rolling stock numbering

[Anonymous]

Why do some railways [some of the time] number their rolling stock w/ even numbers only [or odd numbers only]?

[tstage]

Graham,

Welcome to the forum! Good to have you aboard! [:)]

Like the interstate highway numbering system, I believe it indicated which direction(s) the cars would travel. (Odd meant N and S; Even, E and W)

Graham, just so you know. You have this topic posted twice on the forum. You should delete the other one. Click on the title and the delete button can be located in the upper right corner of your original post.

Tom

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tstage

Graham,

Welcome to the forum! Good to have you aboard! [:)]

Like the interstate highway numbering system, I believe it indicated which direction(s) the cars would travel. (Odd meant N and S; Even, E and W)

Graham, just so you know. You have this topic posted twice on the forum. You should delete the other one. Click on the title and the delete button can be located in the upper right corner of your original post.


Tom

I am very intrested in the rolling stock, and to be honest I have never herd that one. Also, I have never seen rolling stock for a railroad only with odd or even numbers.

[tstage]

Mike,

I don't know entiely for sure if what I stated is actually the case. It was more of an "edumacated hypothesis" taken from Grahams observations.

I have never personally seen entire loads of rolling stock that were exclusively either even or odd numbers. After rereading my response, I really should have worded it differently to convey that idea. However, the highway numbering system that I referred to earlier as an example is a correct one. Just look on a US map. You'll see that the interstate numbers get higher as you move from W to E, and from S to N.

Tom

[IRONROOSTER]

I too have never heard of this type of numbering system. Usually railroads number cars in series according to type and subtype. For example all boxcars start with 1, insulated boxcars have a 2 for the second number, hoppers start with 2, etc. Of course over a long period of time numbers fill in, or the railroad has to go from 5 to 6 digits and the sequences can get anomalies. But usually each purchased lot is numbered sequentially, starting wherever it seems to make most logical sense and numbers are available.

Enjoy
Paul

[dehusman]

There have been several railroads (the NYC and NKP come to mind, but I am not sure) that have numbered certain series of cars in all odd or all even numbers. Not all their cars, just some. Don't know the reason.

All the railroads number cars in sequences. Some are very regimented, all the hoppers in the 800,000 series, all the boxcars in the 100,000 series and some are all over the map (PRR).

Dave H.

[Dayliner]

The Canadian Pacific originally assigned odd numbers to open-top cars, and even numbers to enclosed cars, using five-digit numbers. In 1919, the company switched to consecutive numbering for all car types, using six-digit numbers.

I don't know the reason for the original numbering system, but perhaps, in an era before freight car classification codes, it enabled agents to see at a glance whether or not a given car would be suitable for a particular load. As car fleets grew, and became more diverse, the system would have become less efficient.

[Laidlaym]

The Victorian Railways (Australian) gave passenger locos even numbers and freight odd in the 19th century.

Mark in Melbourne

[Anonymous]

Chicago Northwestern is another road that frequently numbered car types in all even or all odd numbers. For instance, I believe that all their 3 and 4 bay hopper cars were odd numbers.

[Anonymous]

When Toronto acquired its Peter Witt fleet in the 1920s the streetcars were given even numbers and the trailers odd numbers. A trailer train, for instance, might have had streetcar 2430 and trailer 2431. Why? I don't know.

There are all kinds of numbering systems just like there are all kinds of railway operations. Most companies have rational numbering schemes. In some cases rolling stock numbering could be coded (or reflect different rolling stock classes) and this might vary from property to property unless there is some sort of industry standard on numbering. A numbering scheme using even numbers only (or some other non-consecutive sequence) could also give the impression of having a larger fleet than actually is the case on a small operation.

[Anonymous]

As I see, in the past many railroads used this odd and even numbering system. But I am talking about present day railroads.