# Finding date on box car



## ryanmetzler3 (Jul 15, 2015)

I have a CSX box car with reporting marks CSX 318314. I have not been able to figure out when this box car was manufactured or if it is still in service. Is there any resources to find this?

i am talking about when the box car was manufactured in real life, in case that was not clear.


UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who answered my question. Through reading your posts, I found that a boxcar with these reporting marks was never actually in CSX's fleet. But, the logo painted on the car was only used by CSX from 1982-2011. I have also found pictures of similar looking box cars that were taken very recently. So given that I model the early 2000's I am happy with the realism of this car.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Sometimes, manufacturers paint and number train cars that were not prototypical in real life, so it's hard to say.....pics would help.


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## ryanmetzler3 (Jul 15, 2015)

Old_Hobo said:


> Sometimes, manufacturers paint and number train cars that were not prototypical in real life, so it's hard to say.....pics would help.


here is a picture:
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/OTk1WDE1OTU=/z/1mIAAOSwpDdVRqK1/$_35.JPG


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

Look in the smaller writing. There will be a build date, maybe month and year.

might say like BLT 5 36. That would be may 1936 as build date. Should be on your car.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Again, he is talking about the date of manufacture of the real car, not the model that is painted in that scheme, of which type the real railroad may or may not have had.....can't go by the date on a painted model for 100% accuracy.....


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## ryanmetzler3 (Jul 15, 2015)

mopac said:


> Look in the smaller writing. There will be a build date, maybe month and year.
> 
> might say like BLT 5 36. That would be may 1936 as build date. Should be on your car.


I see what you are talking about. Its in the little black box with white print inside. Unfortunately it's too tiny and pixelated to make out even with a magnifying glass.


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## dave1905 (Jul 7, 2013)

Don't think its a real number.

Neither the 1995 or 2000 editions of the Official Railway Equipment Register (ORER) list CSX cars in the 318xxxseries. The numbers stop in the 312xxx range and pick up in the 360xxx range.


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

I am also very conscious of the having the proper cars for my time period. I model the transition era, 1957 to be exact. While I was building my layout, I was also working on my freight cars and when buying them or custom painting them I was very careful. This picture isn't perfectly clear, but the build date can be found on the lower right side of this car, and it is stated as build date. 










When I was building these cars, it was easy to see the dates, now I have a hard time reading them with a magnifier.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Here is a CSX photo box car roster.

Maybe you can find your car in this very 
long list then see if you can determine the
built date.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rsList.aspx?id=CSX&cid=2

Don


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## dave1905 (Jul 7, 2013)

He won't find that number series because the CSX didn't use that series of numbers. At this point he can look at the model and determine the build date from the data on the model and accept that or he can look for similar design cars and see when they were built.

It would also be helpful if he would have said what era he's trying to model and what the model car is he is trying to figure out the build date for. 

If he's modeling 1965 then the CSX car isn't appropriate because CSX didn't exist in 1965.

If he's modeling 2010 and its an Athearn 40 ft boxcar then it probably not appropriate because those cars would have been built in the 1930's-1940's and probably would have been retired in the 1980's and 1990's.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

In my experience, most manufacturers aim for a "close enough" model that is suitable as a stand in for multiple roadnames and car / loco types, to simplify manufacturing and reduce costs. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Walthers' recent run of DL-109 locomotives had the correct numbers for the Cranberry Express and McGinnis paint schemes, even if the locomotive itself was something of a hybrid, detail-wise.

If strict fidelity to the prototype is what you need, then you should obtain actual equipment lists for your road of choice and superdetail / paint / reletter your models as appropriate.


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## ryanmetzler3 (Jul 15, 2015)

dave1905 said:


> He won't find that number series because the CSX didn't use that series of numbers. At this point he can look at the model and determine the build date from the data on the model and accept that or he can look for similar design cars and see when they were built.
> 
> It would also be helpful if he would have said what era he's trying to model and what the model car is he is trying to figure out the build date for.
> 
> ...


