On this and the following web pages are a smattering of prototype-alongside-model photos, selected only as initiations to the varied car types that can be found in each category. These images will hopefully help you realize the range of car types better, so that you can make wiser layout Theme decisions.
3-rail O-scale rollingstock started out as toys, and as such still carry a bit of that legacy today. On recent models you can see it most plainly in the size of the couplers and the depth of the wheel flanges. The fact that these cars are so rugged, and that the track and coupling systems have remained standard for a century, means that models marketed to customers with different types of expectations could potentially show up together on the same layout.
TIP: Don't overlook acquiring 2-rail O-scale rollingstock, as these 2-rail cars can often easily be converted for use on your 3-rail layout just by removing the couplers and exchanging the trucks with 3-rail integrated coupler-trucks.
Click on the photo of the boxcars on the top of this page, and it becomes obvious that your choice of rollingstock for the layout will be critical. Not only do vastly different sized cars look odd when coupled into the same train, but car proportions will dictate layout design factors such as required siding lengths, clearances, and minimum curve radius. This doesn't necessarily mean though that you have to settle for semi-scale, or even toy (i.e. most O27) rollingstock and locomotives on a small layout, as you can instead choose to model an earlier era (full scale prototype cars and locos get smaller as you travel back in time, and especially before the 1930s).
Don't Weather 3-rail Cars!
Prototype railroads build paint shops, and spend millions of dollars washing and repainting [EXPLANATION] their cars. Paint protects and preserves, which reduces maintenance and improves safety. A clean, freshly painted car is a show of pride, that also provides positive advertising for the railroad. Which would you rather ride (or put your merchandise on), a dirty rusty car all covered in graffiti, or one that was clean and freshly painted? Many car fleets are large, so it is hard for those railroads to keep their cars pristine. However when they do have the manpower, the marketing department will want all of their cars to look brand new, just like our 3-rail cars do.
A special note about "toy" rollingstock...
It's YOUR railroad, so don't listen to the snobs or investors. While an accurate and finely crafted piece of rollingstock is a joy to own, as an Operations oriented model Railroader, justifiable toy rollingstock that merely infers the real thing is often perfectly acceptable. What IS important is that the rollingstock (even the finely crafted rollingstock) function reliably, and this might entail a full maintenance overhaul, or even an upgrade of parts.
Self-propelled freight and passenger cars are listed in the Revenue Car section. Here we are concerned with exclusive motive power units, whether propelled by Steam or Traction motors (such as are found in Heavy Electric and the ubiquitous Diesel Electric locomotives). Note that any type of metal-frame rollingstock may operate in a Subway tunnel, as long as it is propelled electrically.
3-rail O-scale modelers are discouraged from operating 4-wheel trailing truck "super power" steam locomotives, as the combination of locomotive and tender use way too much layout track space. In fact steam locomotives in general are discouraged, as their parking, maintenance, and refueling infrastructure can use up nearly all the space available for a small layout. They are also inferior as switching engines. Of course if you really must, any type of era appropriate car or locomotive (including Foreign Power [EXPLANATION]) could make an appearance as through-traffic on a suitable section of layout main line.
Private Cars are similar to normal Interchange cars, but are owned and maintained by private individuals, businesses, and the government, instead of another railroad. These cars may be designed to carry freight, passengers, or even livestock (e.g., the cars in a Circus Train). Freight cars especially are often of an unusual construction, in order to accommodate a specific load that the railroads general duty rollingstock couldn't handle.
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