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Post by el3637 on Jul 18, 2012 10:23:59 GMT -8
Modern? 1960 is "Modern"? For pete's sake, that's 52 years ago...over half a century! Actually, it's longer ago than that. "Modern History" is considered anything after the Middle Ages... that's 500 years ago! "Modern Art" begins in the 1860s. "Modern Dance" early 20th century. And so on. In the latter half of the 20th century the word "modern" became a synonym for "New", "Contemporary", or "Recent"... all ambiguous terms anyway. So it's not surprising there's no agreement in what constitutes the "modern era" of railroading. Which is why I try to use less ambiguous terms when discussing the subject, or requesting products. I use "Contemporary" to mean what's out there today, or very recent. Contemporary actually means "the same time as", so if I say I was modeling contemporary in 1994, I was modeling 1994. If I were modeling contemporary today, I'd be modeling 2012. I last modeled contemporary in 1994-97, when the scene left me high and dry and I lost interest. I actually began modeling contemporary N&W in 1974, but lacked the resources to get anywhere and the reality is my superfleet didn't get started until 1996 - 20+ years after my contemporary period expired. This was due to flirtations with other eras, marriage, family, career, and most importantly, the development of my modeling standards and skills as well as the availability of high quality models and parts. I simply was capable of building a much better model in 1996 than I was in 1976, out of much better material. It has been 16 years since I re-declared myself a 70s modeler. I also acknowledged that I'd always have a thing for passenger trains, and I'd always have some steam around. I clung to the 90s for a while, but I've kept only the remains of my NS Superfleet (most don't have DCC) and enough rolling stock to reproduce my three favorite trains - the 143, 230, and 252. I have ebayed gobs of NIB, lightly used, and unbuilt 1990s and later rolling stock. Anyway, I find it far more concise to simply declare a modeling decade or year range, than say "transition" or "modern" or "contemporary". One guy's modern is the 2010s, somebody else's might be the 1960s. Much easier to just spell it out. Andy
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Post by nw611 on Jul 18, 2012 14:02:25 GMT -8
Maybe not everybody knows what is going on in Continental Europe. MOROP (the federation of all European NMRA equivalents) established 6 eras, mainly based on what happened in Germany, the homeland of model railroading. Era I is from the beginning to 1920 (creation of DRG with the merger of all German regional railroads from Prussia, Bavaria etc.) Era II from 1920 to 1949 (creation of the DB in Western Germany and the DR in Eastern Germany) Era III from 1949 to 1967/68 (reconstruction in Germany) Era IV from 1967/68 (adoption of a new numbering system for European locomotives and rolling stock) to 1990 (projected merger of DB and DR into DBAG) Era V from 1990 to 2005/06 (liberalization and privatization of several railroad companies) Era VI from 2005/06 to the present time. All eras are divided into sub-eras (IIIa, IIIb, IIIc) according to particular national needs. As you can see, the Germans organize things and all other Europeans follow them. I am not aware of the British system, because, as you may know, they don't follow the Germans. Ciao. Raffaele
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Post by Paul Cutler III on Jul 18, 2012 19:25:44 GMT -8
IMHO, in the USA if we're only talking about generational changes (where something replaces something else), then I'd say we have the following:
USA I: Genesis - 1826 to 1850-ish: The Granite Railway, the B&O, etc., from horse drawn trains and the first steam engines, up to and including the first 4-4-0's.
USA II: Refinement - 1850-ish to 1865-ish: Making the general purpose 4-4-0 better, faster, longer, and increasing the size of the firebox by moving the drivers apart.
USA III: Expansion - 1865-ish to 1900-ish: The replacement of the 4-4-0 as the "do it all" engine with different designs to meet various needs like the 2-6-0, 4-6-0, etc.
USA IV: Perfecting - 1900-ish to 1932: The introduction of the trailing truck with the 4-4-2, 4-6-2, 2-8-2, 2-10-2, and so on allowed for ever larger fireboxes resulting in more and more power. It eventually led to steam "Superpower" with 2-8-4, 4-6-4, 2-10-4, etc. designs.
