I know there was a time when just about anything was shipped via rail. Assuming that most of what used to be in boxcars are now shipped by container. What is shipped these days in a boxcar. We unfortunately don't have the luxury to see what is being hauled like we do in a hopper.
Just a curious question. :?:
Thanks again for your input
Eric
Boxcar loads
Re:Boxcar loads
Here in south-central Idaho (Twin Falls region) there are no intermodal facilities to speak of. Consequently, fewer containers and much use is made of boxcars. Specially in the fall and winter.
Typical loads:
outbound palletized dry beans from the packing sheds(100 pound sacks)
outbound palletized potatoes from the packing sheds (boxed in 10, 20, 50, and 100 pound sizes)
cardboard boxes in bundles from the box factory to the various bean and potato packing sheds
outbound processed potato products (chips, tots, powdered, brown and serve, frozen etc) Reefers, too
inbound agricultural chemicals, palletized 50 gal. drums, boxed and palletized 5 gal. cans (fertilizer, fungicides, insecticides) tank cars, too
outbound palletized loads of processed sugar from the sugar processing plant (the beets are trucked into the plant from the farms)
Re:Boxcar loads
MooseID wrote:
In the case of a railroad such as Great Northern, they had fleets of 40' boxcars that carried wheat and other grain products in bulk ... they also shipped grain in various sack sizes.
Beginning in the 1960's (or thereabouts) GN began using hopper cars which ultimately replaced the boxcar fleets. :)Here in south-central Idaho (Twin Falls region) there are no intermodal facilities to speak of. Consequently, fewer containers and much use is made of boxcars. Specially in the fall and winter. Typical loads: outbound palletized dry beans from the packing sheds(100 pound sacks) outbound palletized potatoes from the packing sheds (boxed in 10, 20, 50, and 100 pound sizes) cardboard boxes in bundles from the box factory to the various bean and potato packing sheds outbound processed potato products (chips, tots, powdered, brown and serve, frozen etc) Reefers, too inbound agricultural chemicals, palletized 50 gal. drums, boxed and palletized 5 gal. cans (fertilizer, fungicides, insecticides) tank cars, too outbound palletized loads of processed sugar from the sugar processing plant (the beets are trucked into the plant from the farms)
Re:Boxcar loads
Guys:
When I worked on the loading dock at a chemical plant in Illinois, we received empty fiber drums from Louisiana and Georgia, and empty 55 gallon drums from St. Louis and Chicago. Loads of folded cardboard also arrived by box car.
We shipped palletized 50 pound bags of chemicals to Firestone Tire, 3M, S. C. Johnson, Lever Brothers, and others. Full steel drums went to sugar beet refineries in Louisiana. Double-deck loads of spent nickel also were shipped to reclamation plants in Pennsylvania.
Most of this same stuff is now shipped by truck, so the chemical plant doesn't have to use a lot of space for inventory, and the receiving plants don't have to utilize a lot of space for the same reasons. The bigwigs called it "just in time" inventory.
oldcook43
Boxcar loads
When I was a little kid, I used to see them loading lumber into boxcars at the sawmills. That was in Oregon and Washington. About 1953-4 I saw them unload auto parts from boxcars as well. I remember as a six year old trying to push a boxcar that was set-out near a team track. My grandfather was quite amused at my antics. This was in the Oakland Calif. area. I watched as an SP 0-6-0 came and coupled onto it and took it away.
Jacko
A few years ago I lived
A few years ago I lived next to a warehouse for a beer distributor. It recieved 6 boxcars a week of kegs of beer, and it was a rather small building. i never did get around to taking pictures of it, but I always thought it was a perfect model railroad industry due to it's tiny size...
Boxcar loads and others
As for boxcars are concerned for loads isn't MT covering this I think occasionally . OK, my turn for other sources for freight car loads I always have looked around the junk box,leftover scenery material, house and yard for possible load ideas .
Possibilities :
Logs : Tree branches------the yard
Crushed stone : pea gravel - side of driveway/left over woodland scenics
Dirt : - the "Boss's garden"
Scrap metal: - "occasionally the car weight"
Tom
Boxcar loads
As a retired Director of Marketing and Sales for a 100-mile railroad, I can give you some examples. By far the most common load in boxcars today is rolls of paper. Following that are automobile parts between factories and auto assembly plants. Also, a great many canned goods, and as was mentioned, beer.
Some chemicals in drums and bags still move in boxcars, but most factories have converted to receiving such in bulk, in covered hoppers or tank cars if the volume is large enough, or in less than truckload quantities.
With the advent of the centerbeam car, which is very easy to load and unload, very little lumber continues to move by boxcar, but some specialty items like windows and doors still do.
We had one of our cars come back as an empty but discovered it was still under load - with a carload of doll high chairs! Toys actually made here in the USA, to boot.
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Put the MODELING back in model railroading.
Joined: 2007-02-17