Steam Road Numbers

[Redtail67]

Wrote a big long winded answer and tried to post it and i had timed out....lol

Well here it is No the FRA does not write the rules I can not recall the specific name of the body. I know it as the National Rules Committee. It is a body compsed of the nations railroads Rules Department representatives.

The write, change, delete and or add to any and all rules on the roads in the US.

The FRA has an approval role in the formulation of the rules they can suggest and in some cases mandate rule changes and or additions.

At the request of the BLE I was involved in reviewing and suggesting some rule changes in the 1980s'. The roads had for years been letting the Unions participate but we had no final say.

I had been a dedicated student of the rules since I hired out and was fascinated as how the rules worked together and I wanted to learn how it all came about. My position as an engineer required a thorough understanding of these rules as well as my being a Union representative for 30 years.

I had been certified and accepted by several courts as an Expert on the Rules as it was required to be so accepted to testify in court both for and against the carrier.

Also as a note about the right of way part of this thread. It is the responsibility of the railroads to fence all right of way to prevent access of stock to the tracks. This started because of many wrecks and resulted in many deaths when trains struck livestock and derailed.

The railroads were required to fence the stock off their tracks and provide means for stock to access other pastures on the other side. They pay for it and maintain it. If stock gets killed on the right of way they pay the rancher and they are liable if the train derails and injures anyone or for damages.

Did you know that the orginal telegraph poles were waist high or so? They were torn down by migrating herds of buffalo and the roads raised them to a standard height of 30 feet I think. This was to clear wagons and horseback riders. Later the cattle and sheep herds. There is a story on the C&S of 5 miles of wire being torn down by buffaloe moving south to Texas between Clayton, NM and Des Moines NM. When I left the railrod there were still about 15 of the orginal waist high poles with insulators attached at Des Moines.

Redtail67

[rogertra]

And e-pal, a N&W "expert" confirmed that the N&W did NOT paint loco numbers on its tenders but painted the tender number in six inch numerals on the rear of the tender which I must admit, was a it of a surprise.

Just goes to prove that you live and learn.

[SteamGene]

I just got the new copy of the C&O Historical Society magazine.  There is a picture of a C&O G-9 (2-8-0) # 991 acting as a shifter.  The rear of the tender has soot on it, but it is totally impossible to see if there is a number on the rear.  Normally the C&O had the engine number on the rear of the tender and could or could not have other data such as "C&O", coal capacity, water capacity, etc.
Gene