I know there are many Southern Illinois Railcars out there on the
tracks but there is one I used to see all the time but have not for a
while. And that is the covered hopper with the Southern Illinois
Railcar emblem on the side. Are they all painted over or maybe hiding
somewhere else in the country. How many where made that way? Just
wonder if anyone has saw one lately…just curious.
For most of its history, Southern Illinois Railcar has dealt with secondhand cars (mostly covered hoppers), and kept them, for the most part, in the paint schemes theywere received in. There was a period in the mid-1990s, though, when they acquired several hundred new cars, primarily from Trinity Industries. They also leased some cars from General American at this time.
There was one series of cars, SIRX 516000-516199, built by Trinity Industries in 1996, that had the logo on the sides. These are/were painted off-white, with red data and a red logo the height of the side. Some of these cars were leased to I&M Rail Link, and relettered IMRL for a time; they were returned to SIRX reporting marks by about 2000.
Until now, I believed that all 200 cars (or those remaining) were relettered GACX (without being renumbered) in 2001, but within the past few days I saw one car, SIRX 516138, which hadn’t been relettered. Records show 157 SIRX cars in the series, and 196 GACX cars–an obvious impossibility, but that shows what we freight-car freaks are up against.