Subject: Reporting Marks (7/10/1995)
[9/2/86] AAR Reporting Marks - We have been advised by the Association of American Railroads that they are willing to assign to the association the reporting marks PPCX. We will use this mark in conjunction with the Amtrak assigned number for your car. This will enable you to have your car placed in the various carriers' computers under reporting marks which are similar to those which they use every day. Then it should be an easy matter to have the clerk locate your car in his computer, when in line-haul service. The difficulty previously has been that the clerk would make up reporting marks for the manifest, and the next person on duty would not know what the made up initials were. We have several details to be worked out with the AAR, but as you put the Amtrak number on your car, please leave room for this prefix. That is just one of the tangible benefits arising from our meeting with the AAR in Kansas City last June.
[12/29/86] Reporting Marks - I have still not heard back from the AAR about the matter of billing for repairs, should we begin to use the new reporting marks which they have assigned to us. As soon as I hear something, you will be the first to know.
[3/2/87] Reporting Marks - We have now received clarification from the AAR concerning our assigned reporting marks. I will be putting together a questionnaire for you to fill out shortly, so that we can comply with their reporting requirements.
[5/11/87] UMLER - Enclosed is the UMLER form which I would appreciate your filling out and returning to the address shown on the form. The AAR has requested that we provide this data, which they will put in their computer. After you have filled out the form and sent it in, you are free to thereafter use the marks PPCX in front of your Amtrak 800,000 number. We had hoped that the reporting marks assigned to us would belong exclusively to AAPRCO members. Unfortunately, this is not true, and these reporting marks may be used by any private passenger car owner. If you have already have AAR reporting marks assigned to you, because you are short line, or under some grandfather clause, you are free to use either the new reporting marks, or the ones previously assigned to you. Although it is felt that the form is self-explanatory, if you have any problems, please do not hesitate to write to me, and I will try to provide guidance. As changes are made, in the future, please forward the necessary revisions.
[6/19/87] UMLER - REPORTING MARKS - I have had several questions concerning the reason for filling out the UMLER form and applying the PPCX reporting marks to your car. The freight railroads universally rely on reporting marks and car numbers to identify cars. AAR rules require that every freight car in service must have them. If your car moves in freight service, many railroads will not allow anyone, even an attendant, to occupy the car. Consequently, to check on the progress of movements you must either drive along, or use the railroad's car tracing computer. The railroad computers insist that cars be entered by reporting marks and car number. In most cases, car names "do not compute." The first person who enters your car in the computer will use the information marked on the car, or which you provide, if it fits the format. If not, he is likely to make up reporting marks. No standard procedures exist for this, since very few passenger cars move in freight service. You may never know how your car is described in the computer.
When you call the railroad to check on the car, you will be asked for the reporting marks and car number. If you don't know the ones used, no one will be able to trace the car. This can be compounded by interchange moves between railroads, where a receiving railroad may continue to use the temporary reporting marks. You can see that after a day or two, you may no longer be able to locate the car at all! An even more difficult situation can arise if the waybill for the car is lost enroute. (Yes, it's true: railroad cars do get lost in transit, and fairly often!) You should stencil your ownership information on the end of the car in any case. However, the reporting marks on the car and the UMLER listing provide the railroads with a standard means to notify you if dif- ficulties occur during an unattended move. Reporting marks and car numbers are a universal language anlong the railroads. If you plan to operate on the general railroad network, particularly in freight service, it will pay to fit in the system by having your car identified as the railroads expect, and listing it in UMLER.
[8/31/87] The data which you provided in order to use the PPCX mark has been converted into the form requested by the AAR. Over 40 data sheets have now been submitted. If you have not yet submitted yours, please copy the UMLER form which was contained in your bulletin two issues ago, or write to Larry Haines for a replacement.
[12/27/91] Umler Listings - The railroads are required to report to the various states through which they travel the car miles of all cars handled in their trains. Because of this, I have received requests for further information on who to contact in order to collect assessed taxes in Louisiana, and other states. These reports are currently filed by the Union Pacific, Kansas City Southern, Illinois Central, and I presume other railroads. The Umler listing enables the taxing authorities to track down the owners. This, of course, is a detriment to having a registered number. On the other hand, the western railroads will not handle private cars unless they are on the Umler system, because it simplifies their quest for clearance information, and other data on the cars. When you make car moves on freight railroads, you should build in an additional unknown amount to handle taxes on a car mile basis by assorted states through which your car moves.
[2/6/95] AAR - At 10 a.m. I met with Jim Moran, head of UMLER Services, to discuss what is necessary to have the AEI transducers put on our cars. Also how the codes will distinguish passenger cars, and likewise dome cars. Mr. Moran has made some new designations which will distinguish passenger cars from others. Heretofore all our equipment was listed as maintenance-of-way equipment, although we had a distinguishing code number. The new designations are a simplified version of the old AAR passenger car types, namely, PD, PS, PB, PA and PO.
PB - passenger train car for baggage, mail, etc.
PD - diner
PA - general passenger car (coach)
PS - service car (business, sleeper, lounge)
PO - combination of any features (baggage and lounge)
By looking at the transponder return, the clerk will know the reporting marks, car number, and general type of passenger car. From the car number he can tell if it is a dome, by the clearance diagram. Next month, I will give you the codes to have the railroad put in when your transponder is mounted. Our cars will change from a code 61 (no AEI tag) to code 71 (standard tag in standard location), when the transponder is mounted, and the railroads should do this for free, since they will be reimbursed from the UMLER fund. Now is the time for you to mount the brackets on your car so the transponders can be pop-riveted on. Please see mounting window sketch and a suggested bracket attached to my report of August 31, 1992 (excerpt attached). If you have not registered your car with the AAR yet, you need to fill out the UMLER report form and send it to Bill Farmer now. A copy is attached. Bracket instructions and additional forms are available from Larry Haines.
[7/10/95] UMLER - With the last mailing, you were provided with the information about where to put your AEI transponder bracket. This was very timely and things are now moving right along. I have been contacted both by the CSX and the SP, who expect to find AEI transponders or tags on all private cars immediately. The AAR has been provided a list of cars you asked me to put on the UMLER system. If your car is not on the list, then you should make every effort to put it in the system, if you expect to run on freight carriers. If your car is on the list, the next time it is offered to a freight carrier, the carrier will look up the UMLER information on your car, and then apply the appropriate transponder. If you have not put a bracket within the target area on each side, then the carrier will weld on a standard issue bracket, and then apply the transponders. So, your choice is a bracket of your choice of material, where you want it, or one of iron where the carrier puts it. For the technically inclined, the AAR has been advised to change the AEI code for the cars on the attached list from 96 (do not apply) to 61 (railroad apply transponder and do not bill). Once the transponders are applied, the railroad will notify the AAR of the application, and the code will be changed to 71 (car tagged, standard transponder, standard location). Your car will then be accepted in interchange, providing you meet mechanical requirements. The transponder is coded by the carrier with the following information, which it retrieves from the current UMLER file:
1. Equipment Group code - one of M500 through M540 depending on the following table: The car owner or railroad should get the code from the current UMLER listing.
M500 PA general passenger car (e.g., coach)
M510 PB baggage, mail, express, horse, etc.
M520 PD diner, food service
M530 PS service car (business, sleeper, lounge)
M540 P0 other, unusual combination of features
2. Tag Type - 71
3. Equipment Initial (Mark) - PPCX, GCTM, or other AAR previously
registered reporting marks (alphabetic) - use data from current
UMLER listing
4. Car Number - 8OOXXX or whatever the car number may be
5. Side Indicator Code - L or R
6. Length - use data from current UMLER listing
7. Number of Axles - use data from current UMLER listing, or go count
8. Bearing Type Code - use data from current UMLER listing
9. Platform Identifier Code - skip
If you wish, you can have your local railroad make up the tags for you, and you can do the installation yourself. If so, please ask your carrier to advise the AAR of the tag installation, in the regular manner. If you see any mistakes on the attached list, please drop me a note, so that I can make the corrections. I am advised by the AAR that a new field requirement has been added to the UMLER file, and we must go back and add the journal size for each car. A newly revised PPCX registration form will be available shortly from Gus Novotny, Revision 2. Those already registered (see attached list) please submit the following information to:
Bill Farmer
AAPRCO UMLER Compiler
P.O. Box 1838
Thousand Oaks, Calif. 91358-0838
so we can update your filing at the AAR with this new data:
Reporting Marks and Number: PPCX 8OOXXX (or whatever) Journal Size (circle) 5x9 5 1/2x10 6x11 6 1/2x12 other_______
Paul L. DeVerter II
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