Nostalgia & History > "Super Shock Control" boxcars fresh off the assembly line in '81

It always makes for an extra enjoyable day when one finds new equipment on any railroad.

I had one of those happy face days in the spring of 1981 when I visited Concordia, Kan., for a kids wrestling tournament. During a lunch break at the meet,  I swung by the nearby ATSF Railway yard there and immediately spotted some brand new "Super Shock Control" boxcars sitting on one of the yard tracks. A build date of March, 1981 had been stenciled on the cars.

I really grew fond of seeing those bright red and white cars on ATSF territory, and even other lines. 

(Photos by Larry Byers) 

---

---

Eye-popping colourful! Fine photos - thanks for sharing.

I can almost smell the fresh paint! :-)

There was a large brick manufacturing plant at Cook, just a mile south, up the hill out of Concordia. We used to set and pull big cushion underframe boxes for them with the local. Might be what those cars were doing there.

Posted from Android

Wow!  I need sunglasses!
Those look great though.

HH
 

Wow!!

Posted from iPhone

Saw one about 4 weeks ago on a BNSF train going to Barstow. Was dark so no pictures. I have seen 3 of the cars this year and one last year.
Dennis

Posted from iPhone

The Bx-211 class cars were built in Santa Fe's Topeka Shops, and were the last all-new boxcars to join the fleet. There was a Bx-212 class, but those cars were built in 1980 by PC&F, and all higher-numbered Bx-classes were either bought used or rebuilt from older cars. 

Charles Slater's Santa Fe Box Cars - The Shock Control Era 1954-1995 says the Bx-211's were XF Food Loading cars intended for "clean loads."