Let us complicate matters even more.Chalk marks were rarely erased and often were placed on a car by a connecting or other foreign road ;which leads me to ask,was there a common system or language ?It seems to me that this might cause some confusion for switch crews.
Armand, you're right that chalk marks were seldom erased (and in some cases lasted for weeks or months before they were erased/obscured by weather and dirt). However, prototype photos often show chalk marks that were crossed out; apparently that was the practice whenever a chalk mark was regarded as potentially confusing.
