Can anyone tell me what year the Bessemer first started painting 40 boxcars in orange, with the large B&LE logo? My research indicates that it was 1960, which will be too bad since I am trying to have a 1958 cutoff date, but I am hoping someone can tell me for sure.
Thanks,
Mr. B&O
If no one here can answer your question, you can try this web site.
March,1940 possibly.The book “Classic Freight Cars” has a photo of boxcar 81370 from the 81001-81800 series. 81370 is painted orange,builders date 3-40,photo is from 1973,but the car looks like it was never repainted. Joe
Hi Joe:
I appreciate your passing this on, but the built date is not a reliable indicator of when a particular paint scheme was used, since, when the car is repainted, the original date would be applied. Of more interest would be the reweigh date, which appears immediately to the right of the LT WT figure. That would have to be updated, since by repainting, the cars weight would change to some extent.
The cars in the 81000 series were evidently purchased second-hand by the B&LE (or possibly transferred from one of the other roads US Steel owned). They are not listed in my copy of the July, 1957 Equipment Register, which also implies that the orange scheme is a late-50’s or 1960 scheme.
Thanks again,
Mr B&O