Re: Trust Plates
Richard Hendrickson
On Dec 19, 2008, at 11:03 AM, Denny Anspach wrote:
Denny, many railroads - most of them, in fact - stenciled trust
information on their cars rather than using cast metal trust plates.
In either case, a quick scan of my photo collection confirms that the
trust statements were on both sides of the cars.
That's correct, and in photos of older cars whose mortgage was paid
off, it's sometimes possible to see where the cast trust plates were
removed and the rivet holes filled with new rivets.
Richard Hendrickson
Understanding the reason for the application of Trust plates on
locomotives, passenger and freight cars, what I do not know is whether
these plates were applied in pairs (one on each side), or singly. On
intuition and reason alone, I would not understand why any piece of
equipment might need more than one piece of evidence as to its legal
ownership , but..what do I know about it?
Denny, many railroads - most of them, in fact - stenciled trust
information on their cars rather than using cast metal trust plates.
In either case, a quick scan of my photo collection confirms that the
trust statements were on both sides of the cars.
To my knowledge the information on the plates was not useful in
routine operations, but only to indicate in any legal dispute who the
actual owner of the piece of equipment might be at the time. If the
the owner (i.e. bank or lessor) changed, the plate would be then
removed, or changed.
That's correct, and in photos of older cars whose mortgage was paid
off, it's sometimes possible to see where the cast trust plates were
removed and the rivet holes filled with new rivets.
Richard Hendrickson