What are the rules for ownership identification marks on rolling stock and when introduced?
My understanding is that today, AAR(?) requires any stock that may be interchanged must bear a four character mark on the lower left corner of the car. However looking at photos and models of freight cars of the ‘40’ and 50’s or earlier, this does not appear to be the case.
I do not have a set of the rules. But I do have a 1967 Equipment Register and in the back is a great deal of reference material. Under AAR Rules Governing Assignment of Reporting Marks Circular No. OT-5-A (1/1/1966) it says reporting marks assigned to private car owners shall consist of four letters including the final letter ‘x’ - and says this was approved Jan 3, 1957. It points out that railroads are obligated to carry the cars of other railroads but “the use of privately owned equipment by railroads is optional with them and there is no obligation to use such cars if the railroads are in a position to furnish suitable cars of their own.”
Private car owners have to apply for reporting marks to be assigned to them.
For Railroad Car Owners (as opposed to private car owners) the same Circular says only that each freight car must bear distinctive reporting marks of a size and such location as prescribed by the Mechanical Division Standards; that the assignment of reporting marks might be necessary from time to time on account of duly incorporated companies having rights to the same initials, and that assigned reporting marks should be applied to new cars before they are placed in transportation service. The implication is that ordinarily a railroad does not apply for the assignment of reporting marks but has an implicit right to use marks that identify itself unless there is confusion or another road has rights to the same marks – then they apply for assignment (meaning the AAR decides any dispute). There is no reference to four letters and indeed the 1967 Equipment Register has many examples of four letters, three letters, and sometimes two such as TP for Texas & Pacific – they also used T&P. Sacramento Northern was another two letter reporting mark company - SN.
I have not read the entire register but I cannot find a railroad that used one letter for a reporting mark.
Fast Forward to 1995 and my Equipm
The current rules require at least 2 and no more than 4. Since both UP and NS are only 2 letters, they obviously don’t require 4.
The rules in the 1940’s required 1-4 characters. They have been in force in several different variations, starting with the Master Car Builder’s Association in the early 1900’s, the American Railroad Association and the American Association of Railroads. The requirements were reccomendations so there will be variations.
FWIW, I remember borrowing a railroad painting guide through an inter-library loan. It dated from before 1940, but there was a chart showing how and where reporting marks were to be applied, and specifying the sizes of lettering. This document was issued by the Master Car Builders Association, and I recall seeing it excerpted in one of the Train Shed Cyclopedia reprints from the 1970s.
As do railroads.
The Rutland used “R” at one time.
IIRC reporting marks started out as a recommendation rather than regulation, so railroads were not required at first to adopt the recommended practices. Some like the Soo Line and Pennsylvania continued to spell out the railroad name (or nickname in the Soo’s case; it was the Minneapolis St.Paul and Sault Ste. Marie). I think the standardized 2-4 letter requirement came up sometime after WW2, maybe by the early fifties.
Note too that the reporting marks are the offical “name” of the car. If the AB&C railroad bought a used Union Pacific boxcar and painted over the UP reporting marks and added their own, the car would be OK for interchange service despite the car still bearing large UNION PACIFIC lettering and slogans.
Thanks to all for replies above. The club’s West Island and Montreal Railway Company reporting marks are being changed from unconventional five letters (WIMRC) to four letters i.e. WIMR. But the club (West Island Modular Railroad Club) stands by its initials “WIMRC”. [:)]
Poking through an April 1961 ORER, I find:
M Montour Railroad
R Rutland
Also of interest is CR (not Conrail, but Copper Range)–140 cars, mostly ore, but 44 boxes, two of which were 1/2 insulated. Hmmmm.
and PX (Union Tank Car)–no cars assigned
and NX (National Car Company)–3-400 reefers
and TORX (Toronto Elevator Limited)–3 tank cars for the transport of linseed or soya oil in Canada
Ed
Ed