I have found railcars with both XTRX and XTRA on them. I know that XTRX is a reporting mark for First Union Rail. What does XTRA stand for?
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I think that I have this right.
The reporting mark for First Union Rail is XTRX.
The reporting mark for XTRA, Inc., a rail equipment leasing company, is also XTRX.
First Union Rail and XTRA Inc. share the same primary reporting mark, XTRX, for their privately owned rail cars, although the two companies are separate entities.
I am not challenging what you are saying; it makes sense. What I donāt understand is how two companies could have the same reporting marks. Are these not regulated?
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Let me correct myself on one point. First Union Rail was renamed Wells Fargo Rail in 2016. Wells Fargo Rail. Wells Fargo Rail is among the largest rail car lessors in North America, and XTRA Inc. is a major transportation equipment (e.g. trailers) lessor. So, I presume that is the relationship.
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Wells Fargo Rail and XTRA Inc. can have the same reporting mark because the reporting mark is assigned to the owner/lessor of the railcar fleet (Wells Fargo Rail), and the cars are then leased to an operating company (XTRA Inc.) for use.
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Here is what I have been able to find out.
In 2015, First Union Rail was acquired by Wells Fargo, which integrated it with GE Capital Rail Services and rebranded it as Wells Fargo Rail. XTRA Corporation was a publicly traded company that was the nationās first piggyback-trailer leasing company. They created XTRA Lease as a national company to lease trailers. XTRA Corporation was bought by Berkshire Hathaway in 2001.
While there is a connection through Warren Buffet there does not seem to be a business relationship between Wells Fargo Rail and XTRA Lease so I am still confused.
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If there is no business relationship, why would Wells Fargo Rail put XTRA on its rail cars?
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Looks like XTRA was a registered trademark for a railcar management company that was active from 1987 to 1995. I guess First Union Rail provided the equipment and XTRA managed it. I havenāt been able to find anything on the actual operations of XTRA.
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Both cars have the XTRX reporting marks above the number. That tells me that XTRX is the official reporting mark. The XTRA appears to be a branding.
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Yes! The official reporting marks are the 2-4 letters on the left side of a car, and the numbers below it. The XTRA on the blue car isnāt a reporting mark, itās XTRX 7585.
Letās say BNSF was short on cars, and it bought a used boxcar from Union Pacific, reporting marks UP 123456. BNSF could then paint over UP 123456 and replace it with BNSF 578552 or whatever, and it would be good to go - even though itās still a yellow boxcar with big āUNION PACIFICā lettering and such on it. The reporting marks is the ānameā of the car for official purposes.
BTW an X on the end of a reporting mark means itās assigned to a private company, not to a railroad. Either the car is privately owned and operated by the owner, or is privately owned and the owner has leased it to some other organization. If XTRA were a reporting mark, it could only be owned by a railroad.
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I wasnāt implying that XTRA was a reporting mark. I was questioning two different owners having the same XTRX reporting mark.
That is a great example.
The other car is marked XTRX where the āblueā car is XTRA in the same red color. Why would that be?
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Not sure, except itās something the private company chose, perhaps to keep track of what the car is used for. I notice one car has a three-digit number and one has five-digit number. Perhaps one series of cars is used in say grain service, and the other cars are used to haul some non-food product. (You donāt normally use a car for cement and then turn around and put soybeans in it.)
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Are soybeans sold by weight or volume?
They donāt. But if one company merges or sells its fleet to another, the new company inherits or purchases the reporting markā¦
XTRX is not listed as Xtra, Inc. and First Union or Wells Fargo AT THE SAME TIME. The ownership of the mark changed in the mid 1990s.
|XTRX|XTRA, Inc.|added 1/1980; 1/1980; eliminated 1/1990|
|XTRX|Chrysler Rail Transportation Corp.|added 1/1990; eliminated 4/1993|
|XTRX|U.S. Rail Services, Inc.|added 4/1993; 1/1994; eliminated 4/1994|
|XTRX|USL Capital Rail Services|added 4/1994; eliminated 10/1996|
|XTRX|First Union Rail|added 10/1996; 7/2000-7/2005; eliminated 4/2016|
|XTRX|Wells Fargo Rail Corp.|added 4/2016; 7/2020|
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The correct question here is how the railroad bills for transportation (by weight). And rail cars have a maximum weight capacity/rail loading. Different covered hoppers are designed to different volumes to maximize the efficient volume usage when maxing out the (weight) load limit of the car. 100 tons of a dense commodity like cement or sand can fill up a much smaller car than 100 tons of wheat or beans.
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Actually my question was supposed to be a joke regarding putting soybeans in a car after cement to affect the weight.
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Interestingly I remember Transamerica had trailers with REAZ reporting marks. The reporting mark originally went to Integrated Container Services in 1969 and then Transamerica used it on their trailers for their Transamerica Distribution Services business when they purchased Interway (formerly Integrated Container Services) in 1979. By 2004 Transamerica was out of that business but they were a big part of the intermodal boom starting in the 1980s.
My actual point was about āclean ladingā. You wouldnāt fill a covered hopper with cement or gravel or some toxic powder and then, after itās been emptied, turn around and immediately use it to haul flour or grain or some other food. The different lettering and numbering of the cars might be to keep track of their purpose.
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