All About Aurora Postage Stamp Trains
Road Codes

Aurora used three-digit numerical suffixes to identify the road names for train sets, locomotives and rolling stock, which I've dubbed Road Codes. By contrast, Trix used a unique catalog number for each car type/road name combination—something that Aurora started doing (albeit inconsistently) with train sets and locomotives beginning in 1968.

Unfortunately, the 1967 catalog and 1967 Service Manual were the only places these codes were published, and these didn't contain all of them. Since road codes appear sporadically on packaging, there are a number of them that remain unidentified. In some cases, cars that appeared only in sets had no codes.

It's entirely possible, however, that some road names may never have had codes; the shipping cartons for the 50' mechanical reefers, for instance, were only identified by the road name. Furthermore, I've never seen plastic box inserts with road codes for piggyback cars, depressed center flatcars, 50-foot center flow cars, 50-foot double-door boxcars, or 50-foot covered hoppers.

If you should find a box or document with a road name and/or road code that's not on this list, please let me know so that I can update it. Believe it or not, people rely on this resource for correct information. Thank you!

NOTE

There's a potential conflict in the road codes. 350 is unambiguously Rio Grande, since it appears on a cattle car insert, as well as the 1967 catalog and 1967 Service Manual. However, there's a flat car box marked 4881/350, yet I've found no evidence that a Rio Grande flat was ever released. The box I have contains a Norfolk & Western flatcar, which could be the wrong car; however, it's a legitimate Postage Stamp product. I've yet to find a box marked with either Norfolk & Western and/or a different road code.

Known Road Codes

Code

Road Name

Application

210

Union Pacific

4844, 4866, 4869, 4881, 4882, 4887

211

Canadian National

4843, 4844, 4864, 4887

212

Canadian Pacific

4844, 4865, 4885, 4887

220

Santa Fe

4842, 4843, 4844, 4880, 4881, 4883, 4887

225

Penn Central

4842, 4843, 4844, 4868, 4887

230

Pennsylvania

4882, 4887

240

Baltimore & Ohio

4882, 4887

260

New Haven

4880, 4887

270

Burlington

4842, 4868, 4882, 4885

280

Southern Pacific

4844, 4869, 4882, 4886

290

Missouri Pacific

4883

300

Great Northern

4864, 4870, 4880, 4881

310

Boston & Maine

4843, 4869, 4880

320

Missouri Kansas Texas

4883

330

Southern

4882

335

General American

4870

340

Western Maryland

4842, 4881, 4886

345

Monsanto

4841

350 (?)

Norfolk & Western

4865, 4881

350

Rio Grande

4883

355

Du Pont

4841

360

Chicago Outer Belt

4886

365

Hooker Chemical

4841

370

Dow Chemical

4841, 4866

405

Shell

4866, 4884

410

Mobilgas

4870, 4884

415

Michigan Alkali

4884

420

Celanese Chemicals

4884

425

Hormel

4885

430

Carnation

4885

435

Old Heidelberg

4885

440

National Cylinder Gas

4880

445

Peabody

4886

450

Bessemer & Lake Erie

4864

455

Chicago & North Western

4864

Unidentified Road Codes

  • Road names in grey rows were used for locos and train sets that were never released

Road Name

Application

Armour Refrigerator Line

4867

Atlantic Coast Line

 

Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul

 

Erie

4865, 4882

Frisco

4868

Fruit Growers Express

4867

Holly Sugar

4869

Louisville & Nashville

 

Morrel's Pride

4867

Northern Pacific

 

Rock Island

4865

St. Claire

4868

Swift Refrigerator Line

4867

United Carbon

4866

United States Army

4881

See Also...

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