A staggering 30% of U.S. rail cars are idle

[mikepdx]

Very Sad.
Another sign of our country's financial troubles.

A staggering 30% of U.S. rail cars are idle
The Association of American Railroads estimates that 30% of their boxcars
-- 206,000 -- have been placed in storage.

A staggering 30% of U.S. rail cars are idle - BloggingStocks


Miles of Idled Boxcars Leave Towns Singing the Freight-Train Blues
Tens of thousands of boxcars are sitting idle all over the country, parked indefinitely
by railroads whose freight volumes have plummeted along with the economy.

Miles of Idled Boxcars - WSJ.com

[kb2vxa]

Is that news or haven't you seen the thread started by Allan, BNSF Railfan?

[b7spectra]

I'll bet you half of those idle rail cars are the ones they can't find!

[rhicks6000]

It would be interesting to know how many locomotives and cars UP CSX and NS have in storage. The local newspaper here said BNSF has 700 locomotives and 35,000 cars in storage.

[poltergeisty]

That really is sad news because when the "great depression" comes how will people travel?

[MOTOROLANUT]

Stolen Segways...LOL

[timkilbride]

BNSF has 1350 Total locomotives laid-up (includes bad orders)
45 in Albia, IA
39 in Alliance, NE
137 in Barstow, CA
110 in Galesburg
49 in Interbay
55 in LA
105 in Northtown
229 in Topeka
107 in Wichita Falls

Where I work, they just sold off a bunch of gons. Even with the sell off, our sidings and yard tracks are full gons. Stack/pig cars are sitting around too. Probably 20-30,000 feet worth. They are scrapping the HS flats. I don't recall how many locomotives it is, but the report is 38 pages long about the locomotives UP has stored.

[Ray_Air]

FEMA will probably make them homeless shelters for the unemployed who have been foreclosed on.

[b7spectra]

Now that's a good idea! Plant boxcars (without the trucks - that's wheels for the novices) on empty lots and move the homeless into them! Any idea how many square feet in a box car?

[mtindor]

That's really sad. Makes one think of City of New Orleans (the tune)... magic carpet made of steel... disappearing railroad blues.

Strange how much the thought of idled railroads really puts an exclamation the days to come.

Mike

[kb2vxa]

Er fellers, we're talking locomotives and Ray Air proposes to use them for homeless shelters? I'm surprised N_Jay didn't pick up on that one. Then B7 mentions boxcars, I don't think Jewish families would appreciate that very much, IF you can find one. It's intermodal freight now and the containers carried on well cars and I'll give you a clue, now they're making some of the strangest looking apartment buildings out of old containers so there you go. I wouldn't mind a caboose in keeping with my other hobby if I could find one this side of Parsippany and the cupola would make a nice spot to play radio.

[Ray_Air]

Originally Posted by poltergeisty

That really is sad news because when the "great depression" comes how will people travel?

During the Great Depression they used to call it "riding the rods" or "riding the rails". People used to hang on to the rods underneath the box cars to travel.