assorted chalk marks - a Ted Culotta decal set

The chalk marks applied to the lower sides of boxcars by railroad car inspectors and switchmen were as ubiquitous as the lettering required

by the AAR. Their meaning was often obvious such as ‘bad order’, ‘hold’, ‘do not load’, return to home road’, and ‘repack’. A failure of the car’s

brakes, wheels, couplers, or journals to pass the inspector’s criteria usually resulted in markings being applied such as ‘bad order’ or ‘repack’

along with the inspector’s initials.
 

More often, chalk marks utilized a code known only to a select few and served as instructions to switchmen for sorting rolling stock or

assignment of the car to a specic yard track, freight train, or interchange point. Chalk marks were also used to help spot a car at a specic

industrial siding or building door. Less utilitarian were the personal markings often applied by hobos and mischievous juveniles. Pat Wider
 

This decal set was designed and created at Protocraft Decals with art work by Ted Culotta