How To Prototype Railroads Do you know where your boxcar is?

Do you know where your boxcar is?

By Angela Cotey | October 23, 2014

| Last updated on January 12, 2021


Read the 1999 Trains article about Automatic Equipment Identification

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In the December 2014 Model Railroader, Seth Neumann and Chris Drone wrote an article about using radio-frequency identification (RFID) and a computer to track rolling stock and new possibilities for operation.

Prototype railroads have been using scanning technology since the late 1960s. Automatic Car Identification (ACI) used an optical reader and a color-coded plate to identify rolling stock, but the system began to fail as the plates got dirty or the colors faded. It was abandoned in the late 1970s. Automatic Equipment Identification (AEI) uses a system based on RFID technology and was instituted in North America in the late 1980s with full compliance by the end of 1994.

 

One thought on “Do you know where your boxcar is?

  1. Hi all.
    As a steadfast DC (analog) supporter, I would like to see some articles in the future about using CMRI (Computer Model Railroad Interface) with a DC layout. Does anyone else feel this way? If so, an article about this topic would be greatly appreciated.
    -Sebastien Bolle

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