Does anyone know if the UP still runs these R470 reefers in 2025? I’ve done image searches and the last pics of these seemed to be taken in the early 2010s decade. If they were indeed retired, does anyone know when?
I have found pictures of some still in service as late as the summer of 2020 on railroad picture archives. I think the latest ones were built in 1971 and the cars were upgraded in 2000 to 2001. I thought the revenue service limit for cars built before 1974 was 40 years. Maybe they got some kind of extended service waiver or something.
I think this may be related to UP canceling the Cold Connect (Loup Logistics, ex-Railex) service from California and Washington state to Rotterdam.
Note that the termination was attributed to COVID-19, but the scamdemic has been over for years and UP seems to have taken no steps at all to re-try it.
I think they have all been retired. A few years ago one of our old yards, used mostly for storing cars or engines - it has a couple tracks of stored SD70M engines now, had a few tracks of these cars. All were marked “R-age.”
Jeff
Cars built before 1972 have a 40 year service life. They can go through a rebuild process of certain components that can extend that to 50 years.
Cars built after that date have a 50 year span. In either case, that’s for use in interchange service. Out of date cars could be used for moves that don’t leave the home road.
Jeff