On the KCS at Como, Tx, they left about 25 or so empty stack cars on the passing siding back in January. I'm surprised they haven't needed them for service in that long a period of time.
I would imagine that every major railroad has some number of stored cars and/or locomotives. Several years ago, CSX had a couple of hundred "company owned surplus" box cars that filled up unused sidings on the Indiana Subdivision. They had been there at least 10 years, or, so long that homeless people started living in them! I was told that if the cars are "company owned," they carrier would rather store them until scrap steel prices are up vs. bottomed out if the sidings are not being used AND they almost always insist on the cars being cut-up on site vs. the railroad having to get them road ready & transported somewhere. Another way to look at this is, like anything else... Out with the old & in with the new.
Many legacy reporting marks are still active, owned by the successor railroads.
And recall that CSX and NS used NYC and PRR respectively when divvying up Conrail assets.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
samfp1943 As was noted in this month's TRAINS.. BN has been 'gone' some 50+ years! Santa Fe even longer!
I was wondering about that. Didn't both cease to exist at the same time with the merger that produced BNSF?
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"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
Burlington Northern came into existence on March 2, 1970. BNSF was established on December 31, 1996, a bit less than 50 years ago.
Have noticed on some BNSF IM trains that the build dates are early 1970s . Could be running out last calendar years befor scrap ?
SFbrkmn Panhandle Sub has three locations stored w/well cars and spine flats. This is down from six locations earlier in the month. There also is two locations on the sub w/grain cars in storage. Looks quite ugly out there this winter.
Panhandle Sub has three locations stored w/well cars and spine flats. This is down from six locations earlier in the month. There also is two locations on the sub w/grain cars in storage. Looks quite ugly out there this winter.
Note: I was watcing a Westbound mixed merch train yesterday, and was surprised to see within its consist a string of BN and Santa Fe open hopper cars!
As was noted in this month's TRAINS.. BN has been 'gone' some 50+ years! Santa Fe even longer! So one has to know, whatever 'life' was left in those cars; they should have gone to the scrappers surely, before now!
I guess that those who run 'fallen flag' cars in their model railroad consists, are not 'inaccurate' they are just following 'real pracices'!
A recent NS report I saw stated that NS alone has 17,000 cars currently stored awaiting business demand. I imagine that a number will end up going for scrap after reaching their end of lifetime point.
I recall seeing strings of older cars being pulled out of the storage lines to head to the steel mills in Gary, IN for recycling the last time cars were sidetracked in numbers like today.
I can't speak for the entire system, but there are stored auto racks in the Alcoa yard in Torrance. Usually, it is just tank cars for the nearby refinery and sometimes baretables being held for the harbor.
During the Great Recession, a two mile long string of locomotives was parked at the BNSF Commerce yard off the 710 Freeway.
We've seen a seasonal storage of LP cars on a line near here. In in the spring, as demand for LP wanes, back out in the fall, as need rises again. Been going on for several years.
OTOH, another set of stored cars was there because reportedly CSX was holding them for trade-in, to beat the cost of overseas steel necessary to build new cars.
As I understand it, sometimes there's an issue with the trust that owns the cars. The user is done with them, but they can't turn them back in because of provisions in the trust or lease agreement. Or something like that.
When traffic in specific commodities diminishes - the carriers end up storing the surplus cars until either the commodity rebounds or the cars get sent to the scrappers.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
My wife and I took a trip from Anoka, MN to Becker, MN to look at furniture.
On the Becker, MN auxilary track, we saw about 25 gons and about 75 TTX bulk head flats stored in two parts. The bulk head flats were of an older style.
Anyone know who many other stored cars are on the BNSF system?
Ed Burns
Retired Clerk from Northtown
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