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https://ogrforum.com/...lfan-cover-4014-oops

This minor contretemps got me thinking:  5 and even 6 digit loco numbers are common in Europe and Asia, with the first two digits usually being the engine class.   Did any railroad in North America ever follow this practice?   In my experience,  five digit numbers were usually reserved for MoW equipment (such as on the Pennsy, et cetera)... 

Mitch 

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It seems in many cases, the first one or two numbers identified the class. For example, Nickel Plate Berks all started with "7..", N&W A's all started with "12..", UP Big Boys all started with "40..", and so on. I can't see I've ever seen a locomotive in North America with a 5-digit road number. Freight cars, on the other hand, is a different story. During my trip last April to Fostoria, OH, it seems just about every freight car I saw had more than 4 digits. Here's the video for proof.

Around the turn of the century, the UP was faced with running out of 4 digit numbers for locomotives and considered 5 digit locomotive numbers.  Something about their computer code wouldn't allow for it (I think.)

Instead, the UP adopted "UPY" to yard unit reporting marks to differentiate "duplicate" numbers from road locomotives.

Rusty

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Stuart posted:
Number 90 posted:

Ha!  You beat me to it, Stuart.  You get a high five and a fist bump.

One thing I'm not totally sure about is whether it was the late 1970's or early 1980's that NdeM went to five digits.

Stuart

There was a 5-digit locomotive number in Mexico before the 1979 to 1981 deliveries of B23-7's and 1989-1993 deliveries of C30-S7's.

Ferocarril Sonora-Baja California bought two F7A's and two FP7's in 1949, with 5-digit numbers.  Ferocarril del Sureste had 4 FA-1's from 1948 or '49, with 5-digit numbers.  All of those units were renumbered in the 1950's with 4- digit numbers on the F-units and 3-digit numbers on the FA's.

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