Great references

Marc,

Nice catch; and nice photos of the rust "splatter" too.  That would make an interesting effect in its own right.

Geof

KBSR

I think the "K-" and "SR" are actually the same mark.

NAHX -> KBSR -> CNA

might be KBSR

But that second letter kind of looks like a C to my eye - either way it is an interesting small detail on an otherwise average grain car.  Do you have this car in the Freight car gallery Chris?

I might try and sneak down to the station at lunch and see if the car is still there and get a photo of the other side, there is a parkade that should give a decent view of the other side.  These cars tend to sit a while before they head back east. 

Marc Simpson

KBSR

I'm not sure whether I have this particular car # yet or not; I'll have to look it up.

If you look at the letters, note that the "SR" has a light grey patch field behind it, on top of the earlier darker grey patch. You can also see traces of the light grey around the K (very worn) and none of that colour in the area of the second letter, which is completely obliterated. I've seen other KBSR cars ex-NAHX (and actually builder's photos of one KBSR series that's naturally slotted into the middle of the normal NAHX numbering) so with the "K-SR" visible, that's what I'm calling it.

With the patch colours, it appears that at least one other previous owner between the original reporting marks and KBSR, so NAHX -> ???? -> KBSR -> CNA.

That whole CNA series is a wild grab bag of various ex-NAHX lease cars.

Interesting car marks. One

Interesting car marks. One might look at all the places that owned this car type in 1978. It could be possible that the cars were not that common and it might identify who the original owner was and how they were disposed of, possibly sold the entire lot to the next owner. It also looks like there might be a C behind the first letter K. It might be easier to track if one first looks at a listing of all the Canadian railroads and leasing companies as international agreements would involve exchange rates and possibly additional fees for the railroad not incurred if the equipment was obtained domestically.

Car History from 1978

Rob in Texas:

This car is definitely, positively originally NAHX. (North American Car Co. leasing)

This entire CNA 385xxx block consists of former North American cars from various series, acquired by CN in 1993.

Note from the patching that the [highly likely] KBSR markings are at least the car's third identity already, prior to being picked up by CN. There's at least two more letters under that completely worn off "B".

One thing with the Canadian railways that a lot of American modelers/railfans aren't necessarily aware of is the use of those alternate reporting marks (CNA vs. CN) to denote American-built or -obtained cars treated under customs regulations as American cars. i.e. they're not imported to Canada. CN also uses reporting marks of their American subsidiary railways for a similar result. The story is similar with Canadian Pacific and the use of CPAA reporting marks for American cars, as well as the reporting marks of subsidiary SOO Line.

It's also entirely likely that this whole group is leased from GE Railcar Services (NACC's successor) and not necessarily purchased by CN.

It will also be noted that this particular design is Pullman-Standard's most common covered hopper model. Tens of thousands or more were built from about 1973 through 1979.

Tangent or Intermountain cars

Accurail...

Accurail is also producing the same car, and they have both a "white" and "light grey" data-only model available.

My only issue with the Accurail cars, other than that they are considerably more complex than most of their earlier models (not that that is necessarily a bad thing), is that they no longer fit into the box once couplers are installed!

-Fuzzy
http://www.fuzzyworld3.com/modelrr.html
 

Same here

I just ripped holes in the sides:

Original number

The original number for this car was NAHX479417 (I looked it up in UMLER).

UMLER

Nice. Thanks Jeff. Does it record just the original ID, or any of the other intermediates?

Just the original ID,

Just the original ID, unfortunately.

For Chris

Hi Chris,

I'm not sure if it helps or hinders but a quick search of the rrpictures archive at  http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/rslist.aspx?id=NAHX&cid=4&Page=38 didn't turn up any photos of a direct match but has several photos of cars close to your car #..

Additional starting points for more detective work?