The Big White Rectangle

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

For about the first 20 years of the last century (and a bit before that) 
N&W freight cars had a large white rectangle painted on them. The cars 
delivered in 1893 didn't have the rectangle but the steel frame HD hopper 
of 1896 did. The secondhand box cars N&W bought in 1895 may or may not have 
had it. The last car to have it was the prototype GS battleship gon built 
in September 1920, as the production GS gons did not have it.

http://spec.lib.vt.edu/imagebase/norfolksouthern/F1/NS3519.JPG
http://spec.lib.vt.edu/imagebase/norfolksouthern/glass_plates/screen/03GP0510.jpg
http://spec.lib.vt.edu/imagebase/norfolksouthern/glass_plates/screen/03GP0528.jpg

Why did N&W put that rectangle on every car it would fit on (box, stock, 
hopper, and gon, but not flats)?

David Thompson