Hello everyone,
I’ve read that cars over 40 years old can not be in interchange service. What happens, can they be rebuilt, are they scrapped, or just home road cars only. And does this aply to locomotives as well.
Thanks for any information.
Railroad65
The railcars can have a rule 88 (extended Life ) done to the car and get a extra 10 years
of life out of them.
Whats a “rule 88” and how does it affect older cars? Also, specifically, what about older cars precludes them form service?
Under rule 88, a car must have its major structural parts “fluxed” for defects. Only a given percentage of the car’s structural material can be replaced, otherwise the cost is not economically worth it. Most cars are rendered obsolete after as few as 20 years of use, some times not even that! Then, too for only an added 10 years of use, the cost of the needed work renders this point moot. Old cars can still be used in limited service, like MofW use, where the car is likely to be used in slow speed, limited stress use. Restored/Historical equipment usually is not interchanged, since the work needed to make interchange possible is cost-prohibitive.
Though the railroad don’t seem hesitant in retiring old boxcars and reefers, they appear to be using older covered hoppers until the bitter last. Even covered hoppers built in the 1960s on BNSF are showing up repainted with the new logo!
In the Trains Magazine article about ACF there was a comment from someone at ACF that their Center Flow Covered Hoppers could last 100 years.
Apparently the ACF Center Flow Hoppers are built so well that only a major defect will destroy them, or that “Lasting 100 Years” comment is just a sales pitch.
With proper mantenance they could last 100 years.
Will there even be railroads as we know them in 40 years?
Andrew F.
I noticed that UP is still using reefers built in 1965 (R-70-15). In fact I have recently seen some that appeared to have recently gone through the refurbishing program that UP is doing to its reefers, this includes painting them white and giving them ARMN reporting marks. I do not know the extent of any mechanical work. I am guessing that this was recently done because the cars were still clean, shiny, and graffiti free.
Of course these hd some work done to them in the late 1980s or early 1990s, they are coming from the UPFE 464000 series and going into the ARMN 764000 series. I do know think I have seen any R-70-15s from the UPFE 462600 or 463000 that have been upgraded to the ARMN cars.
Also, it seems like I heard that for cars built after 1975(?) the limit is 50 years.