This is something I've been pondering for a bit. Why don't the engines and rolling stock all match railway names when you buy a train set? You open the box and you've got a Santa Fe engine pulling a Conrail boxcar and a Lehigh Valley gondola or something. If you're lucky, the caboose might match the name on the engine. If it's a Santa Fe set, why not put in Santa Fe rolling stock? If it's a Conrail set, where's the Conrail engine? If I've got Burlington Northern boxcars, how did I end up with Norfolk & Western on the side of my coal tender? What is the story behind this? Do they just throw whatever they can find at the momment into these train sets or is it a money ploy to make you buy more stuff that matches? It's just odd to me.
Why Don't RR Names Match In Train Sets??
- Thread starter Cannonball
- Start date
Umm
How many licks to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop? The world may never know?sign1
But honestly, you guessed right all the time. But then again, why put a caboose into the set? The last ones ran as part of a regular train in the late 80's? Kids now days only see cabeese as part of this hobby, no real ones. But would you really wanna see an all red train (ATSF), or all blue (Conrail)? Its all about the $$$
How many licks to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop? The world may never know?sign1
But honestly, you guessed right all the time. But then again, why put a caboose into the set? The last ones ran as part of a regular train in the late 80's? Kids now days only see cabeese as part of this hobby, no real ones. But would you really wanna see an all red train (ATSF), or all blue (Conrail)? Its all about the $$$
Look at a prototype railroad. Car interchanges are what makes for the mixed up road names. Unless you are running unit trains of some commodity, you will seldom see all of the rolling stock with the same railroad name. With leasing being the big thing now, you will see a real mixture of motive power too. Even back in the far distant days of my youth, the GN freights had NP and Milwaukee cars in the consist and vise versa.
Jim Krause said:
Agreed.... Here in INdy, I see CSX power constantly... However, it is rarely pulling CSX freight. Usually there are some CSX cars, but mainly it is mixed. A lot of Railbox. I have however seen one line of freight cars sitting on a siding and 95% of freight was in BNSF with the new logo, however, I see very few BNSF power????
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v517/qballhk40/175098-R1-09-14_010.jpg
Mixed Power:
When we were in St Louis we saw UP and SP power together, and in Ohio last week I got pics of 2 UP's and a CSX pulling together
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v517/qballhk40/243800-R1-08-8A_009.jpg
kf4jqd
Active Member
Maybe it's called money? And just maybe the popularity of some roads? Next question is: Why aren't there more of the same road of a train set? An example is. A Rock Island train set has a RIL loco and caboose. But it has UP and SP rolling stock. Shouldn't there be atleast one RIL rolling stock? The samething goes for all the other roads.
Andy
Andy
This has been an issue for years! I got a train set back in 1971-72 that had a Penn Central locomotive and a Burlington Route caboose.
Ralph
Ralph
Just buy an European trainset, such as Marklin, all the locomotives and the rolling stock will wear the DB ( Deutsche Bundesbahn ) logo
kf4jqd
Active Member
Is it possible that the model manufactures don't want us stuck on one road? Then again look at all of my HO rolling stock and locomotives. ALMOST every piece is Rock Island!
Andy
Andy
I suspect manufacturers figure train sets will be purchased for younger or less experienced modelers who may be attracted to the variety of colors of various road names and have les interest in creating a single road identity with their equipment. Its a starter set to whet the appetite.
Ralph
Ralph
I once asked what would be the best rollingstock to go on the small Canadian railroad TH&B ( Toronto, Hamilton & Buffala ).
I was surprised about the variety I got from some replies.
So it looks like anything can go.
http://www.the-gauge.com/showthread.php?t=24969&highlight=TH%26B
I was surprised about the variety I got from some replies.
So it looks like anything can go.
http://www.the-gauge.com/showthread.php?t=24969&highlight=TH%26B
There are still cabeese in train sets because people still like cabeese. Just about every freight train I see going by includes cars from many different railroads, some of which are no longer around but they haven't been repainted since the last merger, or the merger before that. It's nothing new, either: a hundred years ago, the only practical way to get freight from one side of the country to the other was to put it in a boxcar, so you'd get Santa Fe and SP reefers floating around New England railroads, delivering California produce to the east coast--or NYC and Pennsy boxcars on the west coast, delivering manufactured goods the other way.
I have been told by WP modelers that if you're modeling Western Pacific, the least realistic car to have on your layout is a Western Pacific PFE reefer, because they were almost never on their home roads.
I have been told by WP modelers that if you're modeling Western Pacific, the least realistic car to have on your layout is a Western Pacific PFE reefer, because they were almost never on their home roads.