HOW TO READ THE TABLES

General Notes

Dimensions within the table are given in feet and inches with a decimal point separating the two. Dates are given in a month/year format. Dimensions and details of cars sometimes change during their service lives, and this listing will generally give the final specifications listed. In the unusual case of a major change without a simultaneous renumbering, pre- and post-rebuilding variations are listed on separate lines as if the cars were two separate series, with in-service dates given for each variation as listed.

Number

The number series. Series are listed in order of the lowest car number within a series. When numbers are reused the earlier series will be listed first. In cases where the number series has been extended (i.e. more cars added later), the additional series are listed on subsequent line(s), with ditto marks (") used to indicate the relationship to the previous line(s). In some cases a substantial number of cars may have varied from the normal car for periods of time and these have been listed on a subsequent line as "some cars".

AAR

AAR mechanical designation. For more go to: AAR Mechanical Designations

Description

Basic car type

#Blt

the maximum number of cars ever listed in the ORER (or total number built in the case of a as-built series). It should be noted that there may actually have been more cars in this series, particularly in the case of renumberings that took place over a period of time. In some cases the number of cars is listed as "?", which means that the series was likely only a planned one and no actual cars were likely in that series.

Svc. Dates

Issue date range of the ORERs that list the particular car series.

IL

Inside length of the car. If the inside length is unavailable, the outside length of the car is given, denoted by an asterisk "*" immediately after the dimension. This has happened primarily with more recent listings for covered hoppers, and with some listings for tank cars.

IH

Inside height of the car.

Dr.

Width of the door opening. Cars equipped with more than one door per side (excepting twin hinged doors) are marked with an asterisk "*" immediately after the dimension.

Cu.Ft.

Capacity of the car in cubic feet. Tank car listings will utilize this column for capacity in U.S. gallons, or alternatively in imperial gallons (denoted by an "i" placed after the gallonage figure). Operations that utilize tank cars exclusively may substitute the term "gal." for the "Cu.Ft."

Bldr.

Builder of the car series. If cars are from multiple builders (in the event of renumbered series), the term "var." will be used. See below table for abbreviations.

Blt. Dates

Built date range of the series.

Notes

A basic description of the cars' construction, followed by notes about the cars. Previous and/or subsequent numbering of the cars will be given (with reporting mark only if changed). Renumbering information followed by a question mark means that this renumbering has been inferred from ORER listings and has yet to be otherwise confirmed, either through actual car sightings or through railway or other published data.

Builder abbreviations:

Acknowledgements

I've been fortunate to receive the invaluable assistance of many folks in the gathering of information over the years.

Particularly helpful have been:

Stafford Swain, who made his extensive files on CN cars available to me, and subsequently encouraged others to lend a hand;

Dan Kirlin and Al Lill, who lent a number of CN diagram sheets to me, which cleared up a great many questions;

Dave Stremes, who made various CN roster printouts used in the preparation of the Canadian Trackside Guide available, and also provided a copy of the 1920 renumbering guide;

Ken Goslett, who provided the CN Lines SIG (and me) a complete computer printout of CN's freight car roster circa 1978, which was invaluable;

Tim Green, who provided the first web home for the CN roster, and provided a HTML solution for the rosters;

Others include: Thom Anderson, Ed Barry, Cliff Basler, Craig T. Bossler, Peter Bowers, Drew Dubler, Jim Eager, Ed Freeman, Charls Gendron, Richard Hendrickson, Tom Hood, Tim Horton, Alan Irwin, Tom Jelinek, Bill Kelly, Jim Kinkaid, Dan Kirlin, Miguel Lewerenz, Al Lill, Ian McCord, John Nehrich, Eric Neubauer, Al Paterson, Russ Pinchbeck, John Riddell, Darrell Sawyer, Carl Shaver, Dave Shaw, Keith Sirman, John Slean, John Spring, Earl Tuson, Al Westerfield, Alan Winston and Richard Yaremko (and doubtless a few others who have escaped me so far), who provided assistance of varying sorts from provision of extracts from Official Railway Equipment Registers, photos, diagram sheets, general information of various sorts or just encouragement. I'm also indebted to: the C. Robert Craig Library (Ottawa, Ont.); the National Archives of Canada (Ottawa, Ont.), the National Library of Canada (Ottawa, Ont.); the Archives of Ontario (Toronto, Ont.); the Denver Public Library (Denver, CO); the California State Railroad Museum (Sacramento, CA); the NMRA's A.C. Kalmbach Library (Chattanooga, TN); and Connie Romani of Visualarity (Montreal, Que.).

Use of the Data

The roster data on these pages has been painstakingly compiled over a considerable period of time. Feel free to use them for personal purposes, but if you wish to make use of this data for commercial purposes, or for any other purpose than your own personal use, please contact me.