Working rail roads and their tracks.

[MossRoad]

Wow. I had to google earth that. It's about 5 miles of cars as the crow flies.

Plus another mile or two to the east of Watton to Covington. It would be interesting to see who owns them.

 

[MossRoad]

Dont Railroad companies also lease unused track space to others to store rail cars?

Yes.

The South Shore has a couple miles of siding in South Bend behind the old Bendix plant that has several hundred cars sitting there for years at a time. Then they'll be gone for a few months. Then they're back.

 

[MossRoad]

Here's a picture of the start of them. They go about a mile to the west (left).

That brick building in the photo is the old Bendix power plant building. It used to have a large smokestack with BENDIX in red on it. The cracked pavement looking areas are actually factory floor. They had to leave the floor in place as a cap to cover the environmental catastrophe that lurks underneath from decades of industrial fluids that contaminated the ground water. If they'd have removed the cap, they'd have had to do mor cleanup. So they keep it under control with air strippers and monitoring wells.

 

[MossRoad]

Here's what it used to look like from the east. You can still see the power plant and tracks in that photo.

 

[Hay Dude]

Well, theyre gone now. Probably same thing going on, but now in China.

 

[bcp]

Plus another mile or two to the east of Watton to Covington. It would be interesting to see who owns them.

Read the reporting mark above the car number, then look it up here:

AAR Railroad Reporting Marks (2023)

Up-to-date list of nearly 5,000 railroad reporting marks found on railroad locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars, and containers.

www.railserve.com

Bruce

 

[MossRoad]

Well, theyre gone now. Probably same thing going on, but now in China.

Who's gone? Bendix? They sold to Allied, then Allied Signal, then Honeywell, who still is in the plant. Only that one portion of the factory is gone. Part of the remaining to the west is empty, but part is still active. The part to the east is now home to Curtis Products, who makes tubing, mostly for John Deere.

Studebaker is gone too, by the way.

 

[MossRoad]

One thing I'll mention about Bendix.... when I was a kid, I lived a couple miles to the north of that plant. We were not allowed to cross the road after 3:00pm, as that's when Bendix shift change happened. By 3:05 hundreds if not thousands of cars would be flying down the road leaving that plant. If you were stuck on the other side of the road, you might as well go to your friend's house and have a snack to wait it out.

 

[ArlyA]

I'd guess those are privately owned cars (not RR owned) and yes, they'd pay storage fees.

 

[jjeff]

Wow. I had to google earth that. It's about 5 miles of cars as the crow flies.

Funny looks like the majority could be used to transport grain, but the biggest ag crop up there is the occasional
Small potato farm. I also don't think it's 5 miles long anymore so I guess they have been using them. I initially assumed it had something to do with mining as two pretty big mines one copper and one open pit iron mine closed in the last 30yrs.

 

[MossRoad]

As bcp pointed out, if you can read the lettering on the side you can determine who owns the car.

 

[ArlyA]

Funny looks like the majority could be used to transport grain, but the biggest ag crop up there is the occasional
Small potato farm. I also don't think it's 5 miles long anymore so I guess they have been using them. I initially assumed it had something to do with mining as two pretty big mines one copper and one open pit iron mine closed in the last 30yrs.

Those hoppers are made for lighter commodities like grain and many other things that don't weight all the much. Not ores which usually have specially cars.

 

[jjeff]

So through my grainy pictures I believe some are certainteed, and some are GE rail service. But I'll pass that way again eventually with my eyes opened. Thanks for the info on lettering.

 

[bcp]

Some cars are owned by railroads, some are owned by a non-railroad user, and some are owned by a leasing company.

Bruce

 

[ArlyA]

So through my grainy pictures I believe some are certainteed, and some are GE rail service. But I'll pass that way again eventually with my eyes opened. Thanks for the info on lettering.

I worked for GE rail service in the repair division.

 

[bcp]

Cars may never be repainted to show their new owners name, but tracking and payments still work using the old name.

GE Capital Rail Services - