I have a couple questions about Railbox boxcars. Who are they used by, when where they first used, are they still used, and what commodities do they carry?
I think it was about the mid 1970s when the first ones were built. Very few of those are still Railbox, but ones built later are still in service, lots of them.
They haul just about anything boxcars haul: lumber, paper, tomato paste, roof shingles, pallets, cottonseeds, waste paper, etc.
I think you’ll find that the earliest cars had build dates of late 1974. But, as Eric says, most of the original group of cars have gone elsewhere. Many have been rebuilt for their new operators, some with increased height, some with plug doors, and some with vent openings on the sides and/or roofs.
Most of the Railbox cars still running were built in the late 1970s, possibly into 1980. As Eric says, they’re used for almost anything that can be put into a box car. Higher-class commodities nowadays are usually transported in their modern counterparts, the FBOX and TBOX cars.