Railroad Milestones Since 1945 - A Tool for Modelers. 
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HO Cabooose
Features
Kodachromes appear on SP and ATSF.
End of Train Devices begin to replace cabooses.
Double Stack trains appear in quantity.
Movement of bulk grain in boxcars ends in the United States.
Iowa Interstate appears.
West Tennessee RR spins off of ICG.
Santa Fe acquires SDP40F's from Amtrak.
Santa Fe begins selling CF7's.
 
Cornfields
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.
Chicago Central & Pacific appears (spinning off ICG.)
Dakota Minnesota & Eastern appears (spinning off C&NW)
DASH 8-40C introduced.
Cabooses become rare.
ICG becomes Illinois Central again.
GP60, SD50F, SD60F, F40PH-2 introduced.
BN begins painting cars with no name or logo.
Paducah & Louisville appears (spinning off of ICG.)
Washington Central appears (spinning off BN.)
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)
Fruit Growers Express replaces "Solid Cold" with "Real Cold" on insulated boxcars. (Only 50+- cars receive this version.)
MKT merges into UP.
MidSouth buys Gulf & Mississippi.
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.
CM&W shuts down, SP enters Chicago, Gateway Western launched.
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.
South Florida gets commuter rail.
Nashville & Eastern appears (spinning off of Seaboard System.)
Selected Chessie and Seaboard System equipment appears in early CSX colors (with B&O, C&O or SBD reporting marks.)
Cabooses no longer required on mainline freights. 
CP Rail phases out the Multi-Mark logo.
Allegheny Railroad appears.
Arizona Eastern appears (spinning off of Southern Pacific.)
Austin & Northwestern appears.
British Columbia Railway changes name to BC Rail.
Buckingham Branch appears (spinning off of CSX.)
CP Rail establishes Canadian Atlantic Railway.
Aberdeen Carolina & Western opens.
Wisconsin & Calumet appears.
Copper Basin appears.
Yadkin Valley appears (spinning off of NS.)
Dakota Southern appears.
Florida Northern appears.
S-BC, Ch-P, FUS, Pacifico, merged with NdeM to form the new Ferrocarril Nationales de Mexico (FNM.)
Farmrail opens Grainbelt subsidiary.
Dakota Missouri Valley & Western appears (spun off Soo Line)
115 ton cars appear in quantity.
NS reporting marks begin to replace NW and SOU on Norfolk Southern.
Canadian Pacific fully acquires Soo Line.
Wheeling & Lake Erie re-appears (spun off NS)
Ditch Lights begin to appear in US.
Last new diesels delivered in Rio Grande paint.
Golden West Service rolling stock appears.
Georgia Central appears.
Huron & Eastern appears.
In Chicago, RTA becomes Metra.
Michigan Northern closes.
Minneapolis Northfield & Southern merges into Soo Line.
Northeast Kansas & Missouri opens.
Santa Fe gets GP60B's bringing back A-B-B-A sets for a short time.
Friction Bearings banned on many tank cars.
Oregon California & Eastern shuts down.
Arizona & California appears (spinning off of ATSF.)
Twin Cities & Western appears (spinning off of Soo.)
RF&P merges into CSX.
Wichita Tillman & Jackson appears (spinning off of UP.)
Mohawk Adirondack & Northern opens.
Mountain Laurel opens.
The new Oneida & Western ends operations.
Otter Tail Valley Rwy opens.
PATrain closes down.
Port of Tillamook Bay RR expands.
Southwestern Railroad opens.
Southeast Kansas Railroad opens.
 
CSX subsidiary roads are officially merged into CSX Transportation (with CSXT reporting marks.)
Southeast Coal Company stops running their own trains (SECX.)
Shore Line East commuter operation opens.
Seagraves Whiteface & Lubbock opens.
St. Lawrence & Atlantic opens (spinning off of CN.)
Blue Mountain & Reading expanded and re-organized as Reading Blue Mountain & Northern a.k.a Reading & Northern.
Santa Fe replaces Indian Red and large logos with Mineral Brown and no logos.
Santa Fe sells the last of the CF7's.
Santa Fe introduces Q logo.
(Small) logos reintroduced to Santa Fe freight cars.
Texas & Oklahoma opens.
P32-8WH introduced.
Trailer Train becomes TTX.
SD70M, P40DC,
SD90-43MAC introduced.
Metro Link (Los Angeles) appears.
Cotton Belt is finally merged into Southern Pacific.
Detroit & Mackinac becomes Lake State Railway.
San Joaquin Valley Railroad appears.
Wisconsin & Southern acquires Wisconsin & Calumet.
Indiana Southern appears.
Missouri & Northern Arkansas appears.
Conrail adds Quality logo.
Arkansas Midland appears.
Caltrain (San Francisco, San Jose) appears.
Allegheny RR becomes Allegheny Eastern under G&W ownership.
Central Kansas Railway appears.
Central RR of Indiana spins off from CR.
Dallas Garland & Northeastern appears.
Blue Mountain RR appears.
Goderich-Exeter Rwy appears.
Pigeon River RR and Hillsdale County RR merge to form Indiana Northeastern.
P&LE merges into CSX.
Centerbeams surpass bulkhead flats for  hauling lumber.
DASH 8-44CW, DASH 9-44CW, AC4400CW, DASH 8-40BP, SD60I, SD70, SD70MAC introduced.
53' Spine Cars appear.
Conrail joins Triple Crown Services.
Wisconsin Central acquires Fox River Valley, and Green Bay & Western.
Nebraska Central appears.
Conrail acquires Monongahela Railway.
Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia appears.
California Northern appears.
Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad appears.
Eastern Idaho RR appears.
Idaho Northern & Pacific appears.
Natchez Trace sold, becomes Mississippi Central.
Pup (28' etc.) trailers from LTL carriers surge onto the rails.
Friction Bearings banned in all interchange service.
MidSouth merges into KCS.
Louisville & Indiana appears (spinning off of Conrail.)
Cambria & Indiana closes their doors.
Southern Railway of British Columbia dons Washington Corp blue paint.
CP Rail closes Canadian Atlantic subsidiary.
UP, NS and Conrail form the EMP container pool.
Central Vermont becomes New England Central.
C&NW merges into Union Pacific.
Central Oregon & Pacific starts service.
AT&SF and BN parent companies merge.
CP Rail establishes St. Lawrence & Hudson to run eastern lines.
Bangor & Aroostook joins Iron Road.
New Brunswick Southern appears.
Finger Lakes Railway appears.
CN is privatized and integrates Grand Trunk Western.
Wisconsin Central buys Algoma Central, re-logos and re-numbers fleet, leading to complete repainting.
Canadian American appears.
Maine Eastern appears.
Carolina Southern appears.
Allegheny Valley RR appears.
Georgia & Florida RR (part of the G&O Rwys group) opens for business.
KCS acquires a 49% stake in Texas Mexican.
Seagraves Whiteface & Lubbock sold to RailAmerica and becomes West Texas & Lubbock.
Old friction bearing trucks that have been retrofit with roller bearing inserts are banned from interchange.
Chicago & North Western abandons "Zito" yellow and brings back "stagecoach" yellow.
The Graffiti Era begins.
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1945-1965
1966-1983
1984-1995
1996-2005
2006-Today
The Graffiti Era as we now know it begins.