scraping of old newsprint cars?

[Anonymous]

i was wondering if anyone had any definitive knowledge about the rumors i have heard of the loss of these old newsprint cars....namely : qgry, cn, cv, cp, dw&p .... and any others....

any info would be greatly appreciated...

thanks

[gopherstate]

I don't know about these cars in particular. but at the company I work for we have been cutting up a
large number of box cars in the last year. These cars come from the Union Pacific and represent a large
variety of their predecessor roads. Most are general service or insulated box cars and are in poor condition.
Some look as if they have been in storage for a long time and some have been used recently. A few even
show up still loaded. They are usually 70 ton cars and are in need of some repair. With the high price of
scrap and the low demand for 70 ton box cars and box cars in general, now is a good time for the railroad
to dispose of excess equipment. Cars that were built prior to July 1 1974 are limited to 40 years service
unless they receive a AAR rule 88 rebuild, so most of these cars are nearing the end of their service life.
We have cut up cars as new as 1984 though. Apparently they just were not needed anymore. In the past
couple of years cast parts such as couplers. bolster and side frames were hard to get, so the railroads would
scrap older cars and reclaim these parts to use on the rest of their fleet. Hope this helps, Matt

[trolleyboy]

I imagine that they are , somemof the earlier National Steel car ones were built in 1966-68 and are over the 40 year service cycle. Cp has started thinning out thier older ones as well.Cheaper to scrap and build new ones. NSC is working on new cars of that type for both CN and CP

[Anonymous]

I don't know about these cars in particular. but at the company I work for we have been cutting up a
large number of box cars in the last year. These cars come from the Union Pacific and represent a large
variety of their predecessor roads. Most are general service or insulated box cars and are in poor condition.
Some look as if they have been in storage for a long time and some have been used recently. A few even
show up still loaded. They are usually 70 ton cars and are in need of some repair. With the high price of
scrap and the low demand for 70 ton box cars and box cars in general, now is a good time for the railroad
to dispose of excess equipment. Cars that were built prior to July 1 1974 are limited to 40 years service
unless they receive a AAR rule 88 rebuild, so most of these cars are nearing the end of their service life.
We have cut up cars as new as 1984 though. Apparently they just were not needed anymore. In the past
couple of years cast parts such as couplers. bolster and side frames were hard to get, so the railroads would
scrap older cars and reclaim these parts to use on the rest of their fleet. Hope this helps, Matt

 If you get a chance post some pics of that stuff. Unless it is against the rules where you work.