I was working on the Florida layout a few days ago and was thinking how do we rank the 'Class' of our private railroads that we operate during our virtual op sessions. In real life, back in the day, the Penn Central was listed as a Class 1 Railroad.
The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Class I railroad headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that operated from 1968 until 1976. It was created by the 1968 merger of the Pennsylvania and New York Central railroads.
The internet shows 7 Class 1 Railroads in today's world.
Class II and Class III designations are now rarely used outside the rail transport industry. The Association of American Railroads typically divides non–Class I companies into three categories:
Regional railroads: operate at least 350 miles (560 km) or make at least $40 million per year.
Local railroads: non-regional but engage in line-haul service.
Switching and terminal railroads: mainly switch cars between other railroads or provide service from other lines to a common terminal.
Now back to our railroads. I would say my fictional railroad can be classified as a Class III Railroad by the listing on the net. Class III railroads are typically local short-line railroads serving a small number of towns and industries or hauling cars for one or more railroads; many Class III railroads were once branch lines of larger railroads or abandoned portions of main lines.
In our Virtual Ops world, we would like to think our railroads are indeed a Class I Railroad.
Comments are welcome!
Comments are welcome!
Neal,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up some very valid points. In today's mega mergers, railroads like the CSX, NS, BNSF and UP are gigantic systems that almost span the continent. In the time span we have our Virtual Ops set in, railroads like the Lehigh Valley, CNJ, Reading, Delaware & Hudson were all considered Class One railroads by their own right. Kinda like comparing a 747 to a biplane. In today's climate, a lot of the former Class One railroads would fit this situation. I would like to think current railroads like the KCS, FEC and MRL would fit into a Class One category, maybe not by total trackage, but are still too big to be a regional or Class III railroad. Maybe a Class One "B" status. I'll always regard the A.P.R.R. as a big time player in the modelling and Virtual Ops world.
Brian
Hi Sir Neal,
ReplyDeleteThe Empire Belt RR is definitely a class III operation. The EBRR tried to expand and run with the big dogs but that operating scenario fell flat on it's face. Having the EBRR as a short line NYC/PC subsidiary gives me the most operational enjoyment. This allows for the NYC/PC and EBRR to interchange with each other and lets me model railroad operations for both parent and subsidiary in what I think is a more prototypical manner.
As Brian noted we run the 1968-1976 era in our virtual ops. The class III EBRR also got into the IPD freight program of the 1970s purchasing new cars for interchange and to receive the increased IPD rates. The EBRR has also purchased a large number of coal hoppers for lease to parent NYC/PC.
I had the subsidiary EBRR leasing some engines the parent NYC-PC for mineral & ore service based upon the PC leasing of the U28Bs from subsidiary P&LE. This worked out pretty good but with the new Alco C628s and a C630 coming into Terminal Yard the EBRR engines have migrated back to North Side Yard. So I now have a class III RR with plenty of motive power and freight cars. I hope the 1/87th scale economy stays strong and all this equipment doesn't come back to be stored serviceable in the small EBRR North Side Yard!
John
I would back off a little and say that trying to apply some things in the model world is a little like a zero-divide. It reminds me now and then of seeing threads on forums where guys are asking "What is the era of John Allen's G&D?" My own interpretation of virtual ops lets me stretch things at least into Conrail anyhow, and back to the New Haven. I do have some equipment lettered for the LF&NW, sometimes with images of Providence & Worcester, Vermont Railway, or CV/New England Central in mind, so I guess my layout is a class II that interchanges all over the country. Zero divide. Maybe that's my class!
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing my KP&W is a Class 2? It supposed to represent a carrier that crosses through NY. Maybe its a bridge line connecting roads like the B&O with the PC? I never really thought that through. The original KP&W was supposed to be a little short line but it kind of grew one i started painting locos and rolling stock!
ReplyDelete