(erielack) Mysterious D class cars

["Paul Brezicki" <doctorpb_@_bellsouth.net>]

I'll buy the D for "dedicated service" but not equipped box (which was in
fact my initial thought when I read the document), since the D vs B doesn't
strictly adhere to car type. For example, at least 2 of the D cars are
unequipped, while some of the B cars are equipped (eg: RBBN 64532 heater
service). This raises another question: how do they tell which cars of other
types (tank, cov hppr) are in dedicated service, or can it be assumed they
all are?

Paul B

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


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