GUYZ,            The Boston & Albany did this on the commuter line to riverside. Basically a box on a flat, and a motor and spray arms. What they put on the row was thick, black, and nasty

Bruce Smith wrote: Explains why when they undercut the mainline through Altoona a while back for double-stacks, the soil was not permitted to be removed from Conrail property. It was classified as

Iron or steel? Hardly. Look at the end of the draft sill where it shows next to the coupler; you can see the annual rings of the wood! http://www.shorpy.com/node/8252?size=_original Since draft

The needlebeam support is wood whereas everything in the under-frame by this time was iron or steel, hence painting it a different color made some sense. It was very common on 19th century cars to

Though I haven't done a statistically rigorous sample, I have about the same impression from my own freight car photo collection (which is considerably larger than Greg's). Bear in mind that any

I said: the Bob Witt replied: share? Bob, PRR #497700, page 422, Pennsy Power 3. The caption notes that the PRR "was one of the few railroads that did it [spay oil] mechanically." Regards Bruce

Bruce Smith wrote: the Bruce, I don't believe I have ever seen an "oil spray car". Weed sprayers, but not oil sprayers; does any one have a photo to share? Regards, Bob Witt

Bruce Smith wrote: Thanks, Bruce. That is consistent with my general impression, so I'll continue to do only an occasional off-line reweigh symbol <g>. I use a lotta Pennsy symbols for

Tony, I can't disagree that most cars were re-weighed on their home road, and I don't know that anyone has ever made a study of it. However... The topic of re-weighing cars came up on the Canadian

has to Dennis replied: Oil was routinely sprayed on track during the steam era to kill vegetation, which in itself was a greater fire hazard than the small amount of oil. Dennis, folks, Oil was

Dennis Storzek wrote: Tony replied: This is an interesting point, Dennis. I've routinely looked at freight car photos with this subject in mind (among lots of others of course), and I have

Most extant M&StL car cards show reweighs by giving weight, month and year and railroad but not shop location or symbol. Darn! Almost useful information. My memory of the cards is that most, if not

Dennis Storzek wrote: This is an interesting point, Dennis. I've routinely looked at freight car photos with this subject in mind (among lots of others of course), and I have the IMPRESSION

Dennis Storzek writes: "Oil was routinely sprayed on track during the steam era to kill vegetation, which in itself was a greater fire hazard than the small amount of oil." Perhaps so. And, I have

It appears that the focal length of the lens was what could be considered a mild telephoto; all the cars are foreshortened and that accentuates the bow. What is more interesting to me is the color

Oil was routinely sprayed on track during the steam era to kill vegetation, which in itself was a greater fire hazard than the small amount of oil. Dennis

Tim, It would seem that the simple solution would be to look the symbols up

Friction bearings required lots of oil. I can remember early in my career barrels of journal oil being distributed across the yard, with car inspectors dispatched to insure each journal was filled

That all being said, you'd think the repack data was the freshest painted item on the car.... Jerry Glow

Brian Carlson notes: The funny part of this is that it was true...although the dirt/sand covered the entire bottom of the side...for awhile. I noticed in some steam era videos that the ballast was