|
|
Post by trainboyy on Jan 22, 2022 10:50:43 GMT -8
Hey guys, I've got a question about the ACI labels that were applied to many cars in the 70s. Were they all a seperate steel plate welded/bolted to the car, or were some of them applied as decals? I've never seen the black part of an ACI label peel, only the colored labels inside of that area, which makes me think they were all raised pieces. Were they all of the same exact design? Is there a difference between labels applied to covered hoppers (e.g. were they curved?) to ones applied to boxcars? I'm planning on buying a bunch of Tangent ACI labels. Thanks.  Example of label on a cylindrical hopper. Is this a decal or an ACI plate? |
|
|
|
Post by Baikal on Jan 22, 2022 11:48:20 GMT -8
Hey guys, I've got a question about the ACI labels that were applied to many cars in the 70s. Were they all a seperate steel plate welded/bolted to the car, or were some of them applied as decals? I've never seen the black part of an ACI label peel, only the colored labels inside of that area, which makes me think they were all raised pieces. Were they all of the same exact design? Is there a difference between labels applied to covered hoppers (e.g. were they curved?) to ones applied to boxcars? I'm planning on buying a bunch of Tangent ACI labels. Thanks. Example of label on a cylindrical hopper. Is this a decal or an ACI plate?
It's a label (decal) directly over the car paint.
Some cars & locos had labels on plates, but most (probably 80+%) just had labels. Not worth the trouble to use plates when the ACI system never worked as projected, no matter how the labels were mounted.
|
|
|
|
Post by 12bridge on Jan 22, 2022 11:49:13 GMT -8
It really varied by car/locomotive. The tags themselves are sticker sets, but I have seen them placed directly on cars, as well as on metal plates that would be riveted/bolted/screwed on.
Chances are - a hopper, I would lean towards it being a sticker, especially since its got a curve to it. The plates tended to be more on flatcars, open hoppers, engines, etc.
The flip side also, the plates used were so thin, its just a piece of sheet metal. I have a few in my collection.
Worth noting, some coal companies used ACI labels to track unit coal trains well into the mid 1990's. You can see brand new cars sporting them well after ACI was done on the railroads.
|
|
|
|
Post by alexandrianick on Jan 22, 2022 16:06:31 GMT -8
If you look carefully, you can see that there is a seam or so other parallel line that runs just to the right of label. The edge of the label has the same curve as that seam. That strongly indicates that it is a decal. If it was a plate, there would not be this easily seen parallel arrangement, even at that small of a size.
|
|
|
|
Post by mvlandsw on Jan 22, 2022 16:59:47 GMT -8
Some cars that had too much curvature such as tank cars used plates. Also flat cars where the side sill was not wide enough to hold the label. Some locos had plates attached to the handrail stanchions or the side sill. Hood units could not have the labels applied to the hood as that would place them too far away from the scanners.
At the Union RR car shop we applied ACI plates to cars that too rusty, dirty, or deformed to use a decal. The plates were fastened using a Hilti nail gun.
At one time I thought that I might make scale labels that matched each car but decided that would be impractical. It might be a way to gain points in a model contest.
Mark Vinski
|
|
