12-30-2009, 10:43 AM
I know the feeling of wanting to use covered hoppers - grain service doesn't look right without them. But that's the steam era. No autoracks - autos were moved in specialized boxcars. No ISO containers. Some lines had piggyback service in the 50s, but not with the 80'+ cars we're more used to. No centerbeam flats. No high-cubes. I tend to find steam-era freight equipment less interesting, or at least less "right".
Fan of late and early Conrail... also 40s-50s PRR, 70s ATSF, BN and SP, 70s-80s eastern CN, pre-merger-era UP, heavy electric operations in general, dieselized narrow gauge, era 3/4 DB and DR, EFVM and Brazilian railroads in general... too many to list!