I have seen some train layouts in some older Marklin catalogs. Are there other locations I could find this kind of information? I have checked out a few web sites but they only feature info on either engines or rolling stock. I am trying to put together a series of trains and would like to know what freight cars go together. I would also like to put together correct passenger trains as well. Any help would be appreciated.

Art

Always good when looking for something else, and you find what you didn't expect.

These might help you - from the 1990 English/Italian catalogue

Hi Art,

If you look at the L.S.models web-site and click on "composition de rame" (french language) you will find diagrams of passenger train formations for various years. It is naturally biased towards their own products but it will give you some idea of how train are put together.
For some of the longer expresses I would imagine some selective compression would be called for.

Bob M.

Art,

I am a little confused. The heading says passenger train consists, but your initial post asks about freight consists. Traditionally international freight consists were marshalled at large freight yards. At those yards, cars heading to a specific destination or to another freight yard were sorted into consists. Those trains would then be pulled to the destination. If the train went to another freight yard, the cars would be split and sorted (marshalled) for their final destination. It would be possible to find pretty much all kinds of freight cars mixed along the way.
Today, many freight trains are operated by private operators, who offer daily or scheduled services between point A and point B. Those trains travel the entire route each time and are no longer stopped along the way for marshalling. The end result is that it is now much more common to see unit trains, made up of oil tankers, container cars or car carriers. Those trains now travel with pretty much the same exact consist each trip, so there is almost no variation. Companies that seek to ship items can ship by truck or by container via those unit train services, or for random shipments, go through the national railways cargo division, which may still ship that item using "less than carload" services which would then still be sorted along the way the traditional way, but would take longer than the modern services.
It is still possible to see local freight with mixed compositions, as those trains are made up of cars sorted at the larger domestic hubs and sent out for delivery.
I remember reading about and seeing photos showing freight cars being sorted at Muttenz (CH), then transported south down the Gotthard by the SBB to Chiasso, where they were sorted for their Italian destination and then hauled into Italy by FS loks.

One hint. The UIC or RIC/RIV numbers show whether the particular car is allowed for international or domestic traffic only. For example, a car labelled 50 85 belongs to the SBB and is allowed for inland use only. An international freight car would have 51 85. So, in Germany, it would be possible to find domestic German 50 80 combined with international German 51 80 and 51 XX from other railways. You would not find inland cars from other countries in that train. Older cars had the RIV marking EUROP for international use, so cars with those markings could be combined.

As far as passenger traffic, coaches are run in specific consists by destination, although some coaches may be detached along the way and then go on to other destinations along the way. International trains usually have the same consist daily. Local trains are also operated by schedule and normally include domestic coaches of the operating railway. They may also include coaches from international trains being carried to local destinations.

Trains are operated by one or more of the national railways. Thus, the consists of international trains are now normally composed of coaches belonging to that railway. Along the way, domestic or additional international coaches belonging to railways along the route may be added on, either for the full run or for destinations along the way. So, a train from Belgium to Italy may have Belgian or Italian coaches, but could also have Swiss, Luxembourg or French coaches along the way.
A good site with international consists is:

http://e.bournez.free.fr/Eurocity.html

As stated, LS Models has some consists (mainly Belgian) under Composition des Rames. You can find more about Belgian and Belgian internaitional trains at http://www.belrail.be/F/...ntl/classique/index.html or older (cancelled) services at http://www.belrail.be/F/.../intl/classique/old.html
Swiss consists and those of trains travelling through Switzerland can be found at www.reisezuege.ch\\

There are also sites like this one: http://www.vonderruhren....bahn/seiten/internat.php which have some info for DB trains

This might also be of interest: http://www.mist4.de/arch...1-vortrag-zugbildung.pdf

and this one: http://germanrail.8.foru...ugbildung-in-1/87-HO-20/

and one last minute addition: http://www.vagonweb.cz/r...amp;rok=2011&lang=de

Regards

Mike C

Hi Art,

Glad it helped. I was browsing the '95-96 catalogue today and I see it has similar consist suggestions so I've scanned those two pages also, and it breaks down into Epoch as well which might be rather handy

Cheers

Cookee

I really like the catalog layouts as they give the car part numbers as a short cut.

Art