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Re: significance of Pennsy's X25?

Greg Martin
 

Just one thing I did note in the photo is that there is what I believe to be a defect car placard along the sill.
 
Also the stenciling on the brake reservoir appears new, perhaps it was in the shop for the instillation of AB Brakes? That would definitely constitute a reweigh.
 
The bearings were repacked on 12-13-1943.
 
I converted the photo to a negative, which in most cases will give you a better contrast and show hints of color change, an old art school drawing class trick. I am of the opinion this is not a total repaint, but reasonably close in sate to a repaint. What I think really gives it away is the lack of chalk line snap marks that should be there if it were that recent.
 
Snow for sure, it is everywhere in the photo.
 
Greg Martin   
 
Eventually all things merge into one and a river runs through it.
Norman Maclean
 

In a message dated 11/5/2015 7:41:53 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, STMFC@... writes:
Yabutt... I thought about this too, since it's kind of silly to mark "ladder" when the ladder is obviously missing. My best guess is there was a ladder with minor damage on the car when it was painted, subsequently another boss/inspector decided that ladder needed replacement, so marked it up and that replacement work is still in progress. But that's just a guess.

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A couple of other things get my attention and make me wonder about a repaint. What is going on around the doors?  I can see some sort of what appears to be paper material just to the right of the door.  If this car was just painted, why is this there, and why isn’t it painted too?  The light material to the left of the door looks like snow, as does the material on the protruding sill flange.
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I think it's all wind blown snow, both on the flanges and clinging in the crevice behind the door.

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Maybe I’m imagining it, but a very close examination of the photo shows just a hint of what appears to be a different paint between LDLMT 1 and 00 and between LT WT and 00 as well as behind the P57 and 43.  This was a common method of painting out reweigh data on the PRR. 

The paint and lettering is in very good condition and it may even be that that the car has not yet hit the required reweigh date after an earlier repaint, but I’m going to stick with my opinion that this car is not a repaint.  It appears to be on a RIP track and receiving repairs for which a reweigh will be needed, hence the RIP track crew has painted out parts of the old reweigh data.  
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I could go either way on the repaint, but what's swinging me in favor of a re-paint is several of the chalk marks pertain specifically to the stenciling. There would be no reason to mark the number on the car unless the number had not yet been stenciled, likewise "1115" is marked at the far end of the car, to ensure the proper built date is reapplied. If the car hadn't been painted, there would be no need for this.

As to things being done out of order, considering this is winter and the cars have to be painted in a heated shop, likely the cars were taken inside and worked on while they warmed up, then moved up for painting as soon as there was room, whether the repairs were complete or not. The chalk marks are the shop foreman's way of telling the car men on the outside RIP tracks what still needs to be completed.
 
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The photo is at: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pennsylvania-Railroad-PRR-Boxcar-562768-8x10-Photo-/301761804160?hash=item464267b780:g:PhMAAOSweW5VRPoj

Dennis Storzek
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