Can anyone tell me what the B stands for on freight cars? It always seems to be an upper case B followed by what I figured was a date (two digits) and is usually located in the lower right portion of boxcars. I assumed it was a build date but now I don’t think so as I have some older metal HO cars that have numbers like B 64 and even B 80. The B 80 was actually made in the 50’s so it can’t be a build date and there is not a Blt with a date on the car. I am trying to model the mid 50’s and have avoided some cars with the B 58 or higher as I thought that it was a build date. Then I discovered the B 80 and others in my collection of old cars made from the 40’s to 60’s and wonder if I missed some good oldies because of the misunderstanding. Thanks for any help you can give.
Just a guess without more info, but that sounds like a specific railroad’s internal class designation for a car. For example, UP and N&W have various boxcar classes all starting with B. Is the B label on your models found only on specific car types and road names?
Ya I think it’s a RR designation, B-80 for “boxcar type 80”. The built date usually will say “BLT 11-58”, and also have “NEW 11-58”. If it’s an older car that has been extensively shopped it would have the same built date, but instead of a “NEW” date it would have a shop name abbreviation and shop date, like “CHI 10-71” for “Chicago 10-71”.
I’ve only noticed the B on boxcars but some of them have not had a build date with the standard New or Blt designations. This made me wonder what it meant and especially when I found high numbers on old cars. Thanks alot.