12-27-2010, 12:03 AM
The article has a table of all the shortlines who got involved in the IPD craze. In 1979, the LNAC had 438 40-footers, and 159 50-footers. The table leads me to believe that the new 50 footers they were acquiring was done through the United States Railway Leasing Company out of Des Plaines, Ill.
The reason the government instituted the IPD rules was to replenish the nation's dwindling fleet of general purpose boxcars. Essentially, a shortline could buy new cars on credit, send them out into the world, and then make the payments from the proceeds received from the Class 1s. It was a slick way for a shortline to build up their fleets, simialr to purchasing a house on credit, then renting it out and using the rent money to pay the mortgage.
The reason the government instituted the IPD rules was to replenish the nation's dwindling fleet of general purpose boxcars. Essentially, a shortline could buy new cars on credit, send them out into the world, and then make the payments from the proceeds received from the Class 1s. It was a slick way for a shortline to build up their fleets, simialr to purchasing a house on credit, then renting it out and using the rent money to pay the mortgage.