Our city sees quite a few boxcars, mostly going to lumber wholesalers and cardboard box companies. I’d rather sit and watch a train of boxcars than parades of grain hoppers anytime. Many have old railroad advertizing still visible on the side. That sure beats a mile of oxide red BNSF/swoosh hoppers! Most common around here are MRL, WC, and BN. There is a good variety to be sure. I always figure it’s a bonus day, when I see a boxcar painted for some old fallen flag. Yesterday, I saw one marked Family Lines, and another old.Seaboard Coast Line car. CNW symboled boxcars just to fade into the background paint.
Or doublestacks. I can’t get used to seeing containers on our freight trains. They’re so generic and impersonal. I agree that boxcars had more character.
Nelson
And you’ll never see a faded CBQ billboard on a continer[;)]
Boxcars are cool. I remember seeing “Route of the Eagles” on an old MP boxcar in Arkansas in the 1980’s. Also saw an ex-NYC in all its (eye-shocking) jade-green glory west of Waycross, GA in either the late '70’s or early 80’s. Even saw a few ex-SAL and quite a few ex-ACL boxcars in earlier years in that area. Memories of a bygone age . . . .
I worked in a Kansas flour mill during the 1980’s & 1990’s. We used to load sacked flour, most of it billed to the TX gulf ports for export, but there were loadings of domestic business to. In fact my first three yrs, 1981-1983, 40 ft cars were still in use @ our mill. The plant was on SF, so naturally the cars were from the home rr. After 1983 it was 50 or even some 60 footers being used. In May 1987, the ICC issued a service order requiring rrs begin pooling boxcars nationwide. From that time on until sacked business was abolished in 1993, boxcars from any carrier anywhere were being sent to the mill. That was indeed a nice variety and a big change from looking @ SF cars from the previous yrs. The good ole days certainly long gone by. I was only glad to have photographed the many cars in the plant during that time period
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 also is neat is seeing different reporting marks on the sides of the cars.whose car is it?
stay safe
Joe
Are most boxcars still railroad owned?
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.
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.[:)]
Yes. As I mentioned, GE owns a lot of cars. CIT Corporation is another company that has quite a few box cars.
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.
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
Duh![D)] It’s not exactly warm fruit, is it?[(-D]
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
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.
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!
What is a HS 30000 and 75000 series box car? What do they look like?
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.
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?
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