I have noticed that their are a lot of these different letter codes with dates on different cars. Examples include RKPD, GV, CL, and WD. These marks appear near the car's reporting marks. Does anyone have a link to a location where this info can be found? I have tried Freight Cars by Kalmbach Publishing. They tell you what everything but these marks mean.
Thanks
Shop code and date the car was last re-weighed.
Below the reporting marks and number you have several lines of weight data: the car's nominal capacity (CAPY) - this one is no longer used, considered redundant, the actual cargo load limit (LD LMT) and the cars's empty (tare) "light weight" (LT WT). Cars are re-weighed when they receive a major shopping or at regular intervals. When the car is re-weighed, even if the numbers don't change, the reweigh date as well as a code indicating the railroad or shop that did the weighing is stencilled next to the weight data.
The code used to be specific to the shop that performed the work; each railroad would have their own list of codes. Around the 1980s it changed to just be the reporting marks of the railroad that owned the shop, whatever specific location did the work.
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
If you're seeing RPKD someplace other than as a shop code (adjacent to the LT WT data), it would refer to the date the axle bearings were repacked on a solid-bearing car. For a roller bearing car you might see LUB for a bearing lubrication date. From about the early 1970s variations on consolidated stencils started to appear, and various inspection, maintenance and other data were "consolidated" on black backgrounds which eventually received white borders. Affected information disappeared from other places on the car side and moved to the consolidated stencil. The old location was often painted out when it was rendered redundant.
Rob Spangler
wp8thsub For a roller bearing car you might see LUB for a bearing lubrication date.
You'd also see NFL. That one had me confounded for a while until someone explained to me that it meant: Not Field Lubricated.
Then it all made sense
Railroad cars also will have a build date and either a "new" date or a date that the car last went thru a major shopping. "BLT 6-58" and "NEW 6-58" would be seen on a car built in June 1958. Later the car may have gone thru some work, repainting, reweighing etc. and the car might now say 'BLT 6-58" and "CHI 12-67" indicating a car built in June 1958, and last worked on in Chicago in December 1967. Each railroad had it's own 2-4 letter codes for the shops it had, so that would vary from one railroad to another.
Thank you to all for clearing this up. Now comes the fun part in removing the shop dates that dont work for my time period (late 1943).
BMMECNYC......Now comes the fun part in removing the shop dates that dont work for my time period (late 1943).
No need to remove the lettering, simply paint over it like the prototype did:
Champ offered decal sets which included dates, shop codes, and repack stencilling, and an info sheet which explained the basic requirements and regulations regarding re-weighing. You may still be able to locate these sets at a decent hobby shop, even though Champ is no longer in business.Of course, if you're going to go to that effort, be sure that the paint schemes on the cars which you're back-dating are appropriate for the earlier era.
Wayne
doctorwayne Of course, if you're going to go to that effort, be sure that the paint schemes on the cars which you're back-dating are appropriate for the earlier era.
Of course, if you're going to go to that effort, be sure that the paint schemes on the cars which you're back-dating are appropriate for the earlier era.
If you can track it down, the old Walthers "521 Prototype Lettering Diagrams" book (sometimes called "PLD 1", the first of 4 books) would help you there. It's Walthers first decal catalogue. Since it was published in 1942, any car in there should be appropriate for your 1943 era layout.
http://www.popscreen.com/p/MTIxNTk2MTQy/Amazoncom-521-Prototype-Lettering-Diagrams-For-Model-Railroaders-N-
Keep in mind too that by 1943 "Billboard" Reefers, archbar trucks, and cars without steel underframing (i.e. all-wood cars with trussrods) had been banned from interchange service.