modeling the SP

A core document of the Southern Pacific for many years was the Accounting Department’s Circular 4. I realize that isn't an informative n...

As I mentioned in the preceding post, back in 2011 I updated all my car fleet plans by car type. Some of them have changed little, despite a...

 My continuing column in Model Railroad Hobbyist or MRH, part of a series entitled “Getting Real.” is intended to provide information and e...

 West Coast modelers like me have minimal needs for hopper cars, at least for carrying coal. There certainly was some traffic of that kind, ...

In previous posts, I have explored many aspects of what waybills are and how they are used, always with the goal of informing model operatio...

My title today is perhaps over-general, as I am only going to discuss Southern Pacific operation in the 1950s. And not only that, but I am o...

A very common load for flat cars in the transition era was lumber. Usually, lumber so loaded was rough lumber, while finished lumber was shi...

In a growing series of Shipper Guide reprints, Ted Schnepf’s Rails Unlimited has released another of these railroad-produced documents, this...

I have purchased a number of the superb covered hoppers in HO scale produced by InterMountain Railway Company, or IM, and really enjoy the l...

My turn in the series of “Getting Real” columns in Model Railroad Hobbyist has come around again. There are five of us doing these columns ...

In much of the Far West in the transition era, sugar beets were an important and lucrative crop. This was certainly true in the area I model...

I have long been interested in the Stauffer Chemical Company, in part because they owned a fleet of tank cars to transport various chemicals...

The title quotes the question I’m often asked, usually by non-Californians. And many times, when I’ve mentioned coal loads on my layout (tha...