Its a 50' plate C box car. I model the 2005 - present era. The logo painted on the box car was used by CSX from 1982-2011. So given those dates its not unrealistic for it to be operating today. Plus I have found many pictures of very similar box cars taken in recent years.


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

I would still be curious what the build date is on the model car.


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## ryanmetzler3 (Jul 15, 2015)

mopac said:


> I would still be curious what the build date is on the model car.


I tried to look but the print on the car is not readable. I'm only 21 and have perfect vision, so its not that I can't see. Its just so small that its not discernible. Even with a magnifying glass it just look pixelated.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Pic...we need a pic of the car in question....your car...not that dinky little pic from fleabay...


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## ryanmetzler3 (Jul 15, 2015)

Old_Hobo said:


> Pic...we need a pic of the car in question....your car...not that dinky little pic from fleabay...


Here is a good pic


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## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

ryanmetzler3 said:


> Even with a magnifying glass it just look pixelated.


That's strange as I can read all the build dates on my cars.


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## dave1905 (Jul 7, 2013)

ryanmetzler3 said:


> Its a 50' plate C box car. I model the 2005 - present era. The logo painted on the box car was used by CSX from 1982-2011. So given those dates its not unrealistic for it to be operating today. Plus I have found many pictures of very similar box cars taken in recent years.


I agree that a car of that type could be operating in 2005. 

It could be in CSX paint.

That's just not a real car number. The CSX had no car in that series. The CSX did not own a car 318314 that was a boxcar in the 2000's. The closest series of cars (31xxxx to 32xxxx) are open top hopper cars not boxcars.

So it doesn't really matter what the build date is, if you are looking at whether the number is correct or not, the answer is NO, it is not a correct number.


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## dave1905 (Jul 7, 2013)

Finally opened the picture and your problem isn't 20-20 vision its dyslexia or keyboarding skills.

The car number is CSX 138314, NOT CSX318314 in your original post.

You gave us the wrong car number, that makes a difference.

CSX 138314 is a CORRECT car number for a 50' paper loading boxcar which is consistent with the picture of the car.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Correct info goes a long way......


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## ryanmetzler3 (Jul 15, 2015)

*thank you*



dave1905 said:


> Finally opened the picture and your problem isn't 20-20 vision its dyslexia or keyboarding skills.
> 
> The car number is CSX 138314, NOT CSX318314 in your original post.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the info. Where did you find this information?


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## dave1905 (Jul 7, 2013)

ryanmetzler3 said:


> Thanks for the info. Where did you find this information?


I have paper copies of various Official Railway Equipment Registers from the 1940's to about 2005. I have 1900 and 1905 on disk. The paper copies are about the size of a large city phone book.

The ORER is a list of all the cars in service on the N American railroads, thier owners, numbers, dimensions, capacities and car type (AAR codes). They are used by real railroads to determine dimensions and capacities and service. The ORER's are published quarterly since the 1890's. 

They will NOT tell you the manufacturer of the car, the shape of it (smooth sides vs. exterior posts, 9 panel vs. 11 panel), when it was built or what paint scheme its in.

You can find them on E-Bay or some companies sell copies on disc (Westerfield was one).


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## ryanmetzler3 (Jul 15, 2015)

dave1905 said:


> I have paper copies of various Official Railway Equipment Registers from the 1940's to about 2005. I have 1900 and 1905 on disk. The paper copies are about the size of a large city phone book.
> 
> The ORER is a list of all the cars in service on the N American railroads, thier owners, numbers, dimensions, capacities and car type (AAR codes). They are used by real railroads to determine dimensions and capacities and service. The ORER's are published quarterly since the 1890's.
> 
> ...


Thanks, I might look into getting one of those. I apologize for the confusion on the reporting number. Once I realized my mistake, I went on railcarphotos.com and found another car with reporting marking 138385. This is not exactly the same, but its obviously very close and I found that it was built in 1980. This is also true of many other cars that have reporting marks in the same ball park. So this issue is finally resolved. It was built in 1980.


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