01-09-2011, 01:56 PM
BR60103 Wrote:If the line is no longer in use, the railway's considerations will be whether the salvage/scrap value is more than the cost of retrieving it. The next thought will be liability -- how expensive if some idiot climbs around on the cars and injures himself?
It's possible that they may chase after the scrap when they have a downturn in business and a surplus labour situation.
It's certainly an odd situation. Temporarily unused cars are often stored in my area, on the tracks that still exist in Rockvale, the spur line to the old Cotter plant, in the small Florance yard and so forth, but these are constantly rotated in and out of usage as one would expect based on demand. The cars left abandoned on the UP line are no longer fit for service, for the most part.
Puzzling, as railroads around here are usually a lot more parsimonious.