Boston & Maine Railroad
Freight Car Lettering

Part 1
1900-1930
An Addendum to B&MRRHS Modelers Notes Issue #72, May/June 2001

Introduction

Tim Gilbert's 2001 article, "The 1900-1956 Evolution of B&M's Freight Car Heralds", went a long way to document important changes in the manner in which the B&M lettered its freight cars.  However, as these things go, additional photos and data have come to light in the years since he collected those resources in one convenient location.  This article's purpose is to offer revisions based on new evidence that modify some of Tim's conclusions.

Railroads were businesses first, and freight car lettering was foremost a means to convey important information to employees, of both the home road and that of interchanging lines.  Much of that information was necessitated by accounting and operational needs and mandated by interchange rules.  Changing the manner in which cars were lettered subjected the owner to costs, and so railroads did not change their stenciling without cause.  An understanding of some of the causes sheds light on how, when, and why lettering changes occurred on the B&M and other railroads.

Freight Car Lettering Standards

In his article, Tim referenced several dates which he assigned to a variety of changes in lettering standards.  Some additional clarification is warranted.

The "1911 Federal Railway Safety Act" did not significantly address freight car lettering.  Rather, the third Railway Safety Appliance Act, dating to 1910 (the first having been passed in 1893; the second in 1903,) mandated certain safety equipment installations.  As a result, the I.C.C. issued an order in March 13, 1911 detailing the steps, grab irons, running boards, hand brakes, etc. that would henceforth be required on rail cars.¹  (Note: as with the lettering herein discussed, the presence or lack of such equipment in the prescribed locations is a vital photo-dating tool for railroad historians and modelers, but this article will not delve into such equipment.)

On the other hand, the Master Car Builder's Association, a voluntary trade group, did issue Recommended Practices and Standards for a variety of railway car components and construction methods, and revised and updated such regularly until those Standards became superceeded by those issued by subsequent organizations such as the A.R.A and A.A.R.  Aspects of lettering, marking, and stenciling were included beginning as early as 1893.²  Relevant MCB sheets included B, A, M, and G, when the lettering was only a Recommended Practice, and 26, 26A, 26B, and 27, once it was advanced to a Standard.  Important revisions were published in 1909, 1920 and 1926.³

Figure 1: MCB Recommended Practices & Standards

Date	MCB/ARA Lettering & Marking Practice	Recommended Practice or Standard	Status
1893	Marking Cars2 Marking Cars Fast Freight Line Cars2 Marking Cars Fast Freight Line Cars	RP RP	Established Established, MCB Sheet B
1896	Marking Cars Fast Freight Line Cars3 Stenciling Cars3	RP RP	Moved to MCB Sheet A Established
1901	Stenciling Cars4	Standard	Redesignated from RP
1902	Stenciling Cars5	Standard	Revised
1906	Stenciling Cars6 Stenciling Cars6	RP Standard	Established, MCB Sheet M Revised
1908	Marking on Freight Equipment Cars7 Marking Cars Fast Freight Line Cars	RP N/A	Established, MCB Sheet G Deleted
1909	Stenciling Cars8	Standard	Redesignated from RP, MCB Sheet 26
1911	Stenciling Light Weight of Cars Lettering Cars Lettering Cars	?? Standard Standard	Established Renamed, MCB Sheet 26 Established, MCB Sheet 27
1913	Marking on Freight Equipment Cars	Standard	Redesignated, MCB Sheet 26, 27

Figure 2: B&M Lettering & Marking Practices

Date	MCB/ARA Lettering & Marking Practices	B&M Characteristic	B&M Example
pre-1909	No Lettering-Number-Capacity-LightWeight lettering group.	High single line 9" roadname, 9" number.	Xm 63214, Gm 39790
1909	Lettering-Number-Capacity-LightWeight lettering group introduced.	Low single line 9" roadname over 7" number.	Xm 66169, Gs 80022
1911	"United States Safety Appliances" notation introduced.	Safety appliances and stencil.	Xm 67771
1913	"NEW" added to weight.	not on reweighed cars. Arrow herald with "Railroad" introduced.	No Arrow herald on cars built 1913. See B&M Caboose Drawing #11360.
unk		7" Roadname & Number.	Xm, Gs 80780
1915		"Railroad" deleted from Arrow herald.	See B&M Caboose Drawing #11360.
ca. 1916	N/A	7" Initials w/periods & Number.	Xm 62236
ca. 1919	N/A.	Lines above and below Lettering-Number introduced.	Gm
1920	Cubical Capacity introduced for house cars.	Initials periods removed.	Gs 90058, Xm 70115 (RPC Vol. 16, page 16)
ca. 1922	N/A.	9" Initials and 7" roadname as early as 1922: 3-line on house cars, 1-line on open top.	Xm 65146, Gs 80864
1926	Load Limit introduced.	Load Limit introduced.	Xm 67767
1927	N/A	MTC reporting marks inaugurated.	Xm 67767
1929	N/A	Rect herald introduced introduced.	Xm 71923, Ht 8499

