Andy, the periodic reweighing promotes commercial fairness to shippers and railroads due to modifications, and let's not forget corrosion.
If I recall correctly, in the book, Coal Cars, The First Three Hundred Years by Bob Karig, he points out that hoppers cars can lose 30 pounds a month by corrosion alone. And this is after the introduction of corrosion resistant copper bearing steel. Corrosion loss was far worse before that. Ugh.
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--- In STMFC@..., Andy Harman <gsgondola@...> wrote:
At 07:28 AM 5/11/2012 -0700, you wrote:
Wooden and steel underframe cars (except refrigerator cars) should be
reweighed and remarked each year during the first two years the cars are
in service and thereafter once every two years. All steel cars and all
refrigerator cars should be reweighed and remarked at least once every
three years.
This may seem like a stupid question, but what was the purpose of
reweighing cars at a particular interval? If something was done to change
the weight of a car such as a rebuilding or alteration, change of trucks or
brake system etc. wouldn't the reweigh be done at that time? Otherwise
what would cause the weight of a car to change? A wood car I suppose could
vary just by the amount of moisture in the wood, but that would be a
seasonal thing. And I suppose steel cars eventually go on a rust diet and
shed a few pounds. Or the opposite if it received a new paint job. But I
can't see any of these things being significant enough to affect its basic
rating.
Or was the reweighing done specifically to confirm that the car had NOT
been altered?
Andy
