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[quote user="Murphy Siding"][quote user="Bucyrus"][quote user="Murphy Siding"] I'm not so sure about the idea of cars in a dedicated train having different strength characteristics though.  The odds of manmade failures lead me to believe that you'd have to have warnings 10' tall on the sides of the cars, and someone would still put one in the wrong order.[D)][/quote]It would be physically impossible to change the order.[/quote]    Hmmm  I guess I was viewing this as being something like a 200 car train, that has 10 different types of cars, depending on where they ride in the train.  The first batch could ride anywhere from #1 to #20 position; the next batch from #21 to #40, etc.  If the car in spot #122 has to be taken out of service, it could go back anywhere from #121 to #140.    If it would be physically impossible to change the order, that would mean they are built differently, from #1 to #200?  So, like my example above, #122 has to go back into the #122 spot after it's returned from the repair shop?[/quote]What you visualize regarding the grouping of cars in strength classes could be one version of the execution.  I only meant they could not be uncoupled in the traditional manner and inadvertently mixed up during train handling.  Some other measure might be needed to prevent a mix-up if cars are taken out of the set for repairs.  Truck side frames are too long of a casting to hold the tolerance necessary for the axle centers to fall within the maximum range of difference allowed from one side frame to the other.  So they are sorted into size classes after they are produced.  The classes are indicated by that little row of nubbins cast on the side of the frame.  After casting, they measure the center distance, and knock off one or more of the nubbins to indicate the size class, and I believe the rule is that there can be no more than one nubbin difference from one side frame to the other in a truck.  So, in that case, they rely on a visual indicator to prevent mismatching truck frames.
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