Railroad Milestones Since 1945 - A Tool for Modelers.
Santa Fe, Great Northern, Louisville & Nashville, New York Central, Pennsylvania end steam operations.
Nashville Chattanooga & St. Louis merges with L&N.
New York Ontario & Western shuts down.
UP introduces 3-unit turbines.
Archbar trucks banned from interchange.
CB&Q adopts Chinese Red on diesels and freight cars.
UP acquires Spokane International.
Baltimore & Ohio, Northern Pacific end steam operations.
S-10, T-6, FPA-4, GMD-1, SD24 introduced.
SP replaces Black Widow with gray and bloody nose on diesels
Flexi-Van system introduced by NYC.
ACL stops adding Prismo stripes to new cars.
GP20, U25B, S-13 introduced.
85' flats and 40' trailers appear.
Virginian merges into N&W.
NYC implements Century Green scheme and cigar band schemes.
Ladders up cab unit noses now mandatory.
Nickel Plate Road, Union Pacific end steam in regular service.
"Hydro-Cushion" Underframes introduced.
MILW adds "The Milwaukee Road" in gothic billboard style to freight cars.
Tri-Level Autoracks appear.
Erie Lackawanna appears (Erie + DL&W.)
Minneapolis & St. Louis merges with C&NW.
Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, Norfolk & Western end steam operations.
Santa Fe drops zebra scheme for blue & yellow on hood units.
Cotton Belt drops the cotton gin logo.
Average train length: 70 cars.
CN, GTW, CV introduce noodle logos.
Cartier Railway completed.
SOO (MSt.P&SSM), DSS&A, WC merge to form the new Soo Line.
Virtually all grain still moves in 40' boxcars.
Lehigh & New England shuts down.
Wabash replaces heart logo with large flag logo.
Pennsylvania drops the shadow from the keystone logo.
Great Northern begins using Glacier Green on many freight cars.
Southern takes control of Interstate Railroad.
Hundreds of early F's are traded in.
December: Chesapeake & Ohio takes control of Baltimore & Ohio.
Atlantic Coast Line "Another Cushioned Load" boxcars appear.
Purpose-built wood chip hoppers appear.
Union Pacific adds "Ship and Travel the Automated Railway"
N&W ends electrification on former Virginian.
Power Pooling begins (NKP-LV, UP-CB&Q-PRR are early examples).
UP experiments with "soup can" logo.
Modern frameless tank cars appear.
GP35, U25C, U50, DD35B, C420, C424, C628 introduced.
100 ton standard cars appear in quantity.
Central of Georgia joins Southern family.
Southern introduces radio controlled helpers.
Ann Arbor divorces Wabash and marries Detroit Toledo & Ironton.
Chattahoochie Industrial begins operations.
Norfolk & Western adopts the hamburger logo in December.
South Shore Line becomes last interurban in the US.
In general, new freight cars have "modern" look.
Nickel Plate Road, Wabash, Pittsburgh & West Virgina acquired by N&W.
Texas & Pacific gets control of KO&G and Midland Valley Rwys.
CN opens Great Slave Lake Railway.
Some new hi-cube boxes built without running boards.
New car orders with friction bearings plummet.
Unit coal train concept catches on.
60' box cars appear in quantity.
GP40, SD45, DD35A, U28C, C630 introduced.
Passenger service cutbacks increase.
60' purpose built wood chip gons introduced.
Evans Coil Cars introduced.
Rock Island drops the shield in favor of large block lettering on boxcars.
4427 & 4600 cu.ft. grain cars appear in quantity.
Last 4-truck UP Turbines are retired.
ACL adds "Thanks For Using Coast Line" on boxcars.
Southern's Big John covered hoppers appear.
Canadian Pacific adopts script style lettering.
B&O standard brown boxcars with "Time-Saver Service" and "Sentinal Service" logos appear.
B&O introduces simplified Capital Dome.
Santa Fe introduces Indian Red paint and "Shock Control" on freight cars.
Santa Fe introduces "big circle" version of the logo.
Southern switches back to black for freight service diesels.