Murphy Siding wrote: I just saw a Seaboard Coast Line boxcar at lunch.
I just saw a Seaboard Coast Line boxcar at lunch.
What was it eating?
Nothing with trans fats, I hope!
Sorry, I couldn't resist...
Murphy Siding wrote: Are most boxcars still railroad owned?
Most are. NS is currently selling off some old PRR and SOU boxcars...
LC
CShaveRR wrote:Actually, no there isn't. When they did exist, Railbox and Railgon were subsidiaries of the TTX Company. They were eventually merged into TTX. If you look at the owners of the reporting marks, RBOX, ABOX, TBOX, FBOX, and IBOX are all reporting marks of the TTX Company, as are GONX and GNTX (and GNDX, though I haven't seen one of those yet).
There is also the puzzling practice of TTX not putting Railbox on its new boxcars but putting Railgon on its new gondolas.
"No soup for you!" - Yev Kassem (from Seinfeld)
CShaveRR wrote: ericsp wrote: I also saw a UELX 60' RBL(?) that appeared to be a former Conrail car. UELX? That's an ADM reporting mark, and they have only covered hoppers and tanks, that I'm aware of. I've seen some KELX 60-foot box cars (not RBLs) that are ex-PC or CR, and some HLMX 60-foot reefers that probably originated with Conrail.
ericsp wrote: I also saw a UELX 60' RBL(?) that appeared to be a former Conrail car.
I also saw a UELX 60' RBL(?) that appeared to be a former Conrail car.
UELX? That's an ADM reporting mark, and they have only covered hoppers and tanks, that I'm aware of. I've seen some KELX 60-foot box cars (not RBLs) that are ex-PC or CR, and some HLMX 60-foot reefers that probably originated with Conrail.
UELX 6200 series. I never thought about UELX being an ADM reporting mark until I was typing the original post. Then it hit me, ADM boxcars seem a bit odd. There is a ADM oil repackaging plant in the area. I suspect they are hauling in drums of oil not used in enough quantities to ship via tankcar. My source says that UELX 6200-6207 are R610s.
I kinda like this boxcar:
up829 wrote:I've read that before covered hoppers, they used to install grain doors inside boxcars and presumably haul bulk grain. How did this work and how did they load and unload?
The door openings had to be covered most of the way up. This was originally done with lumber, but later done with cardboard pieces especially made to be stapled over the door openings (and reinforced to be strong enough to take the pressure of the load). The grain would be loaded, possibly by conveyor belt or chute, into the top of the car opening (which also had to be large enough for inspectors to crawl in), and the car could be filled reasonably full this way. They would be emptied by whatever means the consignees had for handling such loads. Some railroads (UP and Soo Line come to mind) had box cars with grain doors in the regular doors (near the tops) that would make all of the coopering unnecessary.
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)
Murphy Siding wrote: Question about Railbox boxcars: I've seen a rash of these recently. I thought that railbox & railgon were long gone. I assumed that they were owned by someone else, who hadn't painted over the signs. Today, I see that one has RBOX for a reporting mark. Is there still a railboc corp.?
Yes there is.Railbox and Railgon are still very much with us,with some of the original cars still in service.Plus new cars for TBOX and FBOX are in service.
Have a good one.
Bill B
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
TimChgo9 wrote:Box cars of all kinds can be seen in this area... I have seen quite a few old IC box cars with the old "Circle I" emblem. In addition, I have seen old Rock Island, CNW, IC, BN, NP, and a few SP, Ashley, Drew, and Northern, and rarer, I have seen a Penn Central, SCL, and even, an old CGW box car, plus a host of others. It's great.. Count me as a member of the box car fan club.
wallyworld wrote:Another aspect of boxcars I enjoyed at one time, was the rolling geography lesson they provided as well as a multitude of slogans. For some examples, link below; http://www.spikesys.com/Trains/rr_slgns.html
I'm kind of partial to the ATSF boxcars with the route maps on the side.
Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
CShaveRR wrote:Some of the neatest box cars now are in the HS 30000 series and 75000 series. These are cars that had been built in the late 1970s for many of the short lines; now they're generally used to haul the Corona from Mexico.
What is a HS 30000 and 75000 series box car? What do they look like?
RJ
"Something hidden, Go and find it. Go and look behind the ranges, Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go." The Explorers - Rudyard Kipling
http://sweetwater-photography.com/
Impeccable timing, I saw about a dozen of these headed south about a half hour ago. I also saw a UELX 60' RBL(?) that appeared to be a former Conrail car.
CShaveRR wrote: Murphy Siding wrote: I also see a lot of Pacific Fruit Express boxcars. I always chuckle and think to myself that they're probably lost. Probably not. Those, of course, are refrigerator cars--and while UPFE/ARMN and BNFE cars are very common, there are good-sized private fleets (CRYX, TILX) as well.
Murphy Siding wrote: I also see a lot of Pacific Fruit Express boxcars. I always chuckle and think to myself that they're probably lost.
I also see a lot of Pacific Fruit Express boxcars. I always chuckle and think to myself that they're probably lost.
Probably not. Those, of course, are refrigerator cars--and while UPFE/ARMN and BNFE cars are very common, there are good-sized private fleets (CRYX, TILX) as well.
Duh! It's not exactly warm fruit, is it?
I myself have a special liking for 40' box cars from the steam era, mid-1940's and into the early 1950's. I would give anything to be able to travel back into time before I was born to be able to see and photograph not only box cars from the steam era, but also billboard reefers.
CANADIANPACIFIC2816
"There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run, when the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun, long before the white man and long before the wheel, when the green, dark forest was too silent to be real." Gordon Lightfoot
Murphy Siding wrote: CShaveRR wrote: Without having the figures at my fingertips (Dale?), I'd venture to say that most box cars carry railroad reporting marks, though that doesn't necessarily mean that they are owned by the railroad in question. . Do you mean a 3rd party leasor owns the boxcars, and letters them for the railroad they are leased to?
CShaveRR wrote: Without having the figures at my fingertips (Dale?), I'd venture to say that most box cars carry railroad reporting marks, though that doesn't necessarily mean that they are owned by the railroad in question. .
Without having the figures at my fingertips (Dale?), I'd venture to say that most box cars carry railroad reporting marks, though that doesn't necessarily mean that they are owned by the railroad in question. .
Do you mean a 3rd party leasor owns the boxcars, and letters them for the railroad they are leased to?
Yes. As I mentioned, GE owns a lot of cars. CIT Corporation is another company that has quite a few box cars.
Without having the figures at my fingertips (Dale?), I'd venture to say that most box cars carry railroad reporting marks, though that doesn't necessarily mean that they are owned by the railroad in question. Some of the larger fleets of box cars (HS, EEC) are owned by GE, which also owns the fleets of many of the shortline railroads.
As for box cars with private reporting marks, they're still in the minority. The standout here is TTX, with its RBOX, ABOX, TBOX, and FBOX cars. Other companies, such as HELM Financial and The Andersons, have good-sized fleets of box cars obtained secondhand from major railroads.
My observation (again, not supported by any statistical evidence I can put together quickly) is that the box car fleets of BNSF and UP might be declining, while those of NS and CSX are probably holding their own.
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