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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!
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