Re: D&RGW #268 1949 Chicago Railroad Fair paint scheme

In the US, streets are divided into blocks. In practice, but not always true, blocks start at 100, and go up by 100 with each intersection. Some roads will not connect, so you get 100s and 200s (just an example) on the same "block." Where the two main streets of most towns connect, you get 100 on all four sides of the block, usually 100 east and 100 west on one street, and 100 north and 100 south on the other.

With this said, if you have a 1000s address, it usually means you are 10 blocks from main street, though not always the case. 10,000's and up are usually on the outskirts of towns, and sometimes these numbers are guessed when a new building or house goes up far enough away from downtown.

What gets really confusing is when a street runs down the center of two city borders. This happens in several places in Dallas / Fort Worth. You may have addresses like 12,000 on one side of the street, and 4,000 on the other!!!

Also, to make things more confusing, usually even numbers are on one side and odd the other. When a street crosses a city border, not only do the addresses change, but the even / odd side can as well!!!

Enjoy!
Casey