Prototype details (various subjects)
Miscellanious: Roster numbering, Stencil, Paint
Freight Car Numbering
This discussion about rolling stock roster re-numbering history requires more scholarly investigation but here's some details that I have determined.
There has been a number(3 or 4) distinct roster renumbering prior to 1913 to rationalize ordering and reserve space for future growth. Between 1910 and 1913 road numbers was expanded from 5 digits to 6. Existing 5 digit numbers were changed by prefixing existing numbers to move them into their respective class grouping. e.g., 58000 to 158000
The 1910 to 1913 roster was rearranged in the following fashion:
1 to 9999 passenger cars 10000 to 199999 standard house cars, e.g., box cars 200000 to 290000 special house cars, e.g., stock, reefers, ventilation, machinery 300000 to 399999 open cars, e.g., flat, gondola, ore, hopper, tank and low 300k numbers were OCS (later moved to 400000 series) 400000 to 499999 OCS, vans House cars were painted mineral brown and consecutive numbered. Special house cars were mineral brown and either consecutive or even numbered depending on class. Open cars were painted black and odd or consecutive numbered depending on class.The important point is to pay attention to freight car numbers!
After 1913 the roster was generally left untouched except minor shuffles to reserve space for specific classes of cars.
Passenger Car Naming and Numbering
The messy capsule story...
The passenger car roster at the time of railway construction years 1882 to 1886 was pretty messy. The railway was divided into 2 lines – East and West. The cars were numbered independently with identical numbers used in the east and west. By the end of the decade minor adjustments were made to align numbers so the roster could become one.
As new cars acquired through the 1890s, notably baggage, mail, coaches and colonist/immigrant cars, it became necessary to reorganize to make way for the future. The first major all-encompassing roster renumbering occurred in 1893.
By the begining of the next decadal period between 1903 and 1913 car acquisitions increased to nearly 100 cars every year, for a 10 year total of 2,435 cars. The peak delivery years were 1906 and 1907 with 313 cars and a later peak in 1913 with 449 cars delivered. During this time 3 distinct acquisitions programs were in effect: coaches from 1905 to 1907, mail and baggage cars 1907 to 1910 and sleeper and tourist cars from 1911 to 1913.
The sheer magnitude of the influx of new cars forced not one but two major renumbering activities during this period. The first major reorganization happened between 1907 and 1908 and the second between 1910 and 1913. The 1910 scheme was sufficiently broad and logical that it only required a minor tweak between 1917 and 1921 to set the roster right.
Renumbering 1911 to 1913
Note: Passenger cars were assign either a name or number. From 1890 to 1913 parlor, dining, tourist and sleepers were named cars.
1-99 Private Cars 100-349 Suburban 350-1699 First class coach 1800-2299 Second class coach 2300-2399 Wood Tourist 2400-2899 Colonist 3100-3399 Combine 3400-3799 Mail Express 3800-4499 Baggage Express 4500-4599 Horse Express 4600-4699 Fruit Express 4700-4899 Baggage Express 4900-4999 Thru baggage 5500-5899 Express Reefer 5900-5999 Box Express 6000-6999 (vacant) 7900-7999 Open Observation 8000-9999 (vacant)You'll notice something a bit weird in that 3000-3099 wasn't used. This block was reserved for tourist cars delivered in 1911 and 1913.
This was corrected between 1917 and 1919 where the numbered car roster was finally rationalized. Already named cars were changed too for consistentcy which involved assigning temporary numbers to free names. Parlor and tourist cars, which were named cars at the time, were assigned temporary numbers and parked in their respective number seiers. This period of time is really confusing to understand.
Renumbering of 1917-1921
2900-2930 Hospital (WW1) 5300-5799 Buffet Parlor (temporary 1917-1922) 6000-6299 Tourist 6300-6399 Dining (temporary 1917-1922) 7000-7499 Sleeping (temporary 1917-1922) 7700-7800 Compartment Observation (temporary 1917-1922)Final roster post-1922
All diners named after British manors, castles and locations.
All Sleepers named after Canadian destinations served by the CPR with compartment sleepers relegated to named series, e.g., MOUNT, LAKE, CAPE, GRAND, FORT, etc.
The complete and final numbered roster appeared like so:
1-99 Private Cars 100-349 Suburban 350-1699 First class 1800-2299 Second class 2300-2399 Wood Tourist 2400-2899 Colonist 3100-3399 Combine 3400-3799 Mail 3800-4499 Baggage & Baggage Express 4500-4599 Horse Express 4600-4699 Fruit Ex 4700-4899 Mail & Mail Express 4900-4999 Thru baggage 5500-5899 Ex Reefer 5900-5999 Box Ex 6000-6399 Tourist 6400-6499 Restaurant 6500-6899 Parlors and Cafe Parlors 7900-7999 Open Observation 9000-9300 Motorized coachesThis pretty much was the roster configuration right until the end of revenue passenger travel. The numbered Budd cars filled the unused 100, 500 and 3000 blocks. Standard G,H,I,K series sleepers that were reassigned to tourist service in the 50s retained their names instead of numbers. These were reconfigured as 13 section cars by skillfully removing the drawing room door. ;-) The end was insight for them so why do much more.
Stenciling
I plan to do an extensive article on stenciling for the website but in the meantime you can check out my multi-part passenger car painting and lettering article in CP Tracks. Part 1 covers the 1880s to 1936.
The decal sets included in my models are for mid-1920s. In this time period capacity and dimensional data labels were abbreviated. Prior to that, say 1913 to mid-1920s dimensional and capacity data was spelt out in full. Special dimensional decal sets are available on request.
Paint
This is where I plan to carefully step into the heavily mined subject of paint.