Is the boxcar obsolete?

[Ulrich]

I see fewer and fewer boxcars every year...maybe not surprising in view of the ever increasing popularity  of containers. Are the rails still selling boxcar service or is the boxcar being phased out?

[Anonymous]

There's still plenty of boxcars, but there are a whole lot more containers...

[sanvtoman]

I saw NS deliver 1 boxcar to a small factory in Maumee Ohio Friday.  NS had a wide nose unit on the track also so they had to use a 4 axle unit to shove the boxcar and the dead wide nose unit place. The spur leading to the factory is used for engine space as well.

[ndbprr]

I guess it depends on your definition of box car.  Traditional boxes with wheels attacheda re probably going to disappear with time.  Containers are much more flexible and don't require the shipper or receiver to have a siding and sidings are extremely expensive.  My father had the job of building a new plant outside Philadelphia for his company back in the early 60's.  At that time the Reading wanted over $35,000 to install the trunout and signal it.  Containers are much more flexible and could be considered box cars since they are boxes on wheels.  They just aren't the same in my opinion.

[Ulrich]

That's interesting.. I read somewhere that containers are not as fuel efficient given that they are transferred along with the load.

Boxcars don't necessarily require sidings...the shipper can truck his load to the railhead where it is then transferred to a boxcar. Given that so much freight is palletized these days...this may be a better alternative to containers.  

[Lyon_Wonder]

TTX/Railbox added a bunch of brand new 50' FBOX and 60' TBOX boxcars in recent years.  So, I'd say boxccars aren't going way yet.

[cacole]

As a general rule, containers are used for shipments from/to foreign ports, while boxcars are localized.  As long as there are shipments that need to be protected from the weather and remain in North America, boxcars will still be necessary.  I still see a lot of boxcars on the Union Pacific Sunset Route's manifest freights.

[loathar]

That's interesting.. I read somewhere that containers are not as fuel efficient given that they are transferred along with the load.  

Rail Runners are pretty efficient since they're basically a trailer with two train axles and a pair of couplers. A lot of time (which actually DOES = $) is saved in the loading/unloading of the box car. Aluminum/wood/plastic trailers are pretty lite compared to steel/steel/steel box cars.

[Trainmaster.Curt]

Does anyone remember the 40' grain boxcars?

[arkansasrailfan]

the local shortline on both on half of their twice daily trains has boxcars. many UP trains have boxcars( a lot of them are leasing)
PS- Helps to go to a school by the railroad

[enr2099]

Boxcars are still used heavily in the pulp, paper and plywood industries. So, no boxcars are not obsolete.

[BRAKIE]

Absolutely not! A close study of the big 6 will show you more boxcars of all types are handled then intermodal.

http://www.railroadpm.org/Performance%20Reports/NS.aspx

 

[ndbprr]

Several years ago NS converted excess box cars into container cars or trailer cars. There was an ad in Trains at the time.  It said something like, "Last week it was a box car".

[BRAKIE]

ndbprr

Several years ago NS converted excess box cars into container cars or trailer cars. There was an ad in Trains at the time.  It said something like, "Last week it was a box car".

 

How time has change.During the week of 10/10/08 NS handled 22,294 boxcars of all types versus 7,464 intermodal cars.

Only the CP and BNSF handled more intermodal then boxcars during the same week..

[ndbprr]

Yes but an intermodal car could be five sections long with as many as four containers per section as each section is a number followed by a -e. So one intermodal car could actually have five times four containers or twenty compared to one box car. So the theoretical limit of containers if each car were a five section one would be 20 x 7464 = 149,280 containers.  Assuming half were empty that would 74,640 containers.  That is more than three times the number of box cars.  Now I don't know how many containers equal the  box car volume but it sure looks to me like containers are more prevalent and I doubt the railroad is going to let us know the actual numbers.  If they are individual cars they can still handle two containers so my opinion (not a fact) is that containers are more common.