The reporting mark ARMN is assigned to the Union Pacific which they inheritated when UP took over the Missouri Pacific. I learned ARMN originated from the American Refrigerator Transit Co., which was a St. Louis, Missouri based private refrigerator car line established in 1881 by the Missouri Pacific and Wabash Railroads. However I’ve never found what ARMN stands for.
Does anyone know what the initials ARMN stand for? It probably goes back before private car companies were required to have their reporting mark end with an X
This paragraph is correct about the MoPac origin of the reporting mark post-1982, but before that, not so much. The American Refrigerator Transit Company lettered its mechanical reefers RMDX and RMAX (perhaps a couple of other RM_X marks as well). In about 1971, ART was pretty much dissolved as an operating company, and cars that had carried ART’s dozen-or-so reporting marks were relettered for railroads (no more reporting marks that ended in “X”). The N&W (Wabash’s successor) relettered its cars to N&W series, but MP just removed the “X” from most of the reporting marks and ran them that way. The RMDX cars were relettered ARMN at that time.
So ARMN was a MoPac reporting mark for former ART cars–it was never an ART reporting mark.
I would have to check, but I suspect that there are few, if any, active UPFE reefers out there any more. In fact, while we were in Nebraska somewhere, we saw some white ARMN 760000-series reefers being used as off-track storage sheds, so even these are being retired.
Bottom line: A=American. R=Refrigerator. M=Mechanical. N=nothing in particular that I’m aware of.
On the right side of that page, there’s 2 photos of cars - 1 from circa 1940, and the other from circa 1950, with both MoPac and Wabash heralds (logos) on the right side. Both cars have the reporting marks “A.R.T.” ! So I surmise that the ARMN was not assigned until after 1950. I know that N&W acquired the Wabash in 1963 or 1964 (along with the Nickel Plate Road). I’m not sure when the “X” requirement for private line cars became effective - I would not be surprised that it was in the late 1960s or 1970s, though, after the N&W acquisition of the Wabash. So in addition to finding that out, I’d be looking for when was AMRN assigned ? If that occurred after the N&W-Wabash merger and before the “X”-line rule became effective, then I’ll bet a $3 hot dog that I’ve got the answer. And, I could be wrong . . . . [swg]
Funny how something I wrote on another forum happens to pop up here- as for the ARMN mark from the research I did on the mark the reason why it was not assigned an “X” at the end of the mark is because the cars were not privately owned- much like the Pacific Fruit Express cars being marked PFE under equal ownership of the UP and the SP, the ART cars were of common ownership between the MP and Wabash (later NW by merger). The case of the MN isn’t as complicated as it seems- A is American, R is Refrigerator and MN is MechaNical. Here’s a good shot of an ARMN car in it’s as delive
If you look closely enough at that picture of ARMN 707, you’ll see that it was also relettered. The ARMN reporting marks were not brought into use until 1973, after the split-up of the equipment had taken place. As you mentioned, the RMDX cars were the only ones that were relettered ARMN. Some older cars (including RMAX and RMBX) often got MP numbers or were retired.
That TP RBL was relettered and renumbered in two “phases”. It was originally in a MODX or TPLX series. It was then relettered MOD or TPL, without being renumbered, soon after the split. Other ART reporting marks went either all or partially to the N&W (All WADX cars were given NW numbers, and the ABLX cars were split up: most went to NW, but a few were relettered ABM). The 781000-series renumbering and TP reporting marks came later, but before everything began to be relettered MP.
MN for MechaNical is as plausible as anything else I’ve heard.
The ARMN-lettered mechanical reefers were given UPFE numbers in the low 461000 series soon after the MopUP merger and a rebuilding. The ARMN reporting marks were not in use from the mid-1980s (don’t hold me to that date!) until about 2000, when the rebuilt FGE cars (900000 series) began to appear.
Thanks for the replies, theories and photos. Did anyone else notice in this photo that “Cushion Car” was mispelled “Cusnoih”. Looks like painter had the stencil for the last 4 letters reversed.
To reiterate: ARMN was never a reporting mark of American Refrigerator Transit Company, having originated in 1973 (the newest RMDX reefers were ca. 1969 or 1970). The cars were relettered ARMN without repainting and without renumbering. In fact, some of them made it to UPFE reporting marks with that reddish-orange color (though I don’t recall seeing the logos thereon).
I first saw relettered ex-ART cars (TPL, MOD, etc.) in May 1971. If I’m not mistaken, American Refrigerator Transit Company still exists, but something happened to it back around then–all of the covered hopper and refrigerator cars were reassigned to one of the original owners. (They may have some gondolas now, but that’s it!)