11-23-2009, 09:49 AM
nachoman Wrote:Both CN and CP actually used 40' boxcars for grain until around 1997. In the case of CN, I believe they eventually decided that the track could support large covered hoppers, and they'd just been overcautious.doctorwayne Wrote:Depending on the locale, many 40' cars were still in use long after they were impractical for most applications - the lightly-built branch lines on the Canadian prairies are an example of this: with track too light to support 100 ton covered hoppers, shippers continued to use 40' boxcars well into the '80s.
Interesting. So what did they eventually do, upgrade the rail, or start shipping by other means?
Fan of late and early Conrail... also 40s-50s PRR, 70s ATSF, BN and SP, 70s-80s eastern CN, pre-merger-era UP, heavy electric operations in general, dieselized narrow gauge, era 3/4 DB and DR, EFVM and Brazilian railroads in general... too many to list!