Hey, I got a pic of this sticker it was on a NS coal car, bottom dump, in a mixed train on horseshoe curve. There were about 30 or 40 cars with this sticker in a row, and about 10 more a few cars after words. What does it mean, all the cars seemed in real good condition. Mike
…According to the pink sticker it is indicating not to load car as it is on it’s way to the scrap yard. Or am I reading it wrong.
If you analyze it one way it could mean that the cars are not to be loaded because they are to be scrapped, but the reporting marks and road numbers would be crossed out with spray paint if they were to be scrapped.
What it most likely means is that the cars are not supposed to be loaded with scrap steel. The loading of the scrap steel will bend and gouge the panels from the inside to the outside.
Andrew
The sticker means exactly what it says.
You wouldn’t want to paint out the reporting marks (which is both the number and road initials) until the car has reached final destination, otherwise, how would you know what it is and where it goes?
The photo doesn’t show much but the construction details indicate a car that has probably approaching or reached its 40-year AAR or 50-year FRA life limit.
RWM
Somebody has to find the press release that mentions that Norfolk Southern is obtaining something like 1600 new coal cars from Freight Car America. If that is true then they would no longer need these old cars.
Andrew
The label would have been better if it read:
THIS CAR IS SCRAP
DO NOT LOAD
Where are the new Coal Hoppers and Gondolas for Norfolk Southern?
Do you have photos of those New NS Coal Cars?
Andrew
Are you going to write a letter to the railroad about this?
These labels are made by a supplier for all the railroads.
There are other similar labels stuck to other freight cars operated by other companies.
The order of the words apparently is meant to be humorous to some people.
I mean, they could have been more straight forward, but they had to make a play on words.
The employees must either be very bored or must have a lot of fun at the label production plant.
Andrew
I recall reading that fun-house label company also makes the stickers that say, “Attach shackles here”.
Do you always harp on what other posters have to say?
Railway Man sounds like he is 7 Feet Tall and 300 Pounds, so we better be scared.
[(-D]
Andrew
Seems to me, that the railroads know what the labels mean. That’s the important part.
He’s not all that scary, but he speaks with well-founded authority. Don’t run, just listen–you will learn something.
…From what one can see in the photo, the car appears to me to be rather old. Not a surprise then, it most likely is headed to be scrapped.
The car in the photo looks like it was well maintained and kept up to date (note the yellow reflectorized strips added along the bottom of the side). I suspect that RWM is correct in stating that the car has probably reached its age limit.
I have often seen retired cars being shipped with reporting marks and numbers lined out (not fully painted out). They still show up under their old numbers on the lists, and I presume that the AEI tags are still functional.
One doesn’t see many steel hoppers on western railroads any more–they’re still out there somewhere, and UP has a number of unit trains comprised of a motley assortment of such cars (including some CTRN cars that began life on the BN). But even the more modern steel cars of western railroads are going to leasing companies, apparently because the demand for their services just isn’t there. As for new cars, UP has a fair-sized fleet of aluminum hoppers. BNSF has little except for cars meant to be in unit trains. I don’t get to see what the eastern railroads are doing in terms of new coal cars to protect their business, so it’s nice to hear that NS is buying something, anyway. The last trend I saw on eastern railroads was for them to rebuild some of their older hopper cars into Bethgon clones or otherwise (as in NS’ “Top Gons”) add solid bottoms to them. CSX, it would appear, is refurbishing older cars–I’ve seen some clean ones out here, both CSXT and NYC, that have fresh CSX paint and solid (i.e., none of the typical straw-filled holes) sides, servicing one of the few carload customers we have left.
Being Completely Serious Now.
Which railroad companies have their own printing equipment to make their own labels for rolling stock?
Which railroads go to a supplier for decals or labels for rolling stock?
If the railroad employees acquire labels from a supplier, then in order to purchase them for the lowest price they most likely have to follow the standard procedure of ordering a standard message in large quantities.
Andrew