Everything on model trains, model railroads, model railways, locomotives, model train layouts, scenery, wiring, DCC and more. Enjoy the world's best hobby... model railroading!
Fewer Box Cars On Railroads?
When you take a look at a real railroad, or a model layout, you’ll likely see a variety of railroad freight cars (rolling stock) stretching the length of a train. You’ll probably spot standard hoppers, some boxcars, and some well-cars (used for transporting shipping containers and truck trailers).
In early times the industry used a lot of flat cars for moving lading (an older word to describe the freight). The early designs where reasonably basic, but as the years went by the equipment became bigger, and heavier, so there became a need for more sophisticated ways to transport larger loads and cargo of a more specific type (such as chemicals, perishables, dangerous goods, vehicles etc).
So today, a wide range of freight cars are in service replacing the once common boxcar, which railroads typically used for hauling non-liquid loads and general freight during most of the 20th century. However, if your model railroad is not modeled on the present day, then it’s likely your trains will still include plenty of traditional boxcars.
One Response to Fewer Box Cars On Railroads?
Leave a Reply
SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION
Download Your Free Catalog
Use Tiny Railroad Micro Controllers
Model Train Help Ebook
Box cars are not out of date and there are a lot that come by Terre Haute Indiana. Box cars are now for more companies that have a place to deliver direct, such as auto parts and fruit and vegetables right to the door of the warehouse. Even some fruit and vegetables are now loaded straight to a container or trailer (Refrigerated of course) then shipped. Container traffic are used more for local deliveries where there are not tracks for deliveries and when a trailer or container is loaded the long distance loads are hauled to the container yards and loaded and will travel to the container yards they need to go to and be delivered from those over the road. Box Cars are by no means disappearing but are used more in direct deliveries and still for the money can haul much more per car than the containers of trailers would. Trailers also carry what would be a lesser amount than a box car would so for deliveries of lesser amounts sometimes containers and trailers are the way to go. (kind of like using a 4 X 4 box to ship something that needs a 1 X 1. Otherwise they would have to get delivered to a warehouse, loaded to a box car, and upon arrival the reverse would happen and that is labor intensive to load several times. That’s my thoughts and observations. You are not wrong to model multiple ways to ship these days. Box cars will be here for many years to come…. from Newman