This has been an interesting week reasearching the different rail lines and passenger and extra (friehgt) locos used by the various RRs during various eras with an eye toward getting it all at least acceptably right if you're not one of those incredibly intense RR modeling buffs who want to get everything on their models down to the number of rivets on a car
100% matching the real-world car(s). Which you won't hardly be able to do buying off the shelf or the Web from the major suppliers; for that kinda incredible anal retentiveness, you've basically got to scratch build or kitbash more than a reasonable human being should, then meticulously match paint to the protos themselves, and then etc. and etc. And even if you do that, sooner or later you'll run across an incredible more anal RR buff who will find some sort of increbily arcane fault with your best efforts.So far, I've found a really good resource for new people trying to get their period passenger engines and associated consists available from a few of the major companies for the more popular and easier to model passenger lines west of Chicago acceptably right. I found the site at
But even there, don't expect total accuracy in every single case. I'm getting the impression that there isn't a major model company under the sun who has either the means, the ability, or the need to get every single detail on every car/loco to match the real-world proto 100% right down to every minute detail.
Besides, in the whole scope of RR modeling, you'll impress more people and have more incredible fun putting together an incredibly kick-ass layout and weathering your locos and freight cars and structures than you would worrying about whether that coach or sleeper car has that one window on that one side of the real-world proto out of place or just plain missing entirely.
Don't worry. Be happy.
AJS