Hi Everyone
I resently purchased a few box cars I'd like to switch over to road name number I model (as if I don't have enough rail road projects to manage) My question is how was it done - did they leave the old road name and just change the reporting marks with company road numbers. Or was it kept in the yard until it was repainted etc?
Freelancing MCRR/NYC Northern Division - Angelo
Hi Angelo:
I think what you want to do for now is a patch job wherein the number and reporting marks are covered with black paint and new numbers marks are put on the paint until such time as the car can be repainted which in some cases might be never.
Railroads are businesses and loath to take a capital assest out of service unless it needs major repair.
Joe Staten Island West
The reporting marks - the initials and numbers - are the legal "name" of the car. At a minimum, a railroad buying a used car would have to change that to their railroad's reporting marks. The rest of the lettering, with the old railroad's name, slogans, etc. doesn't have to be changed for the car to be used in interchange service.
Locomotives rather than cars, but when Fox River Valley bought some C&NW GP-30s, all they did was unbolt the CNW heralds from the cab sides and put their initials on. They left the numbers.In at least one case I photographed, the new owner's name was a flexible magnetic sign like you see on trucks, slapped onto the side of the cabs.
Disclaimer: This post may contain humor, sarcasm, and/or flatulence.
Michael Mornard
Bringing the North Woods to South Dakota!
It seems most common thing is to patch the reporting marks and number and stencil on the new ones. Sometimes they keep the same number. Sometimes they will paint over the logos. Occasionally they will completely repaint the car (probably when it is refurbished at the time of sale or new lease).
"No soup for you!" - Yev Kassem (from Seinfeld)
Most are "patched" as noted, where a "patch" of color, whatever available most times, is applied over the reporting marks and numbers, and the new reporting marks and numbers (i.e. CSXT 987654) is stenciled onto the patch. This is a quick, easy way to reletter and renumber a freight car, or second hand loco, that can be done easily and quickly when the purchased car/loco is delivered.
Never would they hold a car or loco until it could be repainted in entirety, that would cost them not only time, and space to hold, but also, most important, money, not only costing them the money it takes to repainted, but also lost income from said car being held for such a silly reason. If the car or loco needs other repairs, then it might get a full repainted job as well, but most are never fully repainted just to redo markings and numbers.
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
What era? In the steam era cars was repainted quickly as possible. Today I still see old IPD shortline boxcars that has the name patched out. Some has "ghost" lettering under the faded paint but,carries the new owners initials and numbers.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
BRAKIEWhat era? In the steam era cars was repainted quickly as possible.
I am building a freelance of the Michigan Central/New York Central Northern Division. My center piece is Grayling of the 1900's but by north and south are of differing era. Over all 1900 through the 1950 with a fudge factor of ten years +/- Northern division had lumber, quarries, passenger and connections to the a number of short lines.
I have purchased vintage NYCRR books on Maintence of way, Passenger service and nowhere have I found they perferred way they handled acqusitions of rolling stock from other railways, I have mostly steam locomotives and a few diesels of different vintage.
Once again I appreciate all the positive input from all of you THANK YOU SO MUCH
When most cars had wood sides, repainting was done fairly frequently. With all-metal construction, better quality paint and tighter controls on spending full repaints only occur when combined with corrosion control. Patching got its start with the great merger era - PC wasn't about to mass-repaint the entire NYC and Pennsy combined fleet, but they did have to change reporting marks and eliminate duplicate numbers.
When changing numbers, don't forget the ones on the ends.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
If you're modelling the first half of the 20th century, you'd be much less likely to see a "patch out" car for several reasons. Railroads might buy cars from one another back then, but it was much less common than it was from say the 1960's on...as freight traffic decreased some railroads had more cars than they needed so sold them off.
As noted, wood cars had to be repainted more often, so would be more likely to go into the shop sooner. Most railroads had pretty large shop complexes with many employees - who by today's standards weren't paid all that much. They were there to do things like paint cars, so it would be more common for the new owner to just repaint/letter everything before using them. There wasn't a need / reason to go for years with a 'patch out' paintscheme.
Wood cars generally didn't last that long compared to steel. They wore out, the metal parts that could be reused or scrapped were taken off, and the cars were destroyed. Some woodsided cars were built due to steel shortages in WW2, but otherwise wood freight cars were pretty much obsolete (as far as new construction) by about 1930.
During the Depression, railroads had more cars than they needed. They ran the newer cars (so they could earn money to pay off their cost) and let old cars sit and deteriorate. It would be unlikely in that time a railroad would be looking to buy used cars.
Lastly, before railroads started to advertise their new streamlined passenger trains on their boxcars in the 1930's, railroad owned freight cars were pretty much all reddish brown (or black for gondolas, hoppers and flats) with simple lettering. It wasn't that hard to paint over the reporting marks and a small herald, and paint the new railroad's name over it.
Hi Stix,
Thanks, that was very informative! I am slowly getting info throug the good people here and independant research. I've come to find out that my Grandfather was a yardmaster somewhere in Yogoslavia in the late 1920's (?) and was murdered by the Nazi's sometime durning the second world war. You can travel everywhere by rail it is rail fan nervana.
I am not stuck on exact period reproduction, although I truly admire those who can do that, I find I like too many things about railroading as a whole to limit myself. I just convered a 40' MEC to a NYC and tweeked the road number by removing one number. I go on line and try to pull numbers from photos etc. I just love this hobby and the challanges it presents me.
This weekend I plan to finish cutting and laying foam board and attaching the wheels to the legs of my layout so I can get full access. Model on brothers
Angelo
This may not be prototypical, but I have a caboose, which is an old Class N8 PRR "cabin car", as the Pennsy called them, (it was a kitbash of an old tyco train set caboose) which I painted (Hemi) orange and lettered in my freelance railroad's livery, also renumbered. But, since this is a non-revenue car and there was already another caboose in service, there was no hurry to get it into service. The way I frame it, the "brass" on the short line wanted something more representative of both the railroad as well as it's heritage (old PRR-N&W tackage), so they bought a caboose from PRR that they could "Wrestle away" from Conrail. The caboose is as prototypically correct for the PRR as I could make it, all except for the paint and lettering.
After all, Conrail painted these cabin cars, as well as other cabooses in their blue paint and the CR livery, and renumbered many of them as well.
BTW if you've got a car, engine, or caboose that has fairly simple lettering, you can removed the lettering using Walthers Solva-set and a rubber pencil eraser. If you're careful on say a brown boxcar, you can remove the letters and re-letter it without having to repaint it.
wjstixIf you're careful on say a brown boxcar, you can remove the letters and re-letter it without having to repaint it.
You can use small rectangles of Microscale trim film, close to the color of your car, doesn't have to be exact, and patch-out the old reporting mark and/or car number and decal over the trim film.
http://www.microscale.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=MD&Product_Code=TF-24&Category_Code=TF
When Conrail assets were divided between CSX and NS there were stacks of these heavy "stickers" that the car department applied over the CR reporting marks.
NYC going to CSX ownership and PRR for future NS ownership.
Good Luck, Ed
It depends on whether you want the car to look like a car bought from another railroad and "patched" to reletter for your railroad, or if you just want the car to look like it was repainted by your railroad into your road's lettering scheme.
BTW one real-world scenario you could duplicate would be to repaint the entire car, but with a light enough coat of paint so that a little 'ghosting' of the original lettering shows through. Then add lettering for the new railroad over it. The car would look like it had been repainted/relettered by the new railroad, but now after a few years, the old paint is showing through. That look wasn't that uncommon, either with used cars or a railroad upgrading it's own car's decoration to reflect a more 'modern' scheme for that railroad.