Armand, this is entirely dependent on the railroad that you model and could vary wildly between different railroads, branches, and even time of day on a specific location. In looking at a specific railroad, it might be helpful to follow a logical approach (Bruce S.) <

I take Bruce's and Steve's point fully to heart and believe in its truth. And yet, Armand's question has relevance for my situation: I am a member of the newly "minted" TT Scale Society, a tiny group of never-say-die TT scale (1:120) modelers who have gathered together update the scale any which way we can. We wish to encourage, aid and abet, promote, and perhaps commission.

In TT scale, North American prototypes are in short supply. So, considering the ever-popular transition era, where does our group begin? We need everything. We need to pick some "basic" car types (prototypically accurate, though, as in HO) when, really, there are no basic car types when road, region, industries, period are considered.

I am working on an ARR standard 50-ton, 53-6 riveted flat car that I understand is good from the 1940s to the 1980s. I guess our group will just have to make the choices that we think best and jump in.

Or, perhaps, given Tony's comment, our group might work specifically by industry, defining a number of the most common/plentiful industries of the transition era (meat packing, for example) and select the most numerous cars used in each industry?

Any thoughts?

Tank cars - 70

Reefers - 35-45
Stock cars - 35
Boxcars - 150
Gondolas - 120
Flats - 30
Hoppers - 110 <

Bruce, this list is for 1944, iirc a passage correctly in one of your recent posts. You know, I understand the WWII era is hugely successful in popular fiction publishing circles. Yet, I hear little about the period when it comes to scale model railroading. Is my impression wrong and there are a number of WWII-era railroad modelers out there?

(BTW, are you an Auburn football fan? If so, thank you, thank you, thank you for hiring Gene Chizik away from we Iowa State University fans. We're much happier where we're at today compared to one year ago. Auburn made that possible. Thank you!)

Thanks much,

Brian Chapman
Evansdale, Iowa