Tony - I guess I am not making myself clear on this matter. When an automobile is first sold as a new car, a CAR TITLE (actual official piece of paper) is issued by the state where it is sold. The

Well, my experience handling equipment leases, sales and re-financings in the Southern Pacific Law Department for 20 years and 10 years for RailAmerica was that the ICC had files on title and liens

Gary - There were NO title documents for railroad rolling stock (at least in STMFC times - not sure about today, now that the ICC is gone). There was NO recording of title documents of this type at

Ted Culotta wrote: Hmm. I'll have to take a look. Might want to get one, maybe. ;^) SGL

A.T. Kott wrote: Let's see, my auto title is a piece of paper which is not bolted to my car. I strongly suspect there was plenty of paper backing up the equipment trusts too. Therefore, I would

The one on the left is a CN 1937 AAR box car, one of only about 18,000. The car on the right is Erie 70092, rebuilt from a single sheathed car, likely an ex-auto car. I have it on good authority

Not true, A. T. I have numerous examples in my photo files dating from the 1930s through 1950s. Richard Hendrickson

A.T., Builder's photo document the use of painted trust stencils on some cars going back to at least 1937. As an example, see M-K-T 62100 on page 49 of RP CYC Vol. 3. I haven't done an exhaustive

proto48er wrote: You mean the bank and RR lawyers didn't have reams of paper identifying what equipment was owned by whom? I believe the trust plates stated that the trust, or conditional agreement,

The caveat is that title documents are recorded at the Interstate Commerce Commission so that any lender will have a title check run to see if there are any liens on the equipment. This usually

Denny - Trust plates are to rolling stock as automobile titles are to cars. They are evidence of the identity of lienholders for railroad rolling stock. Incredibly, there is no central clearing

Greetings, I'm finishing an F&C H30 and would like to know what brake wheel was used on the prototype. The one with the kit is cast resin and looks kinda chunky to put on an otherwise nice looking

I believe they were applied to both sides for the same reason that the reporting marks are on both sides. Normally, you only see one side of a car at a time, and, if it is in a train, it would be a

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

They were applied on both sides. Jeff Coleman whether applied, it

Denny Anspach wrote: I don't know the answer, Denny, but if they were singly applied, it is striking that EVERY builder and amateur photo of new cars on roads for which I have good coverage (of

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

Tony: Thanks for the info. I know the car number I mentioned was the one on the p2k car because I was surprised it was in V4. I really do not know if it was first run or a later one. I think it was

Brian J Carlson wrote: Brian, Walthers used to make that decal, but I have heard it's no longer available. I didn't know that P2K had ever done the DF scheme with correct orange lettering (their

Miles, I will offer what limited information I have on this subject. In the 4/55 ORER (the closest I have to 1954) Richfield Oil had 208 tank cars, all listed as ARA II, ARA III, or ARA IV. With the