While in Alpine, TX this week, I saw a westbound UP train with only box cars. There were at least a hundred of them. It was unusual; I don’t recall seeing a train with 100 percent box cars in a long time.
What gets shipped in box cars?
Virtually anything but bulk liquids can be in box cars. What is currently being shipped is another matter.
How about a description of the cars…new, old, ratty, 50-foot, 60-foot, high roof, normal height, reefers (not really box cars, but just in case).
Empties going back to Mexico for Corona Light? Components for a wall?
White paint? Distant screaming not of bearing or flange origin?
Shackles? In neat little rows?
Most of them appeared to be 50 to 60-foot standard boxcars. I don’t recall seeing any high roof or long auto parts cars, but I am not that knowledgeable about boxcars.
Some of the cars had the markings of long gone railroads. One had faded Southern Pacific markings. But many of them appeared to be relatively new. Many of them were covered with graffiti. And a few of them were Railbox cars.
Carl (CShaveRR): This one’s for you!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/43029418015/in/photostream/
[tup][tup] [From Barriger Library collection;via FLICKR] [:-^]
Cars enroute to be scrapped?
Cars enroute to a storage location?
It could be beer from Mexico, the UP has really gone after this business and the beer industry has gone back to using boxcars more, Corona and Budweiser for example. Also a lot of wine is moving from the west to Northeast by boxcars it works better for them than truck or intermodal due to the volumes being shipped.
If your in Texas we have a number of railcar builders in the DFW area, just drive around and see what they are currently building and storing in their respective yard. My guess is tank cars and possibly replacement covered hoppers for grain.
Start with Trinity…
Most box cars built by the major carbuilders (Trinity and Greenbrier) are built in Mexico these days (subject to change with the tarriff shenanigans).
Sam, that’s a USRA box car. I’d have to check, but wouldn’t be surprised if CNW rebuilt these in some way so that they survived until the time I was working. They would have been booted when freight-car age limits went into effect in the early 1970s.
Trinity in Longview (and possibly Dallas) would be working on tank cars; Fort Worth usually gets specialty covered hoppers (pressure-differential and the like)–not ordinary grain cars, plastics cars, or sand cars, which would probably also come from Mexico.