Do Trains Have License Plates? - Railroad Reporting Marks for Beginners!

Do Trains Have License Plates? - Railroad Reporting Marks for Beginners!
Well, not exactly but they have reporting marks, which perform a similar function.
Welcome to Model Railroading for Beginners!
Each piece of railroad equipment in North America has a reporting mark. The reporting mark consists of a 2-4 character alphabetic code and a number from 1-6 digits.
The alphabetic code tells you who owns the piece of equipment. The codes are usually abbreviations. For example, “UP” is for Union Pacific, “NS” is for Norfolk Southern, etc.
There are a few alphabetic codes that are special.
If the code ends in “X”, then the railroad equipment belongs to a private owner that’s not a railroad.
Many of these are leasing companies, like ACFX (American Car & Foundry). Others are industrial owners with their own fleets of cars, like ADMX (Archer Daniels Midland).
Codes ending in “Z” are reserved for trailers, like semi trailers that are sometimes hauled on trains and frequently towed behind big rigs.
Codes that end in “U” are for intermodal containers, the big metal shipping containers that can be seen on trains, ships, and behind semi trucks.
Sometimes railroads have more than one reporting mark. Union Pacific, for example, also has “MP”, since they acquired the Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1982. UP also uses “UPY” for some of its yard locomotives.
Dan & Nichole discuss all this and more in this episode of Model Railroading for Beginners!
If you’re curious about how this all works and want to learn more, be sure to watch this video!
#train #modeltrains #trainvideo #scalemodels #railroad #railway

[@trapdriver7006]

Excellent informative video which I enjoyed watching.👍😃😃🚂🇬🇧

[@DanielCortopassi]

We're glad you liked the video. Thanks for watching!

[@conrailfan6277]

Great Video Dan, Nicole!! You'll have to do one showing how to remove a factory applied set of numbers and reapply new numbers for sets of cars belonging to your favorite RR!! I love the ole Micro Sol and scotch tape method!!! 😁😁😁

[@DanielCortopassi]

That's a good video idea. I did one a while back on removing old decals, but factory lettering is another good one. I'll put it on the list. Thanks for watching!

[@nyemt601]

The rail car your referring too that supposedly Rosevelt used was in grand central station. I laughed my entire way through the documentary. He pointed to the truck and tried to say the springs are “heavy duty springs” when in reality all they were was standard issue of the time. The car itself is in Ct rail museum now I believe The intermodal containers are also a tad different from the standard trailer. If you observe them they have a series of braces that’s meant for overseas travel. And the have holes on each corner for locking them into each chassis that the truck can transport. The trailers are also reinforced in the floors as well for train travel but not as much as a standard container. Practice was or so I was told was a container ship would pull to Newark and they come off the ship onto a train across the county to LA or west coast where it was back on a ship to Asia. Idea was less port of calls for the ship and lower shipping cost If you also look at the reporting markings of an Overseas container the weight is in KGs as well as American tons or Lbs

[@DanielCortopassi]

Thanks for the clarifications. It's been a long time since I saw that program, and mostly what I remembered was the comment about the reporting marks. That's good to know about the trailers vs. containers, too. Thanks for the info and for watching!

[@lucgagnon5241]

Hey Nicole. Graffitis are "artistic vandalism" to my point of view. In fact, it's a real pain in the a... for railroad companies. As Dan said, reporting marks get covered by those pseudo artists. That's violation of property at the end. I'm glad being old enough to have seen cars with none on them. Nearly all my model cars have none. I really don't like them. This one was very educational. Thanks for sharing your work.

[@DanielCortopassi]

I remember when graffiti on trains was rare, too! We're glad you liked the video. Thanks for watching!

[@danielfantino1714]

Luc, i think the same. The more tags there is, the more violent, crimes oriented and decay a location is. Some says it´s art. Try to find one in Japan. Good luck.

[@lucgagnon5241]

@@danielfantino1714 Thanks Nicole. Graffitis are an image of our society. Declining is for me the right word.

