I have noticed that many of them are still lettered for their original owners, a few of the plentiful examples are Burlington Northern, Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Southern Pacific and Union Pacific. In some cases the names are patched over but often not. However, the reporting marks rarely match the name on the car, usually a non railroad owner, (reporting marks ending in X" Does anyone have any idea why this is? Is there a reason that railroads are auctioning off all of their wood chip Gons? Or is it not actually happening and I’m just imaging this?
The class I lines are selling the cars. Chips tend to be short, low revenue, moves not attractive to class I carriers and they have decided that getting some cash for the cars now, even if they pay mileage back to car owners is a way to make the traffic less unattractive. The buyers must change reporting marks and often also change car numbers. Buyers are not wasting money on new paint jobs.
Mac
Often used for garbage or construction debris.