Western Railroad Discussion > An unusual automobile transport by rail question

My friend recently retired, and since he has nothing to do, he has ordered a 2015 Mustang GT. However, the wait for this car has become an obsession.

Is it possible to know what train, and possibly what railcar, might contain his vehicle?

Here are the car particulars:

Car built at: Flat Rock Michigan
Was listed as "in transit" a few days ago

2015 MUSTANG GT
VIN: 1FA6P8CF0F5409251

If the train and routing could be determined, he wants to follow the train across the Pacific Northwest until it reaches the destination, which will probably be Portland or Seattle. Again, he has nothing to do. If nothing else, he will enjoy running around the Pacific Northwest and his wife wants him out of the house for a few days..

Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

Mark
Salem, Oregon

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I ordered a new RAM pickup last year, and was able to track it from the factory until it came into Kansas City. The UPRRy delivered it to a lot at Muncie, KS west of town, and all this only took about three weeks. After that, the truck sat on that storage lot for five weeks waiting to be picked up and delivered! Apparently Chrysler and the other auto manufacturers have a contract with an auto carrier company that delivers the vehicles to the dealer... WHENEVER THEY DAMNED WELL FEEL LIKE IT. It was only 45 miles away from the dealer in Ottawa, but they screwed around for five weeks, and my dealer, or Chrysler Corp. had no ability to have it brought in any time sooner. (the dealer should be able to give him a vin number, and with that, you should be able to track the car from Ford's website)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/15 09:40 by ddg.

Given the supply chain issue of inventory sitting in a staging lot with a customer waiting, no wonder the American auto industry has problems.  What a sad story indeed.  There was a story about 6 months ago about how much excess auto inventory (both American and foreign manufacturers) there is right now,  yet the stuff that consumers want requires a wait....

You are not going to have acess to the route of the train, maybe someone with UP could give the station arrival and departure times but that'd be it I'm sure.

Ford should be able to produce a railcar number for him, and he can call the handling roads phone tracker (which is for RR customers use, not public).

Posted from Android

DG .
Unknown, US

Your friend should have bought a Corvette.  I picked up mine at the factory in Bowling Green after watching it come off the assembly line.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/15 11:33 by LarryB.

Also, tell your friend to join mustang6g.com, it's a 2015 specific forum that would give him info on how to get the info from Ford on what railcar his Mustabg is in.

Posted from Android

DG .
Unknown, US

If the vehicle is destine for Salem, it will likely be unloaded at Barnes Yard in Portland on the UP.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

ddg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I ordered a new RAM pickup last year, and was able
> to track it from the factory until it came into
> Kansas City. The UPRRy delivered it to a lot at
> Muncie, KS west of town, and all this only took
> about three weeks. After that, the truck sat on
> that storage lot for five weeks waiting to be
> picked up and delivered! Apparently Chrysler and
> the other auto manufacturers have a contract with
> an auto carrier company that delivers the vehicles
> to the dealer... WHENEVER THEY DAMNED WELL FEEL
> LIKE IT. It was only 45 miles away from the dealer
> in Ottawa, but they screwed around for five weeks,
> and my dealer, or Chrysler Corp. had no ability
> to have it brought in any time sooner. (the dealer
> should be able to give him a vin number, and with
> that, you should be able to track the car from
> Ford's website)

I'm surprised about that.

My wife ordered a 2013 Infiniti G37x with all kinds of things on it. Infiniti had a car that fit the bill on a dealer's lot in northwestern PA. A week later it was in the dealer's lot in Bridgewater NJ. And the next day she drove it home with 25 miles on the meter. Got an excellent price on it, too.

That's an awfully nice looking Mustang at the opening of the thread.

I ordered a 2012 SVT Raptor and thru Ford/SVT was able to track it from production dates thru delivery to the dealer including the CSX /UP routing from MI to CA

Mark Denis

Great Falls MT

> I'm surprised about that.
>
> My wife ordered a 2013 Infiniti G37x with all
> kinds of things on it. Infiniti had a car that fit
> the bill on a dealer's lot in northwestern PA. A
> week later it was in the dealer's lot in
> Bridgewater NJ. And the next day she drove it home
> with 25 miles on the meter. Got an excellent price
> on it, too.

That would have been a dealer trade and would have been trucked from the dealer in PA to your dealer in NJ...no railroad involved in that movement.

I was going to buy a Honda last Monday, Memorial Day, but being "Memorial Day" I couldn't get  Pearl Harbor off my mind!

Wish there was a "like" button !