This is a pretty silly question, but I'd like to ask if the CN F7A in zebra stripes did pull US freight cars in its time? Mine is currently pulling 1940's American freight cars. While it's fine with me, I'm just curious if it did do so.

My CN F7A is a late-90's Athearn blue box engine that I've just had the axle gears replaced. I have also just added a small but strong magnet to the motor to lengthen its life. It still runs fine. I guess Athearns are pretty good for what they are.

Don't see why not... F7's built in the late 40s - early 50s, and lasted into the 1970s. Freight cars that were new in the 1940s would have alsted at least as long, so it seems like a decent match to me.

Andrew

MasonJar Wrote:Don't see why not... F7's built in the late 40s - early 50s, and lasted into the 1970s. Freight cars that were new in the 1940s would have alsted at least as long, so it seems like a decent match to me.

Andrew

Andrew, I think his question is more did U.S. railroad freight cars commonly get interchanged into Canada? I don't remember seeing Canadian cars in So Cal very often, but that doesn't mean that U.S. cars didn't get into Canada. I'm sure that since Nafta, trains crossing the border between the U.S. and Canada is probably not a lot different than crossing from one state into another or in the case of Canada crossing from one province to another.

I'm always interested in questions like this so I'm following this thread with curiosity! Rob

Russ,

Yes, I guess I glossed over that part... I know that CNR company coal for southern Ontario often came in Illinois Central hoppers in the early 50s, but CNR still had not dieselized at that time.

Ian Wilson has a "boxcar roster" article which helps modellers of southern Ontario CNR determine how may foreign road cars should be present. See: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://canadianbranchline.com/boxcar_roster.htm">http://canadianbranchline.com/boxcar_roster.htm</a><!-- m -->

His conclusion is that there's a 3:1 ration of home road (i.e. CN) to foreign road (any almost other Canadian or American). The 25% foreign is broken down further, with bigger and/or closer roads getting more representation. He does not touch on other cars used for other commodities, but you get the idea.

Andrew

CN didn't run the red nose and stripes on F units until 1961. Pre '61 the F's wore green and gold. In terms of road names we saw all sorts of other roads on CN rails so no problem there.

Seems likely to me! New York Central interchanges in the Northern part of the USA in the 60's alone would probably account for a lot of American freight cars behind those zebra stripes. I guess I'll defer to our Canadian members who can validate that though. I sure saw plenty of CN cars in NY as a kid in the 1970s.

Ralph

It's a little newer than what you're looking for, but here's a vid of the last matched set of A-B-A F7s in CN service:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.rail-videos.net/video/view.php?id=4927">http://www.rail-videos.net/video/view.php?id=4927</a><!-- m -->

Canada does a lot of business with the US. For the last hundred and some years our railways have been the same gauge and a lot of American cars have come across the border.
Many Canadian freight trains carry 50% or more foreign cars.
Of course, it will depend where you are. On a branchline serving a resource or wheat producing area the cars may be almost completely home road. The fruit market in Toronto had at times a very heavy proportion of PFE reefers. Sometimes trains heading to border crossing points would be heavy with cars that the railroad was moving home to reduce the per diem charges.
As for 1940s cars ... They did last a long time. The really fussy will update the rebuilt and other dates in the data box.

if memory serves me the Grand Trunk Western was the CN link the US so cars from US roads would not be uncommon.
Jim

The CN zebra stripe paint scheme (one of my all-time favourites of any road) first appeared in 1973, and there would have still been quite a few '40s-era cars around.
As for American cars in Canada, it could depend a lot on where you were. I grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, and with four railroads in town (CNR, CPR, TH&B, and NYC) there were plenty of U.S. cars to be seen, especially from the northeastern states. Since the NYC was a part-owner of the TH&B, there was also Central passenger equipment and locomotives to be seen, too, both steam and diesel. It would have been possible, though, for the cars of any standard-gauge common carrier road listed in the Official Railway Equipment Register to appear in Canada, although not necessarily all did. I even recall seeing a 40' N de M boxcar, from Mexico.
Even if your railroad is not set in an area close to the border, there's no reason why you can't run those cars - after all, it's your railroad.

Wayne

doctorwayne Wrote:The CN zebra stripe paint scheme (one of my all-time favourites of any road) first appeared in 1973, and there would have still been quite a few '40s-era cars around.
As for American cars in Canada, it could depend a lot on where you were. I grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, and with four railroads in town (CNR, CPR, TH&B, and NYC) there were plenty of U.S. cars to be seen, especially from the northeastern states. Since the NYC was a part-owner of the TH&B, there was also Central passenger equipment and locomotives to be seen, too, both steam and diesel. It would have been possible, though, for the cars of any standard-gauge common carrier road listed in the Official Railway Equipment Register to appear in Canada, although not necessarily all did. I even recall seeing a 40' N de M boxcar, from Mexico.
Even if your railroad is not set in an area close to the border, there's no reason why you can't run those cars - after all, it's your railroad.

Wayne

Cool Wayne! I don't remember ever seeing an N de M car anywhere here in So Cal, but that doesn't suggest that they don't cross the border, just that I have never seen one.

I may be wrong, but I think this is the paint scheme on Mike's loco:


as Wayne pointed out, this scheme was introduced in 1973, and remained unchanged until the units were retired in 1989.

The scheme they were painted in (and I don't know when Athearn first released this scheme) between the green and gold (which athearn also did) and their 1973 repaint, was the first "embarrassed zebra" scheme, which came in in 1961:



If you have the first zebra scheme, then running 1940's vintage cars isn't so much of a stretch as with the later scheme.

Another thing to consider is whether the cars are models of those built in the '40s or those in use in the '40s. Many boxcars built during the war years 1939-45 (1941-45 in the U.S.) were of composite construction, and a lot of them were either rebuilt or replaced after the war. Similarly, cars built prior to the war were, for the most part, worn-out by war's end, and were scrapped when new car construction resumed. The Pullman-Standard PS-1 40' boxcar was introduced in 1947, and construction continued until 1961, albeit with visible improvements. During the '50s, 50' and longer cars started to become common, and with increased mechanisation of loading (forklifts), wider door openings were required.
Still, as I mentioned, it's your railroad, so"run 'em if ya got 'em". I'm modelling the late '30s, but have no compunction about running a few favourite cars that didn't exist until the '40s or even '50s. The "proto police" have no jurisdiction in my layout room.

Wayne

I had an Interesting assortment of Athearn cars prior to going to Canada and the US in 1976. I crossed Canada first and the first US freight car I saw was very similar to the Green GN 40ft box car on a siding outside of Vancouver. By the time I had crossed Canada and not entered the US I had seen "duplicates" of all the US vehicles I owned at that time on a variety of trains with the exception of the Rio Grande freight cars I owned. Many of my freight cars at the time had builders dates from the late 30's to late 40's as I recall ( I have repainted some of course inc the Rio Grande ones) and yes I saw them behind mixes of FPA4's on a freight outside Toronto (yes they did haul freights with those engines) and F units so yes it is possible. But in any case it is your railway/road as well and I don't worry about the prototype police anyway!

Cheers from Australia

Trevor <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.xdford.digitalzones.com">www.xdford.digitalzones.com</a><!-- w --> for your interest!