One of the data files is the car type file (cartypes.dat). Typically, this file maps one of 91 printable characters to a type of freight car. This file contains no layout-specific information (such as specific actual cars). Right now the two sample data sets (the original Chesapeake System and the LJ&BS) use the same Car Types File, since both data sets are for railroads that model North American railroading from the mid 20th century to the present. This car types file would probably work just fine for any model railroad set in North America from the early to mid 20th century to the present. This car types file would probably not work well for modelers whose railroads are based on European (or other parts of the world) prototype or are based in other eras.
Now, you are probably wondering why I am babbling about this. The reason is simple: if I were to create a program to create the collection of files needed by the FCF, I'd like to minimize the amount of user data entry. For modelers who are modeling North American prototypes from the mid 20th century to the present, the "stock" car types file can be use as-is. But this presents a problem for those modelers who are modeling either a different era or railroads in a different part of the world. The contents of this file is pretty standardized, for any given prototype, so it makes sense to have a set of car types files, one for each broad prototype class. The user would just select which car types file make sense for his or her model.
