It is uncommon to find three autoracks for the same railroad company coupled together, much less seven. Is it possible there was not a pool of autocarriers from several railroads for the GM plant at Van Nuys? Given the presence of a foreign car, the location, and how dirty the locomotives are, I suspect the photograph was not staged (it appears even SP liked clean locomotives for staged photographs).
Maybe the autoracks were fairly new and had not yet been scattered to the four winds. I saw a Union Pacific train going through Benson, Arizona in 2006 that had 100 brand new CMO grain hoppers, all in numerical sequence, heading westward on what must have been their very first load. I have subsequently seen individual cars from that group scattered among different trains.
A few weeks ago while shopping at the Ikea in Atlanta (buying lighting for the model railroad [;)]), I spotted an NS vehicle train coming out of Inman Yard behind the store. It had the usual mix of racks, except in the middle there was a string of about 15-20 brand new Ferromex units. Even the kids thought this was an unusual sighting. Jamie
Perhaps the car carriers were manufactured in the USA or at least final-assembled (testing and logo painting) here. Do they manufacture three-level car carriers in Mexico?
For that matter, who makes them? And if it is more than one company, from what source do UP or KCS (for example) buy theirs?
Al,
As far as Ive heard theres only a Trinity Rail Car plant in Mexico ,dont know where tho…Im sure there are others…Most autorack cars are TTX arent they?
Yes, I guess they are leased from a TTX-type company, much the same way that the airlines lease their fleet 'tho painted in company motif.
I side with the “they hadn’t been broken up yet” theory. No. 2, more speculative: is that the same railroad that KCS owns? Usually today called KCM de Mexico? I get confused because TFM and [the other one] translate(d) the same or almost the same into English. Something like Mexican railroad vs Mexico’s railroad.
But I may be making a misassumption on my no. 2 based on actual use/renting RR. With computers and all, is the SOP “We’ll grab some empties from whatever is logistically best and figure out how much rent (and/or haulage) to pay the official lessor” as opposed to the more traditional “We’ll wait for some of our cars to collect” or “We’ll send some of ours when available or negotiate trackage/haulage with a willing carrier.”
On the third hand, who am I to assume how computers “think”??
You know, non-railfans often ask me this type of question. So it’s a good idea to be informed for knowledge’s sake and the expansion of my hobby, as well as furthering good public relations with the “unwashed” - a. s.
Almost all autocarrier flatcars are owned, or leased, by TTX. Almost all autocarrier racks are owned, or leased, by railroad companies. There are autocarriers with railroad owned, or leased, flatcars, TTX racks, and those that are integral cars.
It seems like I heard somewhere that railcars that carry vehicles or vehicle parts are usually assigned to pools. The railroads contribute cars to the pools based on the percent of revenue they get from the traffic the pool is assigned to. However, I do not know how accurate that is. Perhaps someone who knows about pools will reply.
Given a choice a railroad will always use its cars for loads as that puts more of the money generated in their pockets.
So if I’m following y’all, when the Ford plant in Metro Atlanta sends vehicles thru the Folkston Funnel into Florida, CSX may have a better-than-even chance of using its own car with its own name, but it could also be any other RR company’s car from the pool.
And getting back to basics, if the autoracks are pooled and ultimately belong to TTX, the concept of a railroad having “its own [rack] car[s]” is a stretchy one.
I can tell you at Folkston I’ve seen autoracks of all ages sending new Fords (pretty sure they’re Fords) into Florida bearing the “plates” of CSX but also CN, CP, NS, UP, KCS and if I’m not mistaken BNSF. I don’t recall seeing TFM’s name on a rack, but I guess it’s possible. Some of the very oldest-looking racks, the rusting two-fers, are from the Canadian lines and NS. But maybe that’s because they were leaders in developing that mode of rail shipment.
Would that I had a pair of x-ray glasses when I’m down there! - al
We were talking about who builds these cars from Mexico,I should have said TTX builds most of them …Does it not?
At the risk of making this even more complicated, I was kinda under the impression that the original Tee Tee Ex had been closed or taken private. Of course, there are dozens of children and grandchildren that serve rolling-stock leasing needs: TTTX, for example.
On a somewhat related note, I recently noticed a unit train going west (and empty) into Galesburg on the exx-CB&Q: doesn’t JEPX indicate what power station the trains go in and out of with the coal? Are we to assume that the power station owns those coal cars, or are they another case of third-party ownership and leaseback? - a.s.
Now that I think about it, I do not think that is how autocarrier pools work, since sometimes autocarriers bounce around from plant to plant, or port, looking for a load.
TTX is still around (http://www.ttx.com/). It is owned by several railroads. Ironically, its new president’s last name is Wells. TTTX is a reporting mark assigned to TTX, but it is currently unused.
JEPX indicates who owns the cars, Duke Energy Indiana.
As far as I know TTX does not build anything. Trinity industries does build autocarriers. Gunderson and Freightcar America build flatcars designed for autoracks. I do not know what companies build the racks that go on these.
I’m wondering who builds the new kind of carriers I saw going thru Fostoria on the old B&O N-S line. They were built to carry heavy vehicles: Deere equipment, that sort of thing.
The carriers were off-white and instead of having a grille like the standard auto-carriers, were mostly metal with a repeating “swiss-cheese-hole” pattern that permitted seeing in, but just.