Jim wrote:


< Question - some one mentioned hazard placarding. Wasn't it
<relatively rare for hazardous loads to be transported in any type
<of car other than tanks - or is it just so much more common in
<tanks that we don't see the hazard placarding on other car types?
<Would hazardous materials that were shipped in box cars have tended
<in cars that were in captive service?
<
< Is the topic of hazardous placarding worthy of another page in
<your excellent blog (or does it already exist)? I know that the
<placards and practices relating to them went thru some significant
<changes over the years - usually in broad sweeping changes that
<happened "all at once" from time to time when the government saw
<a need to revisit the topic.
< - Jim

I have a very early (mid-1910s) which shows a YV box car with an EXPLOSIVES
hazardous placard tacked to the end of the car. There was a lot of mining
(gold, barite lead, limestone) still underway in those days, hence the need
for explosives. A YV bulletin (which was typically issued annually) talks
about the proper handling of cars placarded for explosives or inflamable
[sic] or corrosive materials. The YV also shipped a lot of gasoline in
55-gallon drums which was off-loaded at a limestone quarry and moved up
their incline to provide fuel for a gasoline locomotive which moved rock
from the quarry to the top of the incline. A 1943 "Over, Short, Damage"
report lists some other shipments which might be considered flammable or
corrosive including drums of acid and carbide, acetylene cylinders, and
blasting caps.

Jack Burgess