I have a model rail boxcar that shows a built date of 1967. It also has a stencil on the side that says “CLN 79”. What does this stencil mean? Does it indicate that the car was cleaned in 1979? All information will be appreciated. Thanks!
Hard to say without seeing where it was located.
It is probably indicates it had a periodic air brake inspection in 1979 at a location whose abbreviation was “CLN” (CLintoN??).
as i remember, the air date was stencilled on the reservoir. it would read cots (clean, oil, test,and stencil) along with the date and i think an abreviation of the location where the work was done.
i agree we need to see where it is located to know what the date and location stand for. it could be repack date or the most recent weighing of the mty car.
grizlump
It sounds like more of a re-weigh/re-pack/re-paint stencil, the blt date always stays the same, and usuallly says new, after that many years, cars are usually repainted and reweighed,etc, hence the changed date. mh
Attached (hopefully) are two photos to help. In the first photo the “BLT 67” is in the upper black box toward the right end of the car. In the second photo the “CLN 79” can be seen near the bottom and toward the left end of the car. Hopefully this will help provide more information. Thank you for your time!
that is the date and location of when and where the car was reweighed. as you can see it is right next to the lt wt figure. i am not much on CNW so i don’t know where cln is.
grizlump
CLN, as guessed at earlier, is Clinton, Iowa, on the CNW. Griz is correct about it referring to the LT.WT.
Cars are weighed when they’re first built, and the notation beside the weight at that time is the word “NEW”. Depending on the era and, in some cases, the type of car, after being in service for a designated period of time, it’s required to re-weigh the empty car. The weight may not have changed, or it may have changed due to changes made to the car - different brake gear, change of doors, or addition of loading devices, for example. The old weight is painted-over and the new weight is stencilled in its place, followed by a letter code for the shop doing the work and the date when it was done. If the weight is unchanged, it’s not necessary to re-stencil the numbers, but the shop data and date must be added.
If the weight has changed, the number beside LD.LMT. must also be changed. While current practice may be different, for my modelling era (the late '30s) and up into at least the early '60s, the LD.LMT. is determined by subtracting the LT.WT. from arbitrary numbers - these were, for a 40 ton capacity car, 136.000, 50 or 55 ton car - 169,000, 70 ton car - 210,000. In other words, the total of the LT.WT. and the LD.LMT. must, in most cases, equal the appropriate number relative to the car’s capacity.
Also, the road owning the car doesn’t necessarily have to be the one doing the re-weighing - any railroad’s shop may do the work and bill the owner as required - I believe the rate is fixed to ensure that the work is done as it’s required.
For those modelling in the appropriate eras, adding re-weigh and re-pack data is a good way to add detail to your rolling stock. Champ offers decal sets to cover this in several eras. I used them to show re-weigh data by either painting a patch over the already-weathered car or applying a piece of decal paper painted a suitable colour, then adding t
From a modelling point of view the re-weigh date is a better indication of the correct time period of the car than the build date, since a car might have been repainted the same time it was reweighed. (Or to put it another way, if a car went in for a re-shopping extensive enough to be repainted, it would have a new re-weigh date too.)
For example I have an old Walthers M-St.L boxcar that shows a build date in the early 1920’s. However the reweight date is I think “MPLS 4-46” or something like that, which is consistent with it’s postwar paint scheme of a green body and yellow lettering. Even thought the car was built in the 1920’s, it is decorated as a 1940’s repaint, so woudl be incorrect for a 1920’s or 30’s layout.
Doctorwayne, What is the car to the right of the IC car. It appears to have a radial roof and Dreadnaught ends? Thanks! Scott
Wow! [:O] Keen-eyed observation. [;)] That car is a 50’ automobile boxcar from MDC, picked-up new for $4.00. The current ones have crisper lettering, but are about three times as expensive. Here’s a picture:
The “A” end of this car has a lumber door, but MDC also offers the same car with full end doubledoors for automobile end loading.
Wayne