Car owner

[Anonymous]

All auto racks I see have reporting marks that in in "X" but have railroad company logos on them.What is the relationship between the owner of the car and the respective railroad- is it a leasing arrangement?

[corwinda]

My understanding is most auto racks consist of a railroad owned rack on a TTX flatcar. However there are also entirely railroad owned auto racks as well as a few entirely TTX owned. Look for those auto racks with the 'grate' portion of the sides painted instead of galvanized metal to spot them.

[Anonymous]

To answer your question TTX is a grouping of equipment owned by multiple railroads designed to allow these railroads to buy equipment without directly footing the bill and second allows this equipment to be sent to whoever needs it without the problems of whose railroad owns it. There was an article just last year I believe which explained how TTX operates in Trains Magazine which you could look at for reference. As to the autoracks themselves these are owned by the railroad themselves and placed upon leased TTX flatcars. And yes TTX does own some of their own autoracks, especially the new articulated ones.
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