Does anyone know exactly why Southern used a letter at the end of there road numbers. Was it just another way to help keep track of the locomotives?
The check codes were used to make sure the right locomotives numbers in their lash-ups consists were written down.
It seems that Southern was ahead of its time in one respect, but with the ID tags on locomotives there is no need for the check codes anymore. They are a bit more reliable than some [D)] with a pen, pencil or a crayon.
The Vermont-based trucking company for which I worked in the 80’s and 90’s used them also. It didn’t keep you from writing down the wrong numbers (as one of our drivers discovered when he pulled a Cleveland-bound trailer from Syracuse NY to Portland, ME), but did cause a problem if you tried to enter the incorrect number in the computer system. This would in turn cause you to research the cause of the error.
Thanks [:)]