"Not to be loose shunted"... I think I know what that meant in Britain, and possibly that can be extrapolated to Australia when they also used buffers and chains, but what does it mean in modern Australia which uses knuckle couplers?
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The containers carry sulfuric acid, and it is a safety measure to guard against any damage to them.
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What I meant is, what is "loose shunting" for these cars with knuckle couplers? In Britain, it referred to hooking up the chain but not tightening it, so the buffers weren't held against each other and the cars would get slammed around.
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Loose shunting in Australia means the wagon is moved on its own without a locomotive attached. This could be in a flat yard, or using gravity eg hump shunting.
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Ah. That was confusing, since I know that as "fly switching", "drop switching", "gravity switching" (when done on a grade), etc. So the label is closer to a North American "Do not hump" than what the same words mean in Britain (though the underlying purpose overlaps).
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