Leased MOW Flat?

[ericsp]

Today I saw a MOW flatcar on a BNSF train. The car number was BNSF 927030. It was carrying a ballast temper and another piece of MOW equipment. One end appeared to be angled down a bit and it had what appeared a hydraulically operated ramp. On the center sill was stencilled RTTX 1550xx (I forgot the last two digits, it might have been 83). Is this car leased from TTX or would BNSF want to make sure its former identity is known for some reason?

[Dough]

My guess is that BNSF owns it and just didn't worry about repainting the numbers. I have seen both NS and CSX bring in entire tie gangs on long 89' ex intermodel cars. CSX had a hydraulic ram equipped Kershaw flat on the end of each of its MoW trains. I'll look for some pics. I also don't think that they would install a ramp on a car that they are leasing. However, that said, my July 2004 Official Equipment Register lists the one you saw as still being owned by TTX so what do I know.

Here is the Kershaw ramp car. The NS one was not quite so fancy:

http://www.kershawusa.com/ramp.php

Ok remember that this is one and a half years old, but they do not list BNSF as owning that number. They do list a lot of flats near that number, but if that is truly MoW then it probably won't show up in this list. It is only revenue service. You didn't happen to look at the age did you?

[ericsp]

No, I did not think about looking at the age.