| CB&Q Class HC-1A 181520 at Cicero, Illinois on an unknown day in January 1981, Kodachrome by Chuck Zeiler. According to the COTS sticker, this car was built 4-57. It was part of a group of 297 car in the 181250-181546 number series built by the CB&Q at Havelock, Nebraska during 1957. It is stenciled: THIS CAR FOR SILICA SAND WHEN EMPTY RETURN TO WEDRON OR OTTAWA. You might wonder about the stars in front of the CAPY and LD LMT, and a little research provided this explanation from Dennis Storzek: The CAPY stencil was a nominal capacity. The LD.LMT. plus the LT.WT. should be the allowable loading for the size and number of axles under the car, unless the LD.LMT number has a star by it, which signified that the owner of the car was imposing a lower limit on its carrying capacity than he axles would allow (TTX flats are often starred, because a concentrated maximum load would exceed the design strength of the center sill). So, the LT.WT. is the weight of an empty, and the LT.WT. + LD.LMT. is the maximum weight of a loaded car, although some cars, like boxcars of merchandise or LCL could be loaded less than maximum capacity. |