USA V: Transition - 1932 to 1960: Steam's crowning glory era with the largest steam engines ever made, but the first successful mass produced diesel was Alco's HH600 in 1932, and by 1960 all US Class I's were dieselized.
USA VI: Decline - 1960 to 1980: The dark days of US railroading with railroads struggling to reduce costs by buying newer, more powerful diesels. Turbo charging, Alco dying and EMD's No. 1 rank looks unassailable.
USA VII: Rebirth - 1980 to 1995: GE's rise to the No. 1 US loco builder and the introduction of solid state electronics into diesels, plus the abandoning of the 4-axle road unit.
USA VIII: Millennium - 1995 to Today: Unit reduction, AC traction, 6-axles only, GE's dominance, computerized cabs, EMD's sale to Caterpillar, Tier I & II compliance, etc.
Or at least, that's my list.
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Post by Paul Cutler III on Jul 20, 2012 13:13:12 GMT -8
Just because I was bored (and I was curious), I tallied up all of Athearn's loco production that's on their website. It shows:
In the past 5 years, Athearn has released the following new items:
Roundhouse 2-8-0 Jul-07 Ready-To-Run SD45 Sep-07 Genesis SD60I Oct-07 Genesis SD60M Oct-07 Genesis 4-8-2 MT-4 Jan-08 Ready-To-Run SW1000 Mar-08 Ready-To-Run SW1500 Apr-08 Ready-To-Run Slab Side Turbine Dec-08 Genesis FP7 Mar-09 Ready-To-Run Veranda Turbine Sep-09 Genesis GP15-1 Oct-09 Genesis SD70ACe Jan-10 Genesis GP15T May-10 Genesis SD70M-2 Oct-10 Ready-To-Run U50 Oct-10 Genesis GP7 Jan-11 Genesis GP9 Jan-11 Genesis DDA40X Mar-11 Genesis GP38-2 Jan-12
Of these 19 models, 8 of them are "Transition Era". Only 4 of them are based on 1980 or later prototypes. The remaining 7 are from the 1960's and 1970's.
Over all, since 2001 (and the start of Athearn's available data and sans Blue Box models), Athearn has made 56 new models from various sources. This includes old BB, RPP, Highliner, and MDC/Roundhouse tooling, as well as all new tooling.
Of these 56 models in 11 years, 18 of them are "Transition Era", 19 are from the 1960's and 1970's, and 19 are post-1979 models.
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Post by Rockin' Rick on Jul 20, 2012 16:53:25 GMT -8
I just turned 59. I can't really remember the "transition era" on my favorite road, PRR, at all. My memories are all of the late 50s on. Having said that I view the period 1954-1956 as the MOST INTERESTING era due to the fact that steam and diesel were co-existing and there was a change in the freight scheme from Circle to Shadow Keystone with a couple variations thrown in, all coexisting side by side. I also of course did see vehicles from that era and to this day find them the most interesting. Especially Mack B Fire Trucks ;D ...so I hope MORE stuff from this era gets produced. I did have a fling with modeling contemporary CR back in the early 80s which was fun, for much the same reasons, eg. patched units, etc. But I came back to my first love ...
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Post by nw611 on Jul 20, 2012 22:23:05 GMT -8
Rick, do I remember correctly that the Pennsy was also leasing steam engines from other roads (Santa Fe ?) in that period ? Raffaele
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Post by calzephyr on Jul 21, 2012 17:32:36 GMT -8
Rick, do I remember correctly that the Pennsy was also leasing steam engines from other roads (Santa Fe ?) in that period ? Raffaele The PRR leased from the SF, the RF&P and the Reading and I may have left some out. It was easy and quicker to lease rather than repair the PRR locomotives that were being retired when the upturn in business required more power. The Santa Fe 5011 class 2-10-4's and the PRR J1 locomotive working out of Columbus north to Sandusky are the most photographed, but the PRR really needed power in the summer of 1956 and leased several different locomotives. Larry
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