Boxcars


Patrick

Alien Attitude.
Are there any box cars left on modern rail? Living by a mainline BNSF, I see several trains a day, but can't remember when I last saw a boxcar. I see container cars, piggy backs, tank cars, grain cars and coal bins, with the occasional car haulers and flatbeds, but no box cars. Have they gone the way of the livestock and refrigerated cars.
 
Boxcars are still being used, just not where you are seeing BunSNifF. Here's a bunch on a Los Angeles Junction Ry spur. It's one of their subsidiaries.
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These are just as plentiful. Athearn, Walthers, just did a run of these recently. Exactrail did a run of the 50FT Rbox about a year ago.

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Still see lots of boxcars around here. It just depends on where and when you look. On the BNSF main line near me, Ft Worth to Oklahoma City (ex-ATSF), there's a couple of mixed freights a day in both directions. Boxcars make up about 35% of the consists on those trains. The line is however over 50% intermodal due to the Alliance intermodal terminal about 20 miles south. There are also a lot of unit grain trains, full going south for export, and empty going north. On the BNSF mainline that was next door to where I worked for years, Dallas to Sherman TX (ex-SLSF), the percentage was near 75% mixed freights with about the same 35% boxcars. No intermodal on that branch at all, the only unit trains were gravel trains and covered hoppers of plastic pellets.
Meanwhile the UP main line from Sherman to Ft Worth (ex-MKT) that I occasionally railfan at, has a small number of mixed freights with a lesser percentage of boxcars. It's mostly grain, coal and automobiles.
 
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Most of the trains I see are usually running the line between Kansas City (through Emporia, KS) and to Oklahoma City. It is interesting about the boxcars, but there just may not be the demand for them along that route. I will say, I don't watch the rails 24 x 7, so they may be sneaking some through when I'm not looking..lol

I just haven't seen any on the trains that seem to pass through my area for quite some time. And since the floods up north, there seem to be more trains routed through.
 
Hi Patrick, I think you are right about it being all about your route. In my old city Cloquet there were numerous boxcars, as they were used in the large industry in town.

Dave
 
Or, you could shoot dice with someone.. Sure bet you will eventually come up with box cars !! :cool:
 
When I worked for the KYLE railroad, there was a TAMKO shingle plant at Phillipsburg, that we switched. They would get in box cars of sawdust, and would load 12 boxcars of shingles/tar paper a day.
 
Ok, went through a different crossing than normal yesterday and got caught by a train with a half dozen boxcars at the end, just in front of the 6 pusher engines. First time in a long time I'd seen them.
 
I was just thinking quite the opposite! I'm starting to see more and more box cars again on American Railroads. When going down to Visit my two sons, I drive along the old Northern Pacific line and BNSF tracks, now. Every train I've seen recently has Box Cars in the mix. In fact I was wondering what they haul in box cars now-a-days?
 
South side of my town, the BNSF has a split with 2 rails continuing SW towards Wellington and third track that turns south. This is along a highway that I don't normally use as it adds about a mile one way to my daily run to work. The train was on the south bound single.
 
I was just thinking quite the opposite! I'm starting to see more and more box cars again on American Railroads. When going down to Visit my two sons, I drive along the old Northern Pacific line and BNSF tracks, now. Every train I've seen recently has Box Cars in the mix. In fact I was wondering what they haul in box cars now-a-days?

Paper, forest products, appliances, auto parts are popular candidates, but "anything" goes.
 
I second Chris and in Wisconsin newsprint and printing paper are transported in box cars. The former Wisconsin Central had a large customer base of paper goods producers in Central and Northern Wisconsin and delivered rolls of printing paper to customers like Quad Graphics in box cars to protect the huge rolls of paper. Then Quad used a fleet of semi's to deliver their finished printed goods.

When rail fanning I used to go to a vacant parking lot (trespassing?) and be within feet of the CN rails and be just across from the Sussex, Wisconsin Quad Graphics plant. Quad had a spur line there and if I was lucky I could see the CN switch cars in and out of the spur serving the printing plant. The Wisconsin Central provide a lot of act and now its the h

Many of the trains I see along the CN main line are unit containers trains, but there have been some mixed bag freights.

Greg
 
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Aw, them ain't real boxcars. Boxcars are 40 or 50 ft. long, and have roof walks and ladders leading up to the top of the car. How else are the brakemen to run along the top to "tie down" when the engineer whistles for brakes (in case the train line brakes aren't working? Oh, I have a few 50 footers with double-doors for loading automobiles on my 1940-50's C.B.&Q. subsidiary, but mostly 40 ft. Box and refer cars without roof walks? That's like a freight train without a waycar (caboose)! ;) :rolleyes:
 



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