I was wondering what are some of the longest rail cars around like how long can a boxcar can be last one I knew. Was about 70 feet long but I’m not sure about that and same thing for flat cars, tank cars, auto racks, tank cars and whatever else kinda cars there are out rolling down the tracks these days. Then again there so many diffrent types of cars I have lost count [:D][:D]
The longest non-articulated car I have seen would probably be BBCX 1000. The longest articulated cars would be 5 unit, 48’ well container cars.
Autoracks are 89’ foot long most auto boxcars are 86-89’ foot long biggest car i have ever seen has a tank car 92’ foot long at a train museum.
We have one Schnabel car in Australia, and I followed it on an empty run a couple of years ago. It had plain oil lubricated bearings, despite being built in the 1970s. The theory was that it would be rarely used, and the plain bearings would last better in very occasional service. It had only two axle trucks but more of them than BBCX 1000.
While they are not truly single cars, we have sets of eight coul hoppers permanently coupled by bar couplers, so for all traffic purposes they are single cars. These would be longer than any articulated container rake here of five vehicles. We also have bar coupled rakes of container well cars, and they have a single car number, unlike the coal hoppers. Just an inconsistency, the same operator owns them.
M636C
By law the longest single unit rail car is limited to 89’-4" over the end sills. This it the length of most TOFC, COFC and auto rack cars. Before the law which was at least 30 years ago there were a few prototype cars made that were 92 - 95 feet long but they were embargoed since then. A GA tank car of this length resides at the St. Louis Transport Museum.
Didn’t The A.T.& S.F. Ry. have multiple sets of 10-pack spine cars dedicated to piggyback service between Chicago and Los Angeles?
As I recall reading in either Trains Magazine or the trade press, these cars were not available for interchange (or did not meet interchange service requirements due to being too light in weight). But it was their light weight that the Railway hoped would translate into operating costs savings.
Figuring that each spine section was 50-ft. long, that’d make this car 500+ ft. drawbar-to-drawbar.
Yeah the Santa fe did they were called fuel foilers
I have seen a huge Schnabel car in minesota. It was big and red[:)]
BN’s trough train coal cars must have been several hundred feet long.
For me it was also a Schnabel car.
Dale
Today the biggest tank i have ever seen was an 8 axel. it was great hitting the diamond.
Longest car listed in the equipment register is:
Single car not a 5 pack or 10 pack joined with a draw bar.
KRL 16450
depressed flat 136’ 8"
You can bet, though, Bigedd, that that 136-footer is not one rigid unit–on cars like this the platform rides on bolsters above the truck setsm, which extend out beyond the length of the platform. This particular car has four trucks on each end, so you’re talking about 20 feet or so (the length of two heavy-capacity trucks with appropriate space between them) of platform at each end. That brings the length of the depressed platform down to around 95 or 96 feet–coincidentally, that’s about the maximum length of a single-unit, non-articulated car.
Saw an empty Schnabel car,once.I also saw the Rail Whale tank car at the museum in Galveston,TX. I believe this car is 94 ft.long.Cars this long are now illegal.
Question for our AAR experts. Car placed into service 1972 50 years will be 2022. Will it have to get special dispensation to exceed the 50 year AAR limit ? It certainly hasn’t seen many miles.
I suspect the rebuild of the car in 2002 may have extended it’s life well beyond 2022. Such cars rarely rack up much mileage or much high speed operation - especially when loaded.
As of now, its “end of service date” is still in 2022.
Back in the late 1960’s and into the 70’s, Souther Rwt and NS used a Monster Boxcar in tobacco Hogshead service through out the Carolinas and Virginia. They were roughly [by capacity:(+,-) 10,000 cu ft(?) ] 3x the size of a ‘regular 40’ boxcar. Originally, the first batch was built at Knoxville,Tn, in Southern’s Car Shop. That was early in 1960’s; they were built with roll-type, side doors. They were unsuccessful and were replaced with a plug style door.
Pullman Standard then built a couple of batches of them (?); something over 100 of them; those had conventional style sliding side doors. Using a forty year life, they would have lasted, slightly, into the early 2000’s.(?)
Here’s a link to a photo of one of the original Sou Built, roll doors:
and this link shows a MR article with photos of three conventional door tobacco Hogshead sevice cars: http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/forum/index.php?attachments/morehogs-jpg.272/
Here is a link to ‘Blog spot’ and some more information on these large capacity 10,000 cu. ft. boxcars: @http://tracksidetreasure.blogspot.com/2016/07/ns-85-foot-excess-height-boxcars.html
The longest non-articulated cars I have seen are some CN and TTX flatcars, which are 93 feet according to our lists. The same lists show autoracks as 89’.
Herzog has some rail and ballast trains composed of 20 or 30 carbodies that are either articulated or connected by drawbars entirely. I can’t remember if each carbody carries a separate number, but for switching purposes the set must be treated as one car.