Route cards, Part 26: car movement

 In a lengthening series of posts, I have been showing the fascinating (at least to me) variety in grading cards and route cards used by different railroads, all from the Michael Litant collection. Grading cards were used after an empty freight car had been inspected, and the card identified what class of loading could be put into that car. Route cards directed car movement, usually to an interchange or specific yard track. But some cards, as seen in the present post, directed other movements.

[Previous posts about grading cards or route cards can easily be found by using “route cards” or “grading cards” in the search box at right.]

I will begin with a couple of straightforward cards, intended to direct cars for repairs. The first, a New York Central card, is interesting in that one side directs a car to be moved to a shop for repairs when empty; while the other side directs immediate repair, probably for cases where the car could not or should not be moved. It is 3.5 x 8 inches in size and has not been filled out.

A similar card from the Denver & Rio Grande Western is 4 x 8.5 inches, and is dated June 4, 1968. Here one may assume that the red-color side is the equivalent of the “Shop at Once” side of the NYC car above. That is also the side filled out. The car number indicated is 3481 but no initial is shown. That may, of course, indicate that it was a Rio Grande car, but at that time D&RW had no cars with that number. It may be an abbreviation.

A second type of these “directed movement” cards directs something like a car needing inspection, as with this example from the Chicago & Northwestern.It is 3.5 x 5.5 inches in size, and the back is simply a stamp, “40 St.,”, probably a destination to which the car should go next. It is not filled out.

We can go further with this, in the case of a Southern Pacific card filled out at Roseville on May 18, 1965. Though it states the car can be loaded, no grade is given. The other side would direct a car to be washed out inside. It is a 3 x 5-inch card. The car is CN 539613, a 40-foot, 65-ton box car. I don’t know the meaning of the “symbol,’ 3-3-1, but could be a block of cars in the yard.

A similar card is this from the Milwaukee Road, directing a car to be weighed. It is 3 x 4 inches. The interesting side, though, is the reverse, originally blank but stamped “Miller Brewing Co. 4101.” The car identity isn’t clear (U 27013) but the logical inference is that this is a URTX 27013, a 50-foot refrigerator car, an RBLcar (bunkerless and insulated, with loader equipment).

Finally, a pair of placards obviously intended for the placard board, not the route card board, and the two car sides would probably get one of each. Each is 4.25 x 7 inches in size. The source is the Hoerner-Waldorf Corporation of Montana, and the cards are dated Jan. 2, 1973. A good example of a shipper-supplied cards instead of cards supplied by the railroad.

These cards are a kind of variation in the typical route cards, in that they direct movement in a somewhat different way. They certainly add to the wide variety of card types and designs that were in use.

Tony Thompson