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I kinda like boxcars.....

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Posted by Kevin C. Smith on Tuesday, October 31, 2006 2:43 AM
 Murphy Siding wrote:

     I just saw a Seaboard Coast Line boxcar at lunch.Approve [^]

What was it eating?

Nothing with trans fats, I hope!

Sorry, I couldn't resist...

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Posted by Limitedclear on Monday, October 30, 2006 10:57 PM

 Murphy Siding wrote:
     Are most boxcars still railroad owned?

Most are. NS is currently selling off some old PRR and SOU boxcars...

LC

 

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Posted by ericsp on Monday, October 30, 2006 9:19 PM

 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.

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Posted by ericsp on Monday, October 30, 2006 9:14 PM
 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.

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.

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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, October 30, 2006 8:49 PM
I live in a heavy forest products area so there are lots of boxcars around all the time.  Boxcars are my favorite too.  I recently saw an old one at a paper mill that had the old UP "map" scheme on it, armor yellow with the "automated railway" slogan. Like this:



Another recent notable was the Seattle & North Shore. (south shore?)
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Posted by CrazyDelmar on Monday, October 30, 2006 8:48 PM

I kinda like this boxcar:

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Posted by CShaveRR on Monday, October 30, 2006 7:18 PM

 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.

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Posted by CShaveRR on Monday, October 30, 2006 7:12 PM
 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.

Carl

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Posted by cr6479 on Monday, October 30, 2006 7:12 PM
Today i saw LHV,NYC,EL,NW,PRR,C&O,B&O,CSXT,NS,CN,CNW,UP,BN,BNSF and Big blue boxcars.
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Posted by CShaveRR on Monday, October 30, 2006 7:06 PM
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).

Carl

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Posted by billbtrain on Monday, October 30, 2006 6:35 PM

 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

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Posted by Datafever on Monday, October 30, 2006 6:28 PM
 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.?

RailBox and RailGon are subsidiaries of TTX Corporation.
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Posted by Murphy Siding on Monday, October 30, 2006 6:24 PM
     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.?

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Friday, October 27, 2006 2:27 PM

 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.

     I just saw a Seaboard Coast Line boxcar at lunch.Approve [^]

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Posted by TimChgo9 on Friday, October 27, 2006 2:19 PM
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.
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Posted by Murphy Siding on Friday, October 27, 2006 12:34 PM

 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.Cool [8D]

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Posted by TH&B on Friday, October 27, 2006 11:01 AM
Boxcars used to haul coal too, they just filled the cars with coal from the door when short of hopper or gons in some regions anyways.
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Posted by wallyworld on Friday, October 27, 2006 8:14 AM
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

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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, October 27, 2006 7:31 AM
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?
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Posted by CShaveRR on Friday, October 27, 2006 5:34 AM
Just what it says.  HS is the reporting mark of the H&S Railroad Company, and the cars are numbered in the 30000 or the 75000 series.  Just about any old paint scheme can be found here.

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Posted by doghouse on Thursday, October 26, 2006 11:24 PM

 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?

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Posted by miniwyo on Thursday, October 26, 2006 10:50 PM
 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.


Now that's my kind of boxcar!!!!!



But seriously, they are cool, they are just so versitile. I mean they haul everytihng like, autoparts, computers, beer, shackles, hobos, heck anything palletized!

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Posted by ericsp on Thursday, October 26, 2006 9:51 PM

 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.

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.

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Posted by MP173 on Thursday, October 26, 2006 9:22 PM
My initial railfanning experience was as a small child at home.  Each day the Illinois Central would send a train each way between Mattoon and Evansville.  My mother would take me outside and read the names of the cars to me.

Like you Murph, I like boxcar trains.  I am bored of the stacks and coal trains.  I sorta equate piggybacks to boxcars.  You get a variety of companies...UPS, Schneider, JBH, etc.

ed

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Thursday, October 26, 2006 8:42 PM
 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.Smile [:)]

   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!Dunce [D)]  It's not exactly warm fruit, is it?Laugh [(-D] 

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Posted by CANADIANPACIFIC2816 on Thursday, October 26, 2006 7:46 PM

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.

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Posted by CShaveRR on Thursday, October 26, 2006 7:33 PM
 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?

Yes.  As I mentioned, GE owns a lot of cars.  CIT Corporation is another company that has quite a few box cars.

 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.Smile [:)]

   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.

Carl

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Thursday, October 26, 2006 7:21 PM
 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?

     I also see a lot of Pacific Fruit Express boxcars.  I always chuckle and think to myself that they're probably lost.Smile [:)]

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Posted by CShaveRR on Thursday, October 26, 2006 7:07 PM

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.

Carl

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Thursday, October 26, 2006 6:54 PM
     Are most boxcars still railroad owned?

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