UTLX Field Notes

This book is primarily for experienced observers of contemporary North American railway freight cars or for those with the self motivation to learn more. The content is based on raw field notes taken by the author 1981-2011. There are 6,655 entries or roughly ten percent of the UTLX fleet averaged over the past thirty years. The data shown are from actual lettering on the freight cars. It may include errors incurred by the plant, car shop or author. There are some duplicate car...
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This book is primarily for experienced observers of contemporary North American railway freight cars or for those with the self motivation to learn more. The content is based on raw field notes taken by the author 1981-2011. There are 6,655 entries or roughly ten percent of the UTLX fleet averaged over the past thirty years. The data shown are from actual lettering on the freight cars. It may include errors incurred by the plant, car shop or author. There are some duplicate car numbers. These often show a comparison of information over five, ten and even sometimes twenty years in the life of the car. In addition to data confirmation, the cars may have been repainted or reassigned to a new service. In a few rare cases there is conflicting data. Each entry may include, but not necessarily have, information on the build date, builder, load limit, specific gallon capacity, paint scheme, physical design, lessee, manufacturer's lot number, and assigned commodity. Two notation symbols used are the parentheses and brackets. Information inside the brackets [ ] should be understood as "patched" (not original to the rest of the paint job). These often show cars relettered and renumbered from other sources. Information in the parentheses ( ) designate side notes or if they include four numbers are the hazardous placard number. The field notes included data collected through 26 August, 2011