billboard cars

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

It had nothing to do with safety.  As you will note most if not all of 
the reporting marks were for car companies and not railroads.   The cars 
weren't owned by the shippers whose products were advertized on the 
sides and could end up carrying the products of competitors, not makeing 
the shippers very happy.  Can't you imagine the situation if a car 
advertizing Schlitz ended up carrying Budwiser for example.  With the 
shippers yelling about unfair practices of car advertizing, the ICC 
ordered the ban.  The time delay allowed the refrigerator car companies 
to get the cars repainted.  If you look in the current issue of MR you 
will see how drab the reefers became after the ban.

 Larry Smith, MMR