got an athearn 40 footer in in ACY color. The built date says 5-47 so i thought i was ok and could use it for my transition era layout. but theres this weird little line that says Bk 5-68 …what the heck is that? does it mean it was refurbished at that time? does that mean it wouldnt be appropriate for my layout set in 1955-1960? help?
You don’t state specifically, but I’ll bet that the Blt date is on the lower right side of the car and the Bk date is on the left side of the car next to and in line w/ the Lt Wt. It’s a “rewiegh” date. When a car is built the Blt date goes where it is on your car and the spot where your Bk date is now would have “New XX xx:” which would correspond to the Blt date. The first time the car got some major repair work or on the expiration of a certain amount of time (which I don’t know the length of) the car would have to be rewieghed and the new Lt Wt and the rewiegh date stenciled on. The first letters refer to the shop (Bk is Bakersfield on the SP, Sacto is Sacramento and I’ll lv LA to your imagination) The Lt Wt is a critical datum since it’s used to determine the wieght of the cargo and therefore the frt charges
Also, assuming not referring to a shop’s initials, it could mean Brakes repaired/replaced. The new shoes would be heavier than the worn out ones, so a reweight might be in order. Since the date is later than your time period, I’d guess it is not correct for your era, however, the paint scheme might be (I don’t know enough about ACY to say), so you might be able to simply remove that line and have an accurate car.
Brad
You don’t rewiegh a car because they changed out a brake shoe. That is done in the course of normal running repair, generally in the train yard itself.
What that line means is that the brake system was inspected in 1968, so the car (and probably the paint scheme) dates from the 1960’s. If the paint scheme is correct you could remove that notation and have a 1950’s era car.
Dave H.
Is the car yellow? If so, it’s post-1960.
yup just checked with the historical society online, they have a complete car roster http://www.acyhs.org/modeler/frtrost.html car 3247 is post 1960. dang [|(] anyone wanna trade for an athearn pennsy boxcar that would be right for the period ?
This car was built in 1947. It was owned by NH railroad until ACY got it. Why not paint and decal it for NH? Ken
The problem there is that it is based on a PS 1 and athearns car is a 5/5 car. It’s totally wrong in either case. Kadee did one, but it’s out of stock. Get some Branchline “yardmaster series” cars, they’re easy to build and correct for your era. Check their web site. mike h