[@debbiemilka2251]

Daniel, Thanks for covering this topic. Knowing what all those letters mean enhances the MR experience. Thanks for explaining the divided ownership of auto rack cars. I had no idea. But, you didn't say what the "G" after TT stands for. X is for privately owned leased cars, right ? What does the "X" refer to ? An extra ? Or is it X has been an identifier of things not commonly accepted or in this case these are beyond our (RR company) purview or part of our inventory . Also I think a very related topic as part of what you covered so well is how the importance of reporting marks conflicts with graffiti . I think I remember reading that taggers had a nodding respect of RR reporting marks and would refrain from obliterating that information. But, if they didn't doesn't that crime interfere with efficient car movement and JIT progress reports to shipper clients ? I would guess that this is very important. Thanks again Daniel for continuing education. Bob

[@DanielCortopassi]

I am not sure about the origins of the use of "X" for private owners. It might be interesting to find out. I know Trailer Train has a bunch of reporting marks, that I think they use for different types of rolling stock, but I'd have to research that one more too. TTGX is just one. Many of them are like that, TT-X, with some other letter in the third slot. I didn't know that taggers would avoid reporting marks, and I'm not sure if it's a more serious offense to cover the reporting marks vs. just regular tagging/vandalism. That would also be interesting to know. Thanks for contributing to the discussion and for watching!

[@danielfantino1714]

Legally speaking, you tag it´s vandalism and punishable at least of fine. It also means that you tresspassed on railroad or company property. Now if you cover reporting marks, let say all 4 of them, that car suddenly lost its identification. There is still the gray plastic id card on the car. But crews don´t have scanner to read it. So the car being "no name" can not be use. It is off service. And that, at least in Canada is punishable of emprisonment. But of course, we dream and see results in trashy big cities with dope , homeless etc...

[@ToadsTrainShack]

Great video! I always love to see this series grow and cover new topics!

[@DanielCortopassi]

We will be doing more of these from time to time. We're glad you liked this one. Thanks for watching!

[@25mfd]

one reason why rail equipment is separated into railroad owned and private owned is for billing purposes... private railcars, when on customer rails, are not subject to a demurrage fee... whereas railroad owned equipment IS subject to a demurrage fee when on customer property

[@DanielCortopassi]

That's interesting. I am not that well versed on the legal and financial aspects of railroading, so I appreciate the info. Thanks for sharing and for watching!

[@devernepersonal3636]

I am not sure how i have been a railfan this whole time and not understood why it was called Z train. Thank you for finally learning me a little something haha.

[@DanielCortopassi]

We're glad you found the video helpful. Thanks for watching!

[@JessicaKasumi1990]

Don't forget the T is also part of CSX's full name, being CSX Transportation.

[@DanielCortopassi]

Yes, good catch. Thanks for watching!

[@debbiemilka2251]

Very good. I should've glommed onto that point. But that somebody owns the flat car and someone else owns the super structure.

[@randysrockandrollrailroad8207]

Very cool 🤠

[@DanielCortopassi]

Thanks for watching!

[@danielfantino1714]

Oh boy, you opened quite a big complex box here. All Canadian and American cars, i don´t know about Mexican ones, are listed in ULMER. It means Universal Language Machine Equipment Register. Railroads or private car owner must pay fees everytime there is changes. That´s why you can see CR for Conrail even if it doesn´t exist anymore. Like you said, all cars with an X at the end are private. But why private, non railroad freightcars ? Well many reasons : - You´re a lumber company that ship cut lumber. Your domestic railroad at your door have plenty of those cars, fine you use them. Loading and unloading is fast ? Excellent choice. - Your company makes foam mattress. Well here it´s a different dance. Your railroad doesn´t have the type of tank car you need. Oups ? What do you do ? you make an agreement with a leasing company like GE Capital that will finance and have built cars following your special needs. GE will bill you the same way you pay for your leased automobile. Then you do whatever you want with them. Just like your automobile. You pay railroads for movment of your car. It´s yours, so you´re sure of never missing car for your shipment, AND you have no delays for loading or unloading them. In the example of foam mattress, it can take weeks to empty a tank car. Railroads cars are 48 hours maximum. After that delay you pay demurrages fees, usually by day you´re late. That penalty cost can be pretty high after a while. It´s your car on your piece of track, you can take years if you want. You just pay the leasing company. - you are a speculative fund or in propane industry. You lease tank car the same way. But where to put loaded cars ? You have no track ? Well you store them on railroad track. Class 1 are highly expansive or refuse harmful commodities. Starving branchline / shortline have far better rate and sometimes miles on unused track just perfect for you....if allowed....if not, there is specialised company for storing your propane car, usually at reasonable fees. Why you may be ask, to load a tank car of propane.....and not delivering it to a client ? You´re too fast my friend. Value of propane, just like car gas change with season. Farmers need it in fall for drying corn. Household use more gaz for heating in winter than in 90 degrees of summer. So these tank cars can sleep loaded for months before moving to a customer. - your plant close and you don´t need your leased cars anymore. You send them back to let say again GE Capital, or your leased is expired, just like your automobile. GE have no tracks for thousands of unused cars. They´ll go in a storage company, waiting for a new lessor, or being modified accordingly. I remember a molten sulphur tank car that was in storage in summer 1991....and there it stayed until finally scrapped in 2006 because closure of storing company. Otherwise it would probably being sitting there in 2024. And for those curious of usual black color of tank car, it´s not for no reason. It´s to keep content warmer. Propane is cold. Tar need steam heated insulated tank car for loading / unloading. Same with petroleum products. White ? To keep content cooler with less vapor. Green or other color ? No idea ! Railroad cars have a life expectancy of about 30 years. Private ones have no expiration date as long as they pass inspection. Tank cars are a good example. They must pass tank, valve, pressure test at predeterminated date written on the tank. That´s just few examples of the "why" private cars. On car sides you have the date the car was builted. It´s written BLT in that "black square" and often also on the side NEW. REBLT means rebuilt. Most of the time there is no date. To put a date, the car must be rebuilt. It means major structural changes. For heavier load, or major repairs after a wreck. Cost of repairs must exceed certain amount compared with an equivalent brand new car. Your flat car converted in autorack can probably fell in that category of modification for a new type of handling. Reporting marks can look like a real zoo. As usual there is exceptions...or some delinquant use, but if i take CN, Canadian National let´s see some examples. CN is for CANADIAN made cars to be used only in Canada. CNAA is for AMERICAN built cars to be used exclusively in the US. CNIS is for cars in international service only. From Canada to US and vice versa. It´s always a custom fees story. Same system is in use with CP Rail. Just different letters codes. For those remembering CP green boxcars it was written "for newsprint service only" they carried only that. No canned food, lumber etc... just newsprint. Some had a pine tree on them, they were for lumber only. Back to custom duties, i don´t know if it still applies, but in the 50´ 60´ locomotives couldn´t stay more than 48 hours in the country where they weren´t builted. That explain that CP kept its Alcos in the US in Vermont, Maine territory, and all its MLW counterpart in Canada. Otherwise custom fees had to be paid. That explain also why EMD builted GMDD plant in Ontario, to feed Canadian railroads with Canadian locomotives. For the same reason, Baldwin and Fairbanks Morse locomotives where builted in Canada by CLC under licencees. About Mexican freightcars, many years i haven´t see one of their boxcars. But Autorack mostly daily. So i´ve no idea how does it work for them. Probably an agreement with commercial treaty US/Canada/Mexico ? I have one question. I´m sure i already know answer. In shipping industry, container lenght are made in 20 foot lenght. That means that 20 foot long containers can run on train, truck and ship. Same for 40 footers that equal 2 X 20 footers. So does that mean that 45 and 53 feet long never leave the continent on a ship ? I suppose they stay aground and will never sink in the middle of the big blue.... Hoping that it help your modeling and knowledges. Thanks Daniel for that subject that is so weird for new comers. There is so much to say about "plate C" or "F" and many markings actual or those of the past that we don´t see anymore. But it´s for an other day.

[@DanielCortopassi]

That's some great info. I feel like I'm a good model builder, but there are definite gaps in my knowledge of how the railroad industry works. As to your question, I'm not really sure. It sounds like the 20 and 40 foot containers are preferred for container ships, but I know even less about the maritime industry. Thanks so much for sharing and for watching!

[@davidl.miller8168]

Dan, Nicely done video for the beginners to use as a reference in building their rolling stock fleets. Especially as some private owned reporting marks can be seen on certain roads, such as USGX for ex-SP sugar beet cars, or unit train coal contracts. Also by the way how does that "Front Runner" 2 axle TOFC car run for you in a train? I never had much luck with them, especially if I needed to back the train up.

[@DanielCortopassi]

I'm glad you liked the video. I haven't really had a chance to run the Front Runner car. I have several of them, but like a lot of my rolling stock, they've been in boxes for years. Once I get the layout going I'll be able to test them out and see how well they work. Thanks for watching!

[@jnv4392]

Thanks!

[@DanielCortopassi]

Thank you so much!

[@Burlychicken88]

Hi Dan my name is Bradley I would like to ask you a question can you review mp 710310 from 7:32

[@DanielCortopassi]

That's a really old model, but maybe I could do a retro review or something on it sometime. It's already been weathered, has Kadees installed, etc. so I can't really review it as a new model. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@Burlychicken88]

@DanielCortopassi it's alright a retro review could be good if that comes out feel free to mention me in one of your videos

[@mikedowell8978]

Are you nicholie going longbeach

[@DanielCortopassi]

We'd like to but I'm not sure if we'll be able to make it. I'm sure it will be fun. Thanks for watching!

[@debbiemilka2251]

What's Longbeach ? Long Beach, Ca.?