Railroads were in some ways ahead of the curve on desegregation. In 1941 the Supreme Court in Mitchell required railroads to offer first class accommodations to blacks as well as whites. Some roads met this by desegregating their Pullman service, others by setting up segregated Pullman service, and no doubt others simply ignores the issue as much as possible. In 1950 the Supreme Court in Henderson struck down segregation in dining cars. Neither of these dealt with segregated second class accommodations which was how most blacks travelled, and there was still the restraints imposed by "unofficial segregation rules".
Henderson is an interesting case for the modeler because the different rules would result in a different set up for the diner depending on when during the 1940s was being modeled. The case actually quotes the different Southern policies in effect at different times during the decade.
