Western Railroad Discussion > The Boxcar is not Dead

Today On Cajon!

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Looks like a wine and beer run.  Long live the boxcar!

Kent in CArmel Valley

Looks like spray paint cans are alive and well too.

Adam

 Adam says: "Looks like spray paint cans are alive and well too"

Don't be to negative man, enjoy the moment some of these cars are older than you and me! They could tell you some stories I am sure!

Respect your elders!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/20 01:04 by Fiftyfooter.

Yes Sir, there's a whole lot of seniority in that string of Boxes !

A freight train isn't the same without the iconic boxcar. 

I see long strings of boxcars going by my house near Barnett every day. So they are alive and well on the UP.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

You can see a lot of boxcars on the Revelstoke Railcam going by on trains #400 and #401 between Vancouver and Golden!

Tim
mp35mountain

I agree. A train isn't a train without the iconic boxcar (or strings of them as in this case). While this photo is a testament to the longevity of the boxcar, I am drawn back to the November 2019 issue of Trains Magazine where an article entitled, "The Looming Boxcar Retirement Cliff" appeared. However, the country is undergoing enough sad and bad news to last a lifetime, so if you have back issues of Trains Magazine available, you can read the article in question.  I look at this photo and imagine the days of my youth watching trains rumble through my hometown of Mojave, CA, and seeing representations of all the Class 1's that criss-crossed the USA. Railroads like C&O, B&O, Pennsylvania, SOO, ATSF, SP, UP, NYC, WP, NP, GN, and many others. Thanks for the great photo.

I agree, but I also recall seeing them without all that ugly graffitti...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

RAIL BOX continuing ordering boxcars is daily proof they are not dead yet.

Posted from Android

Trains magazine had an article a while back with a table listing the ten most common boxcar loads. Don't remember much of the content, but 6 of the 10 were various forest products. No. 1 was corrugated cardboard. Auto parts were somewhere on the list.
Winston Hill

Canned food is a big load factor in California.  BNSF and UP both do lots of canned foods via boxcars out of CA.