On severely weathered cars, I have seen the initials and numbers "outline" in chalk to make them readable.
In the mid-1970's I remember gondolas in scrap service seemed to be in the worse shape in regards to trying to read the car initial/numbers. Old tankcars also feel into this problem too. I remember several times doing yard checks having to walk around to the end of the car to read the reporting marks. Thanks goodness for AEI tags now days with all the spray paint covering the sides of car or we'd never know where a car was.
