Stencil On CB&Q Boxcar

This photo of CB&Q Boxcar 25776 was posted on the CB&Q Group by Hol Wagner.

What caught my eye was the stencil spelling out what commodities should not be loaded in this car:

DO NOT LOAD WITH LIME SODA ASH

BULK CEMENT CARBON BLACK HIDES

OIL TAR AND CREOSOTE PRODUCTS OR

ANY COMMODITY THAT WILL RENDER

IT UNFIT FOR FLOUR OR GRAIN LOADING

I wonder how often these loading restrictions were violated and what penalties were applied as a result?

Bob Chaparro

Hemet, CA

Hi Bob,

Neat photos.  In the 1960s, when I clerked for a RR, it was unusual to see such stenciling unless the car was a hide car.  Hide cars were unfit for anything else, and were so stenciled.  As a Car Distributor or Clerk, I would have done my best to see that the loading restrictions were observed.  Usually, if a customer calls for an empty of a particular type, one can find a suitable car in one's local car supply.  Sometimes, one would have to get creative, but why ruin a good car that was sound and tight by loading some kind of gook into it?  Good cars were really hard to come by at times, so messing up a good one was kind of unforgivable.

I hope this answer helps.

Todd Sullivan

Bob,

Another form of an answer to your question about penalties is this:  We had a Manager of Clerks, R. H. Blackburn, who would likely be the person to have a conversation with you if you screwed up and assigned a really good boxcar to be loaded with gook.  I experienced R. H.'s displeasure one or two times, and it was not something I knowingly would set myself up for.  He would chew you up one side and own the other, turn you inside out and start over.  Not a fun experience.  (To be fair to R.H. he was even-handed, and did a lot of good things for me during my employment.)

OTOH, I suppose some agent in a remote town could assign the car for gook loading and contaminate it, and then pay no penalty, but there were other managers in the field who looked over their shoulders, so they could be caught. 

I'm sure others can chime in with other opinions and experiences.

Todd Sullivan

--
Ken Akerboom

    Bob, 
some time ago I uploaded a Return m'tys via list to the files.
It barely makes this lists timeline however it shows that the railroad mgmt. provided some guidance and I would think in concert with that, could be used as a basis for discipline as Todd lists. 

And of the post by Ken, I believe he is correct also.   I recall reading a letter to the AAR(?) found in my studied railroad's General Managers files in that when a relatively young boxcar went off line, it went through five different railroads before it came home and was found with - oil stains on the floor and lining in addition to scoring marks from 55 gallon drums, rendered the car unfit in any manner to haul high value commodities that that a car of that value - and the AAR was asked to investigate shipping waybills of the other roads and force the offender to cover the costs of deeply sanding the floor and replacing some liner boards.                                                                                                         Jim Dick - St. Paul, MN