KarTrak ACI Barcode Generator?

[C855B]

Many moons ago there was a website with a tool that would generate ACI barcodes. I can't seem to find it after an hour of searching. Anybody recall this particular resource?

I'm in the process of creating decal sets for a project and a "nice to have" would be representation of the correct ACI tags since I'm modeling circa 1970, when the barcodes were a thing. I can sort of build them by hand, but I'd have to guess at a couple of the stripes since the resources I can find tell me what they are for but don't reference a table detailing the actual 0-9 value.

[Mark5]

Maybe it was this one?

https://web.archive.org/web/20181016215626/http://burlrice.com/LS/

I wonder if Burl is still around ...

[learmoia]

Many moons ago there was a website with a tool that would generate ACI barcodes. I can't seem to find it after an hour of searching. Anybody recall this particular resource?

I'm in the process of creating decal sets for a project and a "nice to have" would be representation of the correct ACI tags since I'm modeling circa 1970, when the barcodes were a thing. I can sort of build them by hand, but I'd have to guess at a couple of the stripes since the resources I can find tell me what they are for but don't reference a table detailing the actual 0-9 value.

Format of an ACI label

ACI labels are read beginning from the bottom, and is divided into the following six parts:

1. The first (or bottom) label in any tag is the start label.

2. The second label is the equipment code number. "0" is used for railroad-owned equipment, "1" for privately-owned equipment (reporting marks ending in "X", and "6" is used for non-revenue (or non-interchange) equipment (on CN at least). Other digits were reserved for diesels and piggyback trailers (I believe "2" was in use for piggyback trailers, and on Canadian National at least the digit "6" was used for online captive equipment such as OCS cars).

3. The next three digits are a number indicating the equipment owner, with each reporting mark given a separate number.

4. The next six digits are the car number, padded with leading "0" labels as necessary (i.e. a car numbered 432 would be labelled as "000432". Diesel labels replace the first two digits with the type of unit and suffix number.

5. The stop label will follow the car number.

6. The last (top) label is used for the validity digit. This validity digit is calculated according the following formula: multiply the first digit by 1, the second by 2, the third by 4, the fourth by 8, the fifth by 16, the sixth by 32, the seventh by 64, the eighth by 128, the ninth by 256, the tenth by 512. Add the results together and divide by 11. The remainder after the last full division by 11 (0 to 10) is the validity digit.

http://www.nakina.net/other/aci/aci.html

The tricky part is you need the Equipment Type for Item 2 and the Railroad Number for Item 3.
If you have an equipment register, the Road Number should be listed on the header for the Road)

Not sure on the other values for Equipment Type in Item 2.

[C855B]

Maybe it was this one?

https://web.archive.org/web/20181016215626/http://burlrice.com/LS/

Yep, that's the one. Oh, well.

The tricky part is you need the Equipment Type for Item 2 and the Railroad Number for Item 3.
...
Not sure on the other values for Equipment Type in Item 2.

That's where I'm stuck. A table of RR numbers can be found here.

I was poring through RR Picture Archives for reasonable hi-res broadside roster shots where I could zoom in and back into the equipment code. For one thing, the 1970s were the era of the 3/4 wedgie, and if I found something at a lesser angle, zooming in ran headlong into the limitations of slide scanning. I could find a few closeups of a barcode, but none with the context of what equipment it was on. Frustrating.

[jagged ben]

This is some serious disdain for the 3 foot rule.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I believe the labels on @bbussey 's ESMC cars are all accurate.

He might have the answer.

[bbussey]

Every railroad and private company was assigned a four-digit code, which includes digits 2 through 5.  Private equipment is implied by the railroad code.  There is no "equipment type" in the barcode.  What was relevant was the reporting marks which identified the equipment, not what type the equipment was.  You have an ORER for that information.

What I ended up doing was creating a macro in CorelDraw.  I generate the code I need based on the reporting marks.  The start barcode and end barcode are static.  Digits 0 through 9 have their distinct code.  You basically build the barcode based on the numeric equivalent.  The check digit obviously uses the same 0-9 barcode map.

I still have the railroad list somewhere, as well as the document with the individual bar codes, all of which consist of two segments, any of which can be red, white, blue, or black.  The barcode is read (and built) bottom to top.  The start and stop barcode segments are 75% the width of a normal segment, red first, blue second, with the red offset to the right in the start code and the blue offset to the right in the end code.  The black field around the barcode has a minimum perimeter width but there's no maximum if I remember correctly. 

I opened my CroelDraw marco, the digit codes are as follows:

• 0 - blue, white
• 1 - white, white
• 2 - white, red
• 3 - red, black
• 4 - red, red
• 5, - blue, black
• 6 - white blue
• 7 - red, white
• 8 - white, black
• 9 - blue, blue

I'll look for the four-digit railroad list.  I have only a fraction of the railroads in my macro database because there are a ton that I never will need.  Occasionally, I have to go back to the master list and add one if I've never referenced that railroad before.

[bbussey]

@C855B — I found the reference document.  Looks like I got it from Eric Naubauer, which is the document referenced above.  It has the barcode specs as well as the railroad list, everything you need.  I don't know why you are still having an issue, as the full list of railroad and private company codes are listed below.  It's by reporting marks, so you would have to know the reporting marks assigned to the railroad or private company you seek.

I see Eric's document does not include the dimensions of the barcode and its segments.  I don't remember where I learned that from, but Google should be able to reveal those criteria.

[peteski]

Accurate ACI barcodes in N scale.  Impressive!

[C855B]

As Ian said (and I had already researched), the "first" bar up from the start bar identifies the equipment type, where "0" is RR-owned, "1" is private, with other codes mentioned. Not explicit was the possibility of a unique number in that spot for locomotives and non-revenue, which I would guess could also include cabooses.

I will dig deeper and find some broadsides of cabooses to look for something other than "0" in that position. I might be able to back into a "locomotive" code by elimination.

There are references including Wikipedia pages outlining dimensions.

[C855B]

OK, the equipment code matters. Found a UP caboose pic with enough resolution to read the barcode:

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[START]8802025719[STOP]2

802 is UP's RR identifier, so the leading '8' must be the equipment code (i.e., caboose or maybe non-rev) in place of a leading '0', which would apply to revenue rolling stock. The ending '2' is the computed check digit.

So... for a loco it can't be a '1' or a '0', and we may have eliminated '8'... or have we?

[learmoia]

I was looking at UP locomotive Tags, and it seemed the second digit was 'Blue' but not clear enough to know which blue..
So that should narrow it down to 2, 5, 6, or 9

https://www.flickr.com/photos/emd111/3643282696

https://www.railpictures.net/photo/47254/

[learmoia]

Accurate ACI barcodes in N scale.  Impressive!

You know this means you are now obligated to produce a functioning ACI reader....

Right?   

[C855B]

I was looking at UP locomotive Tags, and it seemed the second digit was 'Blue' but not clear enough to know which blue..
So that should narrow it down to 2, 5, 6, or 9

https://www.flickr.com/photos/emd111/3643282696

https://www.railpictures.net/photo/47254/

Good lead. It's a '9'. Clearer in this shot: https://www.railpictures.net/photo/849213/

Thanks for the legwork on this!   

[wazzou]

Mike…inquiring minds want to know. 
What is your endgame or angle on this?
It can’t be that deep a dive for prototype fidelity, can it?