altoona always has a whole siding devoted to storing boxcars. i love when their switcher geeps bring the whole chain of them out to kick them into the rest of the stored cars. there's such a variety to them
boxcars>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>intermodal cars. i never liked those stupid container trains
Your friendly neighborhood CNW fan.
If any of the readers enjoying this thread are looking for "boxcar heaven," may I suggest the heart of The Overland Route, specifically between Granger, Wyo. (where the Oregon Short Line connects) and Gibbon, Nebr. (where a secondary main breaks away for Kansas City). Between the mechanical reefers, dry-ice-cooled reefers, insulated boxcars, cushioned drawbar boxcars, and just ordinary 50 and 60 footers, there's quite a large volume of this type of equipment moving through these parts daily. Once in awhile there's even a solid, 100% boxcar/reefer train to be seen!
The funny thing is this: very few of the boxcars carry UP reporting marks. MoPac, yes. CNW, yes. Lots of NS and CSXT can be seen. RBOX, CN, and brand new CP equipment make frequent appearances. GVSR/VCY, certainly. Even Espee once in awhile and the competing equipment from the "Big New Santa Fe" roll through. But then I guess if you're pouring every possible dime into double tracking the Sunset Route and rehabbing southern terminals, fixing up your own boxcars - when so many others are available - isn't a top priority.
Yes, looking at unit coal trains, unit grain trains, and double stacks can get pretty boring!
SteamFreak wrote: enough talk-lets see some PICTURES!
enough talk-lets see some PICTURES!
There is a semi-restored one of these in my hometown, which I will be able to take pics of soon. Unfortunately it is painted all red instead of in some kind of livery of the road it is representing which is the Condon, Kinzua & Southern. The boxcar is located in Heppner, OR, a town of 1400 which was served by UP rails up until about 10 years ago.
Bob-Fryml wrote: If any of the readers enjoying this thread are looking for "boxcar heaven," may I suggest the heart of The Overland Route, specifically between Granger, Wyo. (where the Oregon Short Line connects) and Gibbon, Nebr. (where a secondary main breaks away for Kansas City). Between the mechanical reefers, dry-ice-cooled reefers, insulated boxcars, cushioned drawbar boxcars, and just ordinary 50 and 60 footers, there's quite a large volume of this type of equipment moving through these parts daily. Once in awhile there's even a solid, 100% boxcar/reefer train to be seen!The funny thing is this: very few of the boxcars carry UP reporting marks. MoPac, yes. CNW, yes. Lots of NS and CSXT can be seen. RBOX, CN, and brand new CP equipment make frequent appearances. GVSR/VCY, certainly. Even Espee once in awhile and the competing equipment from the "Big New Santa Fe" roll through. But then I guess if you're pouring every possible dime into double tracking the Sunset Route and rehabbing southern terminals, fixing up your own boxcars - when so many others are available - isn't a top priority.Yes, looking at unit coal trains, unit grain trains, and double stacks can get pretty boring!
Don't forget, Bob, that anything with UP, MP, WP, CNW, D&RGW, SSW, SP, and CHTT is equipment owned (or leased) by UP. UP really hasn't needed to buy many box cars since the mergers, because a lot of these other railroads had enough cars, in enough varieties, that were probably less expensive to own (leasing agreements, and such) than UP's own cars. With relatively few exceptions, new box cars on UP have carried CHTT reporting marks, if for no other reason than UP can more easily unload these.
One reporting mark that you didn't mention seeing is EEC. The railroad that "owns" these cars is the East Erie Commercial Railroad, a subsidiary of General Electric. But guess who leases most of these several thousand 50-foot plain box cars. Yup--UP!
And those Golden West Service cars that carried GVSR and VCY reporting marks? Those were mostly SP/SSW/D&RGW cars at one time. A lot of them (not sure of the percentages, but I suspect that it's pretty high) have been restored to their original reporting marks and numbers--hence they're UP property now. You can bet that those that haven't been relettered see their primary use in UP service.
I haven't included the mechanical refrigerator cars in this, but probably should mention them. The newest ones, of course, carry ARMN reporting marks, and there are quite a few of those--1500 of the large new white ones. Others, rebuilt with GPS, new refrigeration units, and satellite control and monitoring, have been rebuilt from the existing fleet of PFE cars or from secondhand Fruit Growers Express cars. Except for a few of the ex-FGE "Perishable Express" cars, most have been obtained or rebuilt within the past five years, which makes this fleet pretty modern by any standards.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Those trains of 100% boxcars and reefers are the Express Lane trains. Between Grainger, WY and North Platte, NE there should be three daily, one each from Fresno, CA; Hinkle, OR; and Pocatello, ID. East of North Platte there should be two, one to Selkirk, NY and one to Waycross, GA. Of course they may not have only boxcars and reefers every day. I saw the QFRNPP yesterday. In addition to the loaded RBLs and reefers (only 4), it had a bunch of empty Railbox boxcars, a coil car, some empty ethanol tankcars, and some empty grain hoppers. I suspect they must have combined the QFRNPP and QFRNP.
"No soup for you!" - Yev Kassem (from Seinfeld)
Recently built boxcars that I like are the CN 406 000 - 406 499 series of 50' High Cube Boxcars.
The lettering applied was nice and thick.
Recently the CN reporting marks have been replaced with GTW reporting marks on that series.
Andrew
Watch my videos on-line at https://www.youtube.com/user/AndrewNeilFalconer
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