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From: rib@pyuxdd.UUCP (RI Block)
Newsgroups: net.railroad
Subject: Re: Explanation of markings on freight cars sought
Message-ID: <221@pyuxdd.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 24-Feb-84 13:44:41 EST
Article-I.D.: pyuxdd.221
Posted: Fri Feb 24 13:44:41 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 25-Feb-84 04:25:00 EST
References: <704@ihuxq.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Piscataway
Lines: 21

Herein I expose my limited knowledge on the subject, but here goes:

Once upon a time, all the cars that ran on US Railroads were owned by
said railroads with the exception of express cars. Express cars
are freight cars with passenger running gear (steam hoses, double brake hoses,
etc) which were hooked in to the head of passenger consists and hauled
under contract for express companies (Mercury Express, American Express,
... the last one I don't know if it was an original company or not
was the Railway Express Agency -> "REA Express"

Freight cars of other railroads were used under an interchange agreement
where the user paid a daily rental and attempted to send the car back to
its home sort of like "net.mail.headers" either through an interchange
point or a reconstruction of how it came.

With the decline of finantial health of RR's, private owners began to provide
cars either because the design was non-standard, or there were not enough
RR owned cars available. I believe that the private owner was compensated
at a higher daily rate that paid to interchange (RR-owned cars).

Anyhow, non-railroad owned cars have a marking that always ends in "X".