86' Auto Parts Boxcar Features
Now Accepting Pre-Orders
About Us
Contact Us Links
In Stock at Bluford Shops
Special
Runs
Hopper Car Features
Past Releases
Home
 
Railroad Milestones Since 1945 - A Tool for Modelers. 
LOCOMOTIVES
ROLLING STOCK 
FLAGS
YEAR
1983
C36-8 Introduced.
Family Lines merge and become Seaboard System.
48' trailers appear.
Guilford acquires Delaware & Hudson.
45'x102" Z-vans become popular.
Toledo Peoria & Western merges into Santa Fe.
Spine cars become widespread.
UP and C&NW complete route to the Powder River Basin.
1984
SD60, C32-8, B32-8, C39-8, B39-8 introduced.
UP adopts brown with small shield scheme for freight cars.
Reading & Northern appears (spinning off of Conrail.)
1985
48'x102" Z-vans appear.
1986
1987
Indiana Railroad appears (spinning off of ICG.)
53' trailers begin to appear.
Wisconsin Central re-appears (spinning off of Soo Line.)
48' Containers appear in quantity.
Kodachromes appear on SP and ATSF.
Rio Grande retires Zephyr and joins Amtrak.
End of Train Devices begin to replace cabooses.
Chicago Central & Pacific appears (spinning off ICG.)
Dakota Minnesota & Eastern appears (spinning off C&NW)
DASH 8-40C introduced.
1988
SD40-2F, F59PH, DASH 8-40B  introduced.
48' Well cars appear.
Cabooses become rare.
ICG becomes Illinois Central again.
GP60, SD60F, F40PH-2 introduced.
Double Stack trains appear in quantity.
BN begins painting cars with no name or logo.
Paducah & Louisville appears (spinning off of ICG.)
Washington Central appears (spinning off BN.)
Click Here for 1990 and beyond...
DT&I merges into GTW.
Movement of bulk grain in boxcars ends in the United States.
Iowa Interstate appears.
Springfield Terminal becomes operator of MEC and B&M under Guilford.
Butte Anaconda & Pacific becomes Rarus Railway.
Milwaukee Road merges into Soo Line.
Gulf & Mississippi appears (spinning off of ICG)
Triple Crown Services appears.
Toronto Hamilton & Buffalo folded into CP Rail.
Arkansas & Missouri appears (spinning off of BN)
MidSouth appears (spinning off ICG.)
Chicago Missouri & Western appears (spinning off ICG)
First RJ Corman shortline appears.
Central Michigan appears (spinning off of GTW.)
Red River Valley & Western appears (spinning off BN)
Montana Rail Link appears (spinning off BN)
CSXT reporting marks begin to replace C&O, B&O, SBD on rolling stock.
MKT merges into UP.
MidSouth buys Gulf & Mississippi.
Norfolk Southern logo begins to replace N&W and Southern logos in quantity.
Ohio Central System appears.
BC Hydro Railway becomes Southern Railway of British Columbia.
Fort Worth & Western appears.
Buffalo & Pittsburgh appears (spinning off CSX)
Southern Pacific acquired by Rio Grande Industries.
1989
SD60M, DASH 8-32B, DASH 8-40CW, GE Super 7 Series introduced.
Removal of Capacity stencils begins.
CM&W shuts down, SP enters Chicago, Gateway Western launches.
KCS goes from white diesels to gray.
Santa Fe brings back red and silver war bonnet.
Santa Fe moves it's first JB Hunt trailer.
BN introduces logo-but-no-name scheme.
48' Spine cars introduced.
Toledo Peoria & Western becomes independent again.
Tourist line Housatonic RR becomes freight line.
First new commuter rail agency in decades opens in south Florida.
Timeline Resource Page
Nashville & Eastern appears (spinning off of Seaboard System.)
1945-1956
1957-1965
1966-1975
1976-1982
1983-1989
1990-1997
1998-2010
Selected Seaboard System equipment appears in early CSX colors (SBD marks.)
Cabooses no longer required on mainline freights.