I want to be sure that this refer fits my era.
Branchline Blueprint series C&NW #2785.
On the right of the side is the letters “built 3 38”. On the left of the side it says “BA 2-56”
I model 1949, is this car suitable for this era?
What could the “BA” mean?
Bruce
Bruce,
I’m not sure exactly what the “BA” designates but I’m sure the “2-56” isn’t referring to the size screw to use for the truck installment. I would interpret “2-56” as May Feb 1956, which would make it past your era.
Tom
If the “BA 2-56” is in the area of the car weight/capacity lettering, it surely is the place and date the last time the car was weighed empty. “BA” specifies the location, but I don’t know the location it specifies. “2-56” means February 1956. If you regularly examine your cars with a magnifier, it could be worthwhile to back date those markings up to two years prior to the date you’re modeling.
Mark
Tom and Mark are both correct. BA refers to Baraboo, Wisconsin, where the car would have been re-weighed in February of 1956. You could make that car useable for your era simply by revising the lettering to “BA 2-46”, as cars like that needed to be re-weighed every 30 months in 1948 and earlier. After 1948, the period between re-weighings was extended to every 48 months for most house cars.
If you do change the date as suggested, mask-off the areas as shown below before applying weathering. When the masking is removed, these areas will appear to have been re-stencilled on an already in-service car. Champ offers re-weigh dates, data, and other info. For your era, look under “Special Detail Data Sets”, and select the scale station symbols and re-pack stencils most appropriate for your modelled locale, and the re-weigh dates for scale marks most suitable for your era - likely HD-63 and perhaps HD-62. You may also want to look at replacement load limits and light weights (or you can simply use the masking technique mentioned previously). All of the Champ sets mentioned contain data sheets explaining the use and purpose of this re-lettering practice.
Here are a few that I’ve done:
Wayne
Baraboo WI is where the North Western Refrigerator Line had its car shops for many years (originally the Ringling Circus car shops). NWX had a close corporate relationship with the C&NW, so it makes sense for the car to have the BA indication.
Dave Nelson
It took me forever to figure out just which Branchline model Bruce is referring to here, since they’ve never made a “C&NW 2785”. Based on the REBUILD DATE, this is kit number 1217, NWX 70266.
Bruce: this car is 100% inappropriate for 1949. The yellow & green scheme didn’t come out for CMO and NWX cars until 1956 (and was never used on C&NW cars, except for some reason SOME C&NW stock cars). What you want are the gray NWX reefers. Unfortunately, Branchline doesn’t sell an appropriate car for your time period either; they CLAIM that kit 1215 and/or 1216 will work, but they’re wrong. The herald and left side lettering are wrong for the late 1940s (the cars are in early 1930s lettering, and wood cars got repainted every 7 to 12 years). Accurail’s kit 4819 comes closer to the correct lettering scheme for these cars, but the relatively short-lived 1940s lettering has never been offered ono a RTR car; Sunshine does (or did) make a correct decal set for these cars.
Everyone else is “mostly” right about the date being a reweigh date. Actually, and more properly it’d be a rePACK date; the date that the plain bearings on the trucks were repacked with cotton waste and inspected for wear. That date is FAR more common that the reWEIGH date, since cars weren’t reweighed as often as repacked. In the case of this SPECIFIC car though, the date refers to the reBUILD of the car, and repainting into the yellow and green scheme. The Baraboo location is correct.
When I saw the title of your post, I thought you had found the ideal woman… one that lets you take her out on a date on a refrigeration car… I hope they didn’t have cars devoted to that wacky terbacky. [:D]
I don’t believe so. While an ARA source would be more authoritative, the following information is taken from a mid-twentieth lettering drawing of an SP box car: (1) the weighing place/date is adjacent to the weight amounts and used 3-inch lettering, and (2) the repacking date used 1-inch lettering and was adjacent to the dimensional, built, and class data on the opposite end of the car side.
While repacking may be done more often, the weight place/date information would always be shown and is readily apparent and separate from the repacking date.
Mark
I believe Mark is correct, Ray: on the photos which I posted above, the re-pack info, including a date, is located in the small re-stencilled area over the right-hand truck, on either a re-painted black or boxcar red patch.
According to the info sheet included with the Champ decals, their research showed that about 12% of cars were re-weighed off-line (not by the owning road) while about 32% of cars had their journals re-packed by off-line shops. They suggest mixing the re-weigh info decals and those for re-pack (separate sets) in similar proportions. For my late-'30s layout, most of the dates on the re-pack stencilling is too modern for my era, but changing those HO scale 1" numbers is beyond both my skills and my concern. [swg]
Not knowing the history of the cars mentioned, I can’t comment on the reference to a “Re-Built” date, other than to note that a true re-building required alterations to the car’s frame. Any other modifications (new sides, ends, roof, paint, etc.) would have been considered at most a “refurbishment” and would generally not be noted on the car itself.
I do appreciate your comments on that green and yellow paint scheme, though, Ray. I have always admired those cars but had been unsure as to whether or not they were correct for my era. (Not that I’m always a stickler for such detail, as I do have some cars more appropriate to the '40s or '50s on the layout. I call it modeller’s licence, but most don’t even bother to comment.) [;)]
Wayne
Hi Wayne!
According to the 1920 and 1926 ARA standard lettering diagrams, the date to the left is called the “reweigh date”, but IIRC, it wasn’t ONLY used as the reweigh location & date. I’ll have to root through my MCB Dictionaries to find the exact purpose and locations of that date location, as well as the BLT date location to the right of the car side, as well as a THIRD date field area, also on the right.
It might be a while before I can get to that though; I’m prepping like mad for a steam modeling clinic I’m giving in Indiana mext month. Busy, busy, busy!
As for the C&NW/CMO green & yellow cars: I like them too, which is why I did some research on them to see if they fit my own 1949 modeling period. I dug up a lot of material on their freight car fleet, including the knowledge that I’d have to update almost ten years to get them on my layout! Not happening, considering I really should BACK date about 20 years to get the freight cars I really like to model!
I’m sure, then, that we can expect to see some well-done steam modelling coming out of Indiana and environs in the coming months. [swg]
Wayne