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Laconia, NH, ~1907, Laconia Car Co.	Laconia, NH, 1908, Laconia Car Co.
Laconia, NH, 6/1909, Laconia Car Co.	Laconia, NH, 12/1909, Laconia Car Co.
Laconia, NH, 5/1911, Laconia Car Co.
B&M Xm 67902, built 1913 Lawrence, MA, ca. 1914, Boston Public Library	B&M Gs 81000 series, built 1913-4 South Boston, MA, 1918-20, Boston Public Library
Epsom, NH, Al Bickford collection	Salem, MA, 1925, author's collection
ca. 1916
	B&M 34' Gondola, reweighed 11/19, author's collection
Boston, MA, 1924, Boston Public Library See also RPC Vol 16, pg 16, 8/1919, AC&F	Salem, MA, 1925, author's collection
Atlantic Ave., Boston, ca. 1923, Boston Public Library	Salem, MA, 1925, author's collection
Author's collection
Author's collection	Standard Steel Car Company, Keith Retterer collection

Notes

1. Federal Register, Railroad Safety Appliance Standards, Miscellaneous Revisions.  (online from the feds.)
2. Annual report of the proceedings of the Master Car-Builders' Association, Volume 27, 1893:
       Marking Cars, Recommended Practice, page 405, established,
       Marking Fast Freight Line Cars, Recommended Practice, page 407, established.
3. Annual report of the proceedings of the Master Car-Builders' Association, Volume 30, 1896:
       Stenciling Cars, Recommended Practice, page 502, established.
4. Annual report of the proceedings of the Master Car-Builders' Association, Volume 35, 1901:
       Stenciling Cars, Standard, page 506, changed from Recommended Practice.
5. Annual report of the proceedings of the Master Car-Builders' Association, Volume 36, 1902:
       Stenciling Cars, Standard, page 460, revised.
6. Annual report of the proceedings of the Master Car-Builders' Association, Volume 40, 1906:
       Stenciling Cars, Standard, page 612, revised,
       Stenciling Cars, Recommended Practice, page 660, newly established.
7. Annual report of the proceedings of the Master Car-Builders' Association, Volume 42, 1908:
       Stenciling Cars, Standard, page 650, revised,
       Marking on Freight Equipment Cars, Recommended Practice, page 686, newly established.
8. Annual report of the proceedings of the Master Car-Builders' Association, Volume 43, 1909:
       Stenciling Cars, Standard, page 627, revised.
9. Annual report of the proceedings of the Master Car-Builders' Association, Volume 45, 1911:
       Lettering Cars, Standard, page 640, renamed, changed from Recommended Practice,
       Marking on Freight Equipment Cars, Recommended Practice, page 641, revised,
       Lettering Cars, Standard, page 648, renamed.
10. Annual report of the proceedings of the Master Car-Builders' Association, Volume 46, 1912:
       Marking on Freight Equipment Cars, Recommended Practice, page 804, revised.
11. Annual report of the proceedings of the Master Car-Builders' Association, Volume 47, Part 2, 1913:
       Lettering and Marking of Cars, Standard, page 957, merged,
       Marking on Freight Equipment Cars, Standard, page 959, revised.
12. Annual report of the proceedings of the Master Car-Builders' Association, Volume 48, 1914:
       Marking on Freight Equipment Cars, Recommended Practice, page , revised.
13. Annual report of the proceedings of the Master Car-Builders' Association, Volume 50, 1916:
       Lettering and Marking of Cars, Standard, page , revised,
14. Annual report of the proceedings of the Master Car-Builders' Association, Volume 51, 1917:
       Lettering and Marking of Cars, Standard, page 558, revised.
4. ARA Lettering Guidelines.  (online at Eric Hansmann's web site.)
4.

Posted 11/30/17.  Updated 6/28/23.  Copyright Earl Tuson.

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