Re: (erielack) Mysterious D class cars

[Gordon Davids <g.davids_@_verizon.net>]

I haven't found documentation to back up my recollection, but here is what I 
remember about EL (and D&H) train consists and D cars.  "B" was "plain box car"
and "D" was "specially equipped box car."  I think the "D" was more or less 
arbitrarily picked from the generic "Damage Free" or "DF."

This was significant, because the ICC Car Service Rules were different for
plain boxes and equipped boxes.  Empty plain box cars moved under general rules
to the home road, with preference for loading being given to foreign cars moving
to or in the direction of home.  Specially equipped box cars were exempt from
those rules, and usually moved in the dedicated service for which they were 
equipped.  You would commonly see stenciled on a D car, "When empty, return to
Agent EL RR Akron, OH" or a similar notation.  B cars could be loaded with
anything, depending on their condition, from grain to widgets, and they were
sort of a commodity item.

So the car distributors had to know whether or not they could pick a car to
protect loads somewhere, or if they had to send it empty back to the originating
station.  B cars (and many others, such as hoppers) usually moved empty on home
route cards, also called "empty car waybills," that were made out by each road 
in the loaded movement, and which gave the car "record rights" if it had to
return home empty by the reverse route.  D cars were usually returned to the
designated station by a full non-revenue waybill.

Gordon Davids

>From Archives_@_Railfan.net
Message-ID: <008301c5d171$f218fa40$7a01a8c0_@_paul>
Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2005 06:19:36 -0400
From: "Paul Brezicki" <doctorpb_@_bellsouth.net>
Subject: (erielack) Mysterious D class cars

Ahhhhhhh, thank you Paul. So it turns out the "A" car is.....a typo. It's
actually a box car. Some good thoughts from the group on the meaning of "D",
dbl-door, damage-free etc, but none of these have panned out. They include
everything from plain 40' box with single 8' door to insulated to reefer. I
believe the D is also a typo, (can look like B on the old teletype
printers), so just read B for D.

Paul B (not D)

Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2005 22:13:30 -0400
From: "Paul R. Tupaczewski" <paultup_@_optonline.net>
Subject: (erielack) FW: Santa Fe "A" car


>>equivalent to the "B" label, ie a box-type car. Paul, could you not
>>find the "A" car, ATSF524199?
>  
>

Per Paul B.'s request:

ATSF 524199
XLI - Box, insulated, shock control, dual air-pak, load dividers, roller
bearing



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