I saw three 40 foot boxcars in the Springfield (OR) local today. SP 605573, 605673, 605621 (in pretty good paint, too.) All were marked ’ moving for dismantle.’ I’m guessing these are headed for the Gundersen car repair shop since there isn’t a scrapyard in town.
Two questions: might the car shop find it worthwhile to strip them for parts? (didn’t look like a dent between the three.) What would these cars have been used for in the last several years? (I believe one was marked Blt 6-72, but that was partially obscured.)
As I remember the car series, these were Hi-Cube 40 foot appliance cars. Could also have been used for paper service with the DF equipment removed and the sides made smooth inside.
The only thing that these things could be used for is food service for such things as cereals. But not much chance of that since most of that stuff goes in trailers.
I believe these are cars built in the 1977 for copper loading (third link). Were they in Southern Pacific or Golden West Service paint? Also, the first two numbers you listed are they same.
No, I don’t really know any more about them, though I have seen them on occasion.
Just a thought: if SP got them for copper service, and the copper business is gone or diminished, and there is no alternative demand for such cars, UP probably doesn’t want to keep them around. You’d be surprised at some of the stuff they’ve unloaded already.
The recent Trains Magazine article pretty much explains it all, scrap steel prices are up, car types are changing and so lots of cars with a remaining service life are going to the bone yard account they are less than the new standard of longer than 70’ for boxcars. These cars are older than 25 years so they have probably depreciated out so their scrap value is much higher than their book value. They are also close to the end of their FRA service lifetime of 35 or 40 years. Cushion drawbars can also prove to be a high maintenance cost in older cars.
Now is the time for any interested museums to add these to their collections but they may have to provice equal scrap tonnage to make the donation work.