09-21-2010, 06:51 PM
My understanding is that the railroads were still separate entities. The USRA dealt more with things like day to day operating schedules to avoid congestion and delayed trains, and Improve the railroads physical plant that was crumbling in most cases ( there was some kind of financial crisis just before the war, Cash was tight for a lot of lines). Another goal was to standardise the industry as much as possible, hence the USRA designs for locos.
For instance my freelanced line is set in the mid 40's (WWII) As an anthracite line, all steamers are ether camel backs or have large Wotton fireboxes. The only locos on the line with standard fireboxes are a class of heavy Mountains that they received from the USRA during the big war. The top brass and engine crews liked them so much that they stayed on the roster, so the USRA's influence still shows years after . The USRA also had control of the rail lines at time in history also, but did not offer any standard designs. Instead it assigned different builders A set job, You build road diesels, you build switchers, so on and so on.
For instance my freelanced line is set in the mid 40's (WWII) As an anthracite line, all steamers are ether camel backs or have large Wotton fireboxes. The only locos on the line with standard fireboxes are a class of heavy Mountains that they received from the USRA during the big war. The top brass and engine crews liked them so much that they stayed on the roster, so the USRA's influence still shows years after . The USRA also had control of the rail lines at time in history also, but did not offer any standard designs. Instead it assigned different builders A set job, You build road diesels, you build switchers, so on and so on.
My other car is a locomotive, ARHS restoration crew