On Aug 2, 2008, at 6:56 PM, umtrr wrote:
Micro-Trains has just reprinted its N Scale single dome tank car
lettered for Shippers Car Line (SHPX 7675) as part of its August 2008
releases.
It is painted black with white lettering including on the left from
top
to bottom: small company name, white stripe, reporting marks with
periods, white stripe. This is a paint scheme found on several
different tank car types in numerous photos in Rail Model Journal
articles, and has also been used by different manufacturers in
different scales.
Speculating that it was within the time period covered here, about
when
did Shippers switch to reporting marks only on tank cars, replacing
the
scheme described above? I'm recognizing that repainting might not have
occurred until some time later, if at all.
Shippers Car Line began dropping the "SHIPPERS CAR LINE" lettering
above the reporting marks and numbers (but not the lines above and
below) in the late 1940s and early 1950s, but did so inconsistently;
cars with additional stenciling for long term lessees did not have
it, but some cars in general SHPX service had it and some did not.
Both "SHIPPERS CAR LINE" and lines disappeared entirely after about
mid-1954 on both new and repainted cars, though many (increasingly
dirty) cars remained in service through the 1950s and even into the
1960s with the earlier style lettering.
Richard Hendrickson
