Box Cars vs Other Traffic

[jwb]

I was intrigued by a subject that came up on another thread, the amount of box car traffic on contemporary US railroads. I realized I had a series of shots of every car on a BNSF manifest from 6 weeks or so ago, the MWCLBAR, a transfer from UP at West Colton to BNSF at Barstow, largely empties, but a cross section of what comes in and out of Los Angeles: 87 cars total, box cars 3, covered hoppers 48, tank cars 31, auto racks 4, centerbeam flats 1.

There will naturally be regional differences, and the economy probably explains how few centerbeams are in the train. But it should give an idea to anyone who thinks a generic warehouse with boxcars resembles anything like contemporary railroad traffic sources.

[doctorwayne]

You're right about the train make-up varying from the time when boxcaras were more prevalent, but a lot depends on the area being served and any railroad's particular way of dealing with their varied traffic. I notice general freights to be less frequent when I'm railfanning in Pennsylvania and Ohio, with many trains industry-specific. For example, solid trains of ethanol tankers, or coal, or intermodal. The latter could be all containers or all piggyback or sometimes a mix of the two. And then, of course, there are the Roadrailers. There are still regular freight trains with a mix of car types, but they seem to make up a smaller and smaller portion of the overall traffic. The could be dependent on the lines we gravitate towards, too, as trains are usually very frequent.
Around here, I tend to see more general freight trains, but there are also quite a few trains of solid autoracks or of boxcars, most likely also related to the auto industry.
The traffic mix will also vary if you're modelling a specific place or in another time period. Boxcars used to be the most commonly seen cars in many areas, but in coal country it would be hoppers. Gondolas were also very widely used, and usually second or third on the list of those most commonly seen.
Nowadays, there's a wider range of specialty cars, too, so what used to travel in a boxcar now moves in a covered hopper, or in a trailer or container on a flatcar or spine car.
As for modelling, my mix of home road cars is fairly diverse, but it's probably a bit boxcar-heavy. For foreign-road cars, there's a good mix of reefers, gondolas, hoppers, and tankcars, but the vast majority are boxcars. This is fairly typical of what would be seen in this area in the late '30s, including the fact that the interchange cars were from just about anywhere in North America.

Wayne

[e-paw]

I think the good doctor explained it about the best you could. I just want to add that the type of traffic mix depends on a lot of different variables like, railroad practices, location, era, season, etc. As an example back in the 80's/90's when I was living in Bayonne NJ most of the traffic was tankers for the local oil and chemical industries. Now in the same town it a good mix of all kinds of cars as NS/CSX use the yard as a holding pen for everything that is overflowing from Oak Island.

[nkp_174]

Growing up on the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton, we had an enormous number of autoracks...gee, I lived south of Detroit/Toledo...and the CH&D is a North-South railroad...coincidence?

Rob Sloan put together something in his Narrow Gauge Data Book in which he reviewed the freight car rosters of a bunch of different narrow gauge roads. For my Oahu Railway...the ratio was: 1 tank car to 7 box to 9.5 flat/gon. I tend to recall the DSP&P in 1884 having a ratio of about 301 platform:box:reefer. Dependent upon the era, it is more appropriate to refer to flats and gons as platform cars.

[Brakie]

Wayne: I notice general freights to be less frequent when I'm railfanning in Pennsylvania and Ohio, with many trains industry-specific.
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Depends on your location in Ohio.NS and CSX runs heavy on the general freight through Marion,Fostoria and of course Bucyrus...From my observations its 2-1 two general freights to one intermodal.

Tank,grain and auto rack trains seems to be one in ten..I'm not to sure how the oddball coke and steel trains fit in the grand scheme.

[Sumpter250]

CN now runs trains on what used to be Wisconsin Central tracks. ( also used by METRA ) I see a LOT of Centerbeam flats, with lumber loads, A LOT of coal hoppers, some trains that are all tank cars ( of just about every modern type ), and some trains that are predominantly Box Cars, and there are a significant number of Auto Racks.........So, Yes, the region / regions, served by the railroad does effect the types, and numbers of types of cars that would be normally seen on any given day.
Some of these are going to Canada, empty, and some are going to Canada loaded. There are some that move loaded in both directions.
I can usually tell by looking at the "degree of compression" of the truck springs, ( there is "evidence" that indicates truck bolster position } whether the car is loaded or empty. Yeah, "details" 8-) The more attention you pay to Prototype details, the better looking the models will be.

[nachoman]

In a related subject, I noticed in a historic photo of my "prototype" a ramp with boxcars on it, and men shoveling what looks like coal out of the boxcar doors. Very interesting. I'd say the photo is probably 1905-1910. I think at one time, nearly everything was carried in boxcars or flat cars. Over time, more specialty cars were developed. Liquids were shipped in tank cars rather than inside barrels within boxcars. Coal was shipped in open top cars. Grain in covered hoppers. And the last things that once were shipped in box cars are probably shifting towards containers or trailers.

[Brakie]

And the last things that once were shipped in box cars are probably shifting towards containers or trailers.
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Actually loose boxcar shipments has seen a increase over the past 5 years-its cheaper since you can fit 2 1/2 trailers in a 50-53' boxcar.

From the weekly performance reports.

NS reported they handled 15,038 boxcars vs. 8,525 Intermodal for the week ending 3/28/14.

For the same week CSX reported they handled 18,853 boxcars vs. 8,687 intermodal.

Only BNSF and KCS reported handling more intermodal then boxcars for the same week.

UP handle a whooping 22,639 boxcars vs. 13,812 intermodal for the same week.