Pending rail car retirements, high scrap rates tighten equipment market

[GP30M4216]

Perspectives on new railcar construction: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/pending- ... 54283.html

[SD80MAC]

Gonna be interesting when all of the 50' boxcars from the late 70s and early 80s finally age out. Will we see any new ones built? Not every customer can handle highcubes.

[LansingRailFan]

We finna miss a lot of these old cars. New ones are boring AF and make me wanna punch myself in the nads.

[penn central]

We finna miss a lot of these old cars. New ones are boring AF and make me wanna punch myself in the nads.

You got that right I remember vividly back in the early 1970s at Saginaw on PC and C&O but it seemed to me the PC had a bigger veriety of names on boxcars and other rolling stock I think it's been kinda boring since the 1990s.

[GTW Dude]

What standards/qualifications does a car need to meet at 50 years old? I still see cars built in the 60's or old MOW equipment built in the 40's on Class 1's. IIRC a couple of CB&Q 40 foot boxcars lasted until a couple years ago in BNSF MOW service. Does the rule just prevent interchange between railroads?

[Chip]

What standards/qualifications does a car need to meet at 50 years old? I still see cars built in the 60's or old MOW equipment built in the 40's on Class 1's. IIRC a couple of CB&Q 40 foot boxcars lasted until a couple years ago in BNSF MOW service. Does the rule just prevent interchange between railroads?

it’s either that or they can’t be used for revenue service period

[penn central]

As far as I know it can be over 50 years old but can not be interchanged to other railroads it has to stay on home rails but I am very surprised to see the scrap tie gons for GLC from CSX some of those where built in the 60s and have the old Reading RR name on them and a few ex NYC ones also I don't know how those are being interchanged there over 50 years old.

[Saturnalia]

As far as I know it can be over 50 years old but can not be interchanged to other railroads it has to stay on home rails but I am very surprised to see the scrap tie gons for GLC from CSX some of those where built in the 60s and have the old Reading RR name on them and a few ex NYC ones also I don't know how those are being interchanged there over 50 years old.

They become restricted at interchange - the other carriers don't *have* to take them. But they obviously can, if they want.

[chapmaja]

We finna miss a lot of these old cars. New ones are boring AF and make me wanna punch myself in the nads.

You got that right I remember vividly back in the early 1970s at Saginaw on PC and C&O but it seemed to me the PC had a bigger veriety of names on boxcars and other rolling stock I think it's been kinda boring since the 1990s.

There was a time, in the late 1970's or early 1980's when the regulations for car ownership were such that a lot of railroads "purchased" a lot of cars to use for generating revenue. They were basically leased cars with X railroad name on the car. Many times the cars didn't even make it to, or get used by the home railroad, until the economy turned south and the cars that were never getting to home rails ALL came back to home rails because they were not needed. Some railroads had serious issues because they had more cars to store than space to store them.

IIRC there were regulations that didn't allow leasing companies to directly lease cars, it had to be done through an actual railroad. This is why railroad like the Ann Arbor / Michigan Interstate, Port Huron and Detroit, HCRC and Lenawee County all had some many cars during this time. They were getting a small cut of the leasing revenue from the cars. Nice when the economy was good, sucked when the economy went south.

[Standard Railfan]

As far as I know it can be over 50 years old but can not be interchanged to other railroads it has to stay on home rails but I am very surprised to see the scrap tie gons for GLC from CSX some of those where built in the 60s and have the old Reading RR name on them and a few ex NYC ones also I don't know how those are being interchanged there over 50 years old.

They become restricted at interchange - the other carriers don't *have* to take them. But they obviously can, if they want.

I recall CN car shop staff at Gladstone telling me that the ex CNW ore cars over 50 years old were banned from interchange and were subject to a more rigorous inspection program and frequent oversight from FRA. IIRC the FRA inspector was on the property weekly.

[Chip]

I recall CN car shop staff at Gladstone telling me that the ex CNW ore cars over 50 years old were banned from interchange and were subject to a more rigorous inspection program and frequent oversight from FRA. IIRC the FRA inspector was on the property weekly.

I have a friend who just started at the car shop at NS Oakwood who said something similar.

[Saturnalia]

As far as I know it can be over 50 years old but can not be interchanged to other railroads it has to stay on home rails but I am very surprised to see the scrap tie gons for GLC from CSX some of those where built in the 60s and have the old Reading RR name on them and a few ex NYC ones also I don't know how those are being interchanged there over 50 years old.

They become restricted at interchange - the other carriers don't *have* to take them. But they obviously can, if they want.

I recall CN car shop staff at Gladstone telling me that the ex CNW ore cars over 50 years old were banned from interchange and were subject to a more rigorous inspection program and frequent oversight from FRA. IIRC the FRA inspector was on the property weekly.

The LS&I cars are good examples, with some dating back to 1937. They're all reinspected thoroughly every two years, I believe in accordance with a plan agreed to with the FRA. Or rather, after each inspection they are cleared for 24 months of service before being bad ordered and sent back to the reinspection queue. They end up losing a fair number of them each year due to defects bad enough that they are not worth fixing.

As to if any other railroad would ever touch them, I doubt it. The FRA only allows this really with the iron ore because it's just enriched dirt so the overall safety risk is relatively low. I wouldn't expect to see any tank cars last more than 40 years!!

[SD80MAC]

Funny you mention tank cars. I came across, not that long ago, a tank car built in 1968 that was still in interchange service on a Class 1. It was not hauling hazardous material, nor was it placarded. Just thought it was pretty crazy to see a tank that old still earning its keep with no stenciled rebuild date.