Boxcars in 2014

[carnej1]

I am no expert on the railroad industry but what I notice in my neck of the woods is that remaining boxcar traffic tends to be products that are not intended to be crossdocked (transloaded) from rail to truck directly but are being produced (or aggregated in the case of paper waste) or used at the site the boxcar is delivered to..

 The commodities coming and going from RI by boxcar seem to be exclusively paper products. Newsprint and cardboard packaging materials in and recycalble paper products out.

 From that I hypothesize that if the item being shipped is an already packaged consumer product many of the manufacturers prefer intermodal. I understand there are bulky items like appliances that are exceptions to the rule.

[HI IRON]

I never believed or saw any justification  for the BS of boxcars to disappear from the American freight railroad network. They carry far too many goods for which they were invented for. If anything, they're numbers seem to be increasing.

 

[erikem]

HI IRON,

Welcome to the discussion! (Noting you've seem to have made your first post.)

- Erik

[chutton01]

HI IRON

I never believed or saw any justification  for the BS of boxcars to disappear from the American freight railroad network. They carry far too many goods for which they were invented for. If anything, they're numbers seem to be increasing.

While they certainly continue to be a significant percentage of the NA rail fleet, it is true that their percentage dropped significantly starting in the 1960s (I believe), due, among other things, first to loss of LCL traffic, then the movement of bulk loads such as cement and grain (especially grain*) to covered hoppers (heck, they even tried shipping potatoes in refrigerated covered hoppers), and then in the 1970s and 1980s a loss of freight flows to containization and TOFC (which might have just went to truck and skipped the railroad all together, hard to say), so by the 1980s it was really easy for hot-air pundits and self-proclaimed futurists to pronounce the boxcar dead (the fact that almost no new boxcars were constructed in the 1980s and early 1990s certainly didn't help). The refrigerator car was even worse, I think there was a gap in construction from the mid-1970s till the mid-1990s - I recall an article in the hobby press to the effect that "Will the refrigerator car survive".

*Actually, at this late date, it sort of boggles my mind of all the work and bother required to get a boxcar ready to recieve bulk grain as was common prior to the 1960s, but I guess it was more cost effective than purchasing dedicated grain-loading covered hoppers.

[Murphy Siding]

HI IRON

I never believed or saw any justification  for the BS of boxcars to disappear from the American freight railroad network. They carry far too many goods for which they were invented for. If anything, they're numbers seem to be increasing.

 

 

  I don't know about justification, but it seems a fair amount of stuff that used to go in a boxcar now goes in a different type of car- grain, lumber, etc...

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

samfp1943

[snipped - PDN] To Paul North;

   And some of the others who responded about Wal-Mart D.C.'s and their receiving habits... Admittedly it has been some time since I had anything to do with Inbounds to their facilities, and so outbounds, as well.   Then you were 'scolded', and quickly rescheduled.  That does not happen too often.

. . .

  From the first time I was inbound to a Wal*Mard D.C. they insisted on a delivery within a very, tight 'window'.. miss that 'window', and you were forced out of their property, to await another re-appointed delivery scheduled appointment.  No excuses, you missed their time, and you cooled your heels waiting for another 'window'- unless, they needed it really badly. . . .

The signs I've seen and the actions of the drivers - parking along the approach roads, etc. - at that distribution center seem to be very similar to what Sam has related above.

- Paul North. 

[Train Guy 3]

Beer. Lots and lots Beer. The Coors plant in my aera sends out and average of 8-12 cars of beer daily. I have neever calculated for a boxcar load but that's quite a few cases of the Rocky Mountain beverage. Not sure how many trucks leave the plant daily but there are about 200 trailers on site everyday. My guess is that the loaded boxcars are going to a distribution center far away while the trailers are destined for a much more localized market. I would have to say the beer market is going to keep the boxcar and trailer traffic 'east bound & down' for a good long while.

[tree68]

Train Guy 3

Beer. Lots and lots Beer. The Coors plant...

I think all of the product of the Budweiser plant in Baldwinsville, NY goes out by truck.  They get raw materials in by rail, but that's covered hoppers.  

[WSOR 3801]

MillerCoors in Milwaukee (the city that made beer famous) only receives inbound malt and corn syrup.  Outbound loads stopped 3-4 years ago.  

Apparently lack of suitable cars (RBLs) was part of the problem.  The dock was set up for 4 50 foot inside length cars.  Many of these cars are getting to be 40 years old and scrapped.  

[BOB WITHORN]

Coors started shipping beer concentrate to a bottling plant in Va. in 1987. Just add water, instant brew. Than pack and ship.