Chalk Marks - A New Method

I really want to draw attention to the human details that we so often forget on our models.  No, I don't mean modeling a brakemen riding a car exactly, or a clerk walking the paths in a yard, 'mud hopping' the string.  No, I mean the notes that the crews left for themselves and others to understand various needs of the car's status, routing, servicing, or maybe even to set the car out in the middle of a blizzard at night when the trainman doesn't feel like trying to read a car number.

Gel-Pen with 0.5mm tip and strong white covering gel-ink which makes great chalk-marks!

So I wasn't planning to circle back to the NC&StL 15337 so fast, but I went by Michael's craft store today and found a great little white gel-pen from GELLYROLL 0.5mm tipped pen.  It doesn't work so well on glossy surfaces, but works great on dullcoated surfaces.  I found that I needed to clean the tip on some paper or ideally wood (tie material works great) to get fresh gel on the ball to present it onto the model surface.

Let's look at a few examples of chalk marks by Gel Pen...

NC&StL 15337

NC&StL 15337 - Fowler -TRRA photo, East St Louis, July 1948, Illinois, Joe Collias coll, Bobs Photo - Ted Culotta collection - with permission

Cross check the work against the prototype photo.  Not bad!  Looks like there's a #9 on the left end of the car.  Could be a track number or maybe a train symbol.  Hard to tell.  Several old chalk marks at the left stirrup which have been wiped out with someone's rag or a sleeve.  There's an old mark below the light weight.  I'm guessing there's a AB bleed-valve arrow and the letters "Rod" under door.  The door has some rough math of some sort being worked out, along with to the right of the door.  A random "P" appears to be next to the Internal Dimension data block, and some other marks under the lower ladder rungs.

A little work with the new gel-pen toy on the left side of NC&StL 15337 to match prototype photograph.

I like this white gel, as it dries flat and looks good as chalk marks.  I'm also planning to get some gray and other colors, like yellow, red, green, etc which carmen and clerks used if it was at hand.  The colors I'm looking for aren't going to be neon or super bright, but more realistically colored chalks that would have been available in the 1940s-1950s.

Right side of NC&StL 15337 with an assortment of chalk markings with the gel-pen.

The other side of the car is pretty basic, with OK marks, some other cryptic scribbles, some door math again to round it out the model.  I have some other plans in the work to do the final detailing on this model, which will make up last of the series on the NC&StL 15337 (Part 4).

SP 15203

SP 15203 with "Shorts" chalk mark.

The left side of Rapido B-50-15 includes the arrow for trainmen to quickly find the bleed valve lever in the dark of night when walking the string of cars.  As my Jawbone Branch is connected directly to traffic flow between Bakersfield and Los Angeles, usually using the freight symbol "Mojave Shorts", or often just called the "Shorts" for the division, direction implied by which end of the division the car is starting on.  Shorts West from Los Angeles  and Shorts East from Bakersfield.  The combination of the station number "1511" indicates the car's heading for Mojave.

The other side of SP 15203 just has the crypic instruction "Hold".

One of the common chalk marks was "Hold", this can be used in dozens of places and is a great mark to put on cars.  Is the car empty and the agent wants to keep it in the yard?  Well, 'Hold' it here.  Which cars are we pulling from this industry?  Oh, someone marked this as a hold, to remind us the loading crews aren't done with their work.  Maybe the car's on three-day demurrage agreement unload still, and there's a weekend, so the car's not having to be unloaded until Tuesday, so we're holding the car until it's released by the customer.

SP 15564

Looks like the last trip of SP 15564 wasn't kind, time for a "Clean out"!

The left side of SP 15564 I went with the basic bleed arrow and a carmen's instruction to get the car cleaned out, which usually involved a set-over to a track on the edge of the yard for a day and a visit from a worker with a broom.

The other side has an "OK" and the bleed arrow for this side.

For now the other side is very basic generic marks.  When I get a couple of other colors I may add some more.

NP 11661

NP 11661 with a few basic marks.

I haven't put much on this Rapido Double-sheath NP boxcar with simple marks for "4th St" and "S/O 2".  Sounds like the car recently was routed to something on 4th Street of somewhere and setout 2, which is another cryptic message for some Conductor to himself.

SP 37821 "Overnight" B-50-16

SP 37821 chalk mark "Freight House" and station code "3429".

I decided not to obviously assign the routing for this B-50-16 Overnight car to Los Angeles Freight House, but instead have hidden that exact message on the car by using the SP's Los Angeles station number, 3429.  The PMT 'Overnight' loading at the SP freight house was the usual loading/unloading point.  As I may be using the car in general freight service, which may focus on Freight Forwarders, which for the Jawbone Branch, often would mean coming from the LA Freight House also!  So win-win situation.

SP 37821 with "Team 3" chalk mark.

The other side of the Overnight car I went with a more generic chalk mark of "Team 3" which would probably be a spot or door number at the local Team track.

UTLX 72176

UTLX 72176 with "Clean out" note.

The tank cars get in on the fun too.  This Tangent GA Type 17 8k car has been marked with a carmen's order to "Clean out" the car, which was then struck out with a line and 'OK' marked, to show the car's clean and ready to go for the next trip.

I'll do more with the Tangent and Rapido tankcar models at some point, covering weathering and other little bits to improve the models.

In Closing

A parting view of NC&StL 15337... for now.

One other point to mention on the NC&StL 15337 which many cars will also show, I noticed that the prototype photo shows scuff marks and mud from the trainmen's boots as they climbed up to handle the brake and retaining valve.  Also one of the chalk marks on the prototype went behind the 2nd from the bottom ladder grab.  Lots of little details of marks to include on this car and others in my fleet.

Jason Hill

Related Articles:

NC&StL 15337 (Part 1) - Accurail Kitbash

NC&StL 15337 (Part 2) - Details & Decalling

NC&StL 15337 (Part 3) - Wrapping Up & Weathering

SP 15469 (Part 1) - Lettering Changes & Backdating Rapido B-50-15

Weathering NP 11661 - A Rapido Double-Sheath Boxcar

UTLX Tank Cars (Part 2) - Tangent GA Type-17 8k Tankcar Review