.
John Nehrich, 'Freight Trains Choosing the Right Cars', Mainline Modeler, April 1992.
Charlie Tapper, Freight Car Modeling: With Special Emphasis on Transition‐Era Gondolas, Indian Nation’s Division NMRA September 22, 2012.
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