Freight cars query

[Roger Thomas]

Please could anyone clarify when the following types of freight car went out
of general use on American railroads:

1. Wooden sided (as opposed to steel) box cars.

2. Livestock cars.

Thanks,

Roger Thomas,
Swansea, UK.

[Everett M. Greene]

"Roger Thomas" <rd.t...@virgin.net> writes:
> Please could anyone clarify when the following types
> of freight car went out of general use on American railroads:
>
> 1. Wooden sided (as opposed to steel) box cars.
>
> 2. Livestock cars.

Nothing definitive, but I believe I've seen references to
the cattle cars still being in use on the Rio Grande
narrow-gauge lines up until the end in the 1950s. Those
cars haven't been seen otherwise since before that time.

The Cumbres & Toltec narrow-gauge line still have some
wooden boxcars they use to a degree to this day. As
for mainline use, I have no idea when they went away.
A non-useful answer to this question: A long time ago.

[gl4...@yahoo.com]

In article <KSL3l.23956$cx7....@newsfe21.ams2>, "Roger Thomas"
<rd.t...@virgin.net> wrote:

> Please could anyone clarify when the following types of freight car went out
> of general use on American railroads:
>
> 1. Wooden sided (as opposed to steel) box cars.

Southern Pacific still had a few in service in the 1980s. I saw a few on
the Union Pacific too in the mid-1980s, but they were being used as
maintenance of way equipment, and not part of the general railroad
equipment interchance.

There are still wooden sided cars out there: many of the wood chip cars
(as opposed to box cars) used here in Oregon have steel truss sides with
plywood sheets on the inside.

>
> 2. Livestock cars.

On the general railroad network, about the 1980s. However, at that time,
these were limted to a very few special moves, and were mostly in the
mountain states (Wyoming, Colorado, etc.) moving in large blocks to
Missouri or Kansas. There was an article about the last such livestock
moves in one of the railroad magazines (can't remmeber which one) about 6
months ago, and I think Union Pacific had the last large scale fleet of
cars, and put them out of service around 1983 or so.

I think the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge still operates some livestock
cars in order to serve a ranch that can not be reached easily by road
(that is, the road such as it is isn't something you would want to drive a
truck and trailer over). However, the service is only very occasional.

--
-Glennl
e-mail hint: add 1 to quantity after gl to get 4317.