Billboard Cars

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

A while back there was a question about the ban on advertising on freight cars.  Although I could find no authoritative source on the reason, it has long been my understanding that advertising was banned to level the playing field for small shippers who could not afford to own their own cars.  Many large shippers owned cars which they could turn into rolling billboards, placing the small shippers at a disadvantage in marketing their products.

Regarding the effective date of the ban, AAR interchange rule books in the NWHS archives show that "refrigerator cars bearing advertisements of any shipper, consignee or product, will not be accepted, effective April 1, 1937."

Also, "This same requirement will apply to all other types of cars except special cars of Mechanical Designation 'L' and tank cars of Mechanical Designation 'T', effective January 1, 1939."  A Type L car is typically a box, gondola, flat, hopper or covered hopper car that has some special feature to customize it for a particular service or commodity.

As often happens, an answer raises another question, namely, why were Types L and T excepted?

Gordon Hamilton
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