Ray Breyer asked:
"Interesting photos on the UofP site, especially this one:
http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/i/image/image-idx?sid=b06d7fbde23ef4d
671cdb362bae7d08b;xc=1;g=imls;q1=rail;rgn1=ic_all;c=rr;evl=full-image;qualit
y=2;view=entry;subview=detail;lasttype=boolean;cc=rr;entryid=x-8223.1292.rr;
viewid=1292RR.TIF;start=21;resnum=30

I've never seen a photo of a boxcar with it's number on the roof. Anyone
know how common this was?"

Not very common at all. Note that the reporting marks and car number are
only chalked onto the roof, not stenciled. Based on the caption of the
photo, I speculate that this photo was taken for accident investigation
purposes (perhaps involving a brakeman riding on this car), and the
photographer needed to clearly identify this particular car.

That being said, it wasn't unknown. Santa Fe stenciled the reporting marks
and car number on reefer ice hatches. During the early 1950s, the Santa Fe
rebuilt the ice hatches on SFRD reefers to better accommodate crushed icing,
changing the arrangement from the hatches opening towards the ends of the
car with stops keeping open hatches in a vertical position to the hatches
opening towards the center of the car to lie flat against the roof. This
obviously obscured the car numbers on the hatches, so the Santa Fe painted
the reporting marks and car numbers on either side of the running board near
the center of the roof.

See Richard Hendrickson's Santa Fe Painting and Lettering Guide Vol 1 and
Jordan/Hendrickson/Moore/Hale's Santa Fe Refrigerator Cars for more
information.


Ben Hom