A few days ago, Jim Kindraka posted a photo of an NS auto-rack car with the logo/lettering backwards/upside down. A few folks commented about it along the lines of the NS paint shop making an error. I sent Jim's photo to my son, an NS conductor, with a suggestion that he discuss quality control with the NS paint shop.
So the reply comes back like this: "It doesn't have anything to do with the paint shop. Those panels are individually removable for replacement and repairs." He 'splained that the thin panels get dented and damaged quite easily and are promptly repaired as needed. He pointed out all the various shades of gray on different panels as evidence of this practice. He also mentioned that when the NS auto-rack goes offline to some other RR, the other RR will then perform repairs in one of their shops. Likewise, NS shops will make similar repairs in their shops of foreign road equipment. It has been known, he says, for "other RRs" to deliberately change a panel to the upside down orientation as a way of poking fun at NS. Of course, the honorable NS folks would NEVER do such a thing in return. That is his best guess as to what happened in the picture posted by Jim K. Just thought you'd like to know another opinion on the matter. Cheers.Ed Loizeaux
