Conspicuity Reflector Strips

[Bessemer Bob]

I had two general questions about reflective or conspicuity stripes, when did these start to appear on freight cars? Also when did these start to appear on locomotives? I am going through my collection of N scale equipment and trying to limit myself to the pre 1999 split of Conrail. There is just too much stuff coming out now in N and I need to get control of this lol. I know Conrail had reflective stripes on the Conrail Quality locos, but I’m not sure about other lines and freight cars.

Thanks,

Bob

[m a y o r 79]

The FRA striping rule went into effect in 2005, not sure exactly what date all equipment had to be in compliance though. The PDF with all of the information is avalible here:

www.fra.dot.gov/Downloads/reflector%20final%20rule.pdf

If you are modeling pre 1999 then you woudln't have to worry at all about reflective striping unless it was applied to specific equipment you wanted to model.