| Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad Class HC-1A 181520 at Cicero, Illinois on an unknown day in October 1981, Kodachrome by Chuck Zeiler. According to the COTS sticker, this car was built in April 1957. It was part of a group of 297 car in the 181250-181546 number series built by the CB&Q at Havelock, Nebraska. 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 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 the 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. |