08-22-2010, 03:04 PM
The railroads used "tack" boards on their cars before the advent of computerization. They would use them to tack messages to the cars. It could be a switch list or instructions for the yard hostler telling him what train to put the car on, or it could be a note telling whomever that the car needed to either go to a rip track for repairs, of be forwarded back to home for more extensive repairs. In many cases it could be either a note to send the car to the washout track before using, or in the case of a reefer it might list the customer the car was going to and that it was pre-cooled and iced. I can't imagine anyone needing a note to tell them either that a stock car needed cleaning or that it was already cleaned and ready to go! I don't know exactly where they would go on a stock car, but on SFRD reefers, they had a medium sized tack board and a large tack board on each door and the smaller ones on each end, if I remember correctly.