Developing a Numbering System for a Proto-lanced Model Railroad Basing a numbering system for rolling stock and locos on a prototype railroad is realistic and saves a lot of guesswork. Reader Feedback (click here)
by Lew Matt
R
ailroad equipment that moves on rails, whether locomotives, passenger cars, freight cars, or M.O.W equipment, needs a paint job, lettering and a number for identification. If you’re a prototype modeler picking a numbering scheme is simple - you copy your prototype. But what about those of us who have our own railroad?
one modeler developed a plausible numbering system (and set of paint schemes) for his Western Maryland based, generic short line.
The C&LE Last winter I attended an operating session on Dave Baker’s layout in central Pennsylvania. Dave models a fictitious regional railroad, the Cumberland and Lake Erie. He’s been interested in Western Maryland so it was natural for his model railroad to be influenced by the WM from which he borrowed a lot of style and color to give the C&LE a believable look. Dave’s railroad is set in 1957 and runs from Cumberland in Maryland through Johnstown to Erie in Pennsylvania. He modeled the C&LE as though it was part of the Alphabet
Lines providing coal, ore and limestone to the steel industry in Johnstown and merchandise service to other towns along the line. The C&LE features a designed-for-operation track plan. Dave has been a railfan and model railroader since he was a preschool youngster watching the streetcars run in front of his house. He and his crew enjoy operating the C&LE under TT&TO (TimeTable and Train Order) rules. Dave hosts at least two op sessions each month and enjoys inviting out of town groups and clubs to run his railroad, too. That’s how I got to operate on the C&LE! Dave did a great job with his available space. His talent and extensive knowledge of the Western Maryland let him
selectively compress the area he models – the WM from Cumberland to Rockwood and the B&O Somerset and Cambria Branch to Johnstown – in a very believable manner. The geography on the C&LE is life-like enough that those of us who live in this area thought we knew where each scene may be located. His desire for realism led him to wanting a plausible lettering and numbering scheme for the rolling stock on the C&LE.
WM Influence The C&LE’s lettering is based on the Western Maryland and is extremely well thought out. Like the WM, cars and locos lettered before April 1954 receive a Fast Freight lettering style
Figure 1: This class XAR 50’ boxcar with dreadnought ends was lettered for the C&LE and given the number 27916. Note the reweigh information just to the right of the LT WT. SS-11-54 represents Somerset as the reweigh station and November, 1954 as the date. All the reweigh years are close to 1957, the era Dave picked to model.
Freelanced model railroads are often at least loosely based on a prototype – why not borrow that railroad’s numbering scheme? Following a prototype railroad’s standards means you won’t have to reinvent the numbering and lettering scheme, leaving more time for building and operating. The Cumberland and Lake Erie Railroad is an example of how Figure 1 Page 111 • Issue 8 • Jul/Aug 2010 • A Prototype Based Numbering System, page 1
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