Within my first year of service on the BN I became a certified weighmaster. Pretty easy to become one

as I don't think there was a test to see if you can weigh a railroad car. It was more of a pledge that

you will weigh the car and make the "punch ticket" as accurate as possible. So when weighing a car

and the balance beam is level...you punch the ticket. These tickets were a "form" that BN issued and

after punched were forwarded to the "Machine Room" (that's were all the computers were and all the

data processing took place) and the weight to be entered to the waybill information and to accurate

charge the shipper for the weight. I think I might have weighed several hundred cars in my short

time as a yard checker. Everett had scales at both Delta and Bayside Yards and I weighed many cars

at each place. When I worked up in Bellingham I got numerous opportunities to weigh cars on their scale.

Weighing cars can be very easy or more difficult. Scales built to weigh a 50ft boxcar in length so when

cars are longer than 50ft...you "weigh in two" where you place one set of trucks on the scale and punch

the ticket and then move the car to weigh the other set of trucks and then punch the ticket. Then you

add the total of both tickets to determine the weight of the car. Tank cars often hit the scales and it

was something you have to see to believe as the sloshing in the tankcar made the balance beam violently

go up/down for a least a minute and maybe a few more before you can get an accurate weight.

So I know the scales at Bellingham and Delta Yard have been removed for some time now. So the

last one to be removed is the scales at Bayside Yard. I weighed 100's of cars on this big balance beam

made by Fairbanks Morse. The "hut/enclosure" is gone now and what to do with a Fairbanks Morse railroad

scale. Had to get a picture of this...a Fairbanks Morse scale that weighs railroad cars.