Drove by the E J & E yard in east Joliet today. Question… where are the Bi-Level cars from? Some look like the old RTA scheme used on the Rock Island line or the CNW.
Any plans for these cars? Are they being rehabbed?
Just questioning…
Jeff
Were these in the main yard, or off to the side along the road? I know there use to be a car rehab business that worked out of the old J shop building. But I thought he was out of business, and I know the shop has been torn down.
Dave
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Jeff,
I’m not really sure where the cars are from, but every time I drive by the yard, they’re there. I live about 15 minutes from the yard. [:)]
Nick
Yep… the cars were off to the side along the road. Quite a mixed bag. The old RTA cars were the only thing that looked relatively current on today’s METRA roster. However, even these cars were incredibly faded…
Check the item in the June 2 Trains News Wire.
I suspect, then, that these are the cars that haven’t yet found a buyer.
I don’t remember when the RI’s cars were built, but there’s nothing younger than 35 years old here if it’s ex-CNW.
I know we’ve shipped a few cars to various places within the past year, but I seem to recall these cars (or others like them) at Joliet since well before the current order for new cars at Metra made a lot of the remaining smooth-side cars surplus.
Yeah, some of the cars may be the same as mentioned in the article, but I don’t know if they all are. As mentioned before, there was a car refurbishing biz that went out of business. I’m pretty sure the guy just walked away, from what I heard. The old J shop was torn down not long after that. They may have been his and they’ve just left them there since. There also use to be power siting all along that side as well. I don’t know if that’s still there or not. Some of the units were geeps from a tourist line. Others were old BN GEs. I think Relco might have been storing them there.
Dave
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Well - that makes sense then. Great to see these old bi-levels still kept in service.
I have to crossthread this thread from the 2100 thread.Page 11 of this thread talks about some cars coming from EJ&E.
www.railroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6658