On Sun, Jul 17, 2022 at 02:48 PM, Eric Hansmann wrote:

Neat cars. I see US Safety Appliance stencils on both cars. This lettering requirement was eliminated in 1925

 

GPCX 259 has a builder stencil on the frame above the left truck: Built 2 (or 8) 1918 by Penna. Tank Co. Sharon, PA Shop. 

 

A similar build stencil is on GPCX 203, but I can’t quite read it. 

 

AFAIK, the requirement for the safety appliances stencil was dropped at the same time as the adoption of a wholesale group of changes to the ARA lettering standards  -- March 1, 1927.  These were debated for years, but the final version wasn't approved until the June, 1926, ARA meetings.  I also think I have examples where the safety appliances stencil was still applied after 3/1/27, although I don't have any at my fingertips.  There really wouldn't have been any prohibition against it.  Many cars also sported equipment lists into the 1930s.

Car 203 is an MCB Class II car, and has a stencil on the center sill that seems to read WARREN OHIO SHOP which suggests a (German) General American Tank Car Co. build.  But I can't make any sense of the line above which says THE AMERICAN CAR CO.   Unless it's a "typo" at the paint shop in Seattle?  Something of a head-scratcher here.

--
Dave Parker
Swall Meadows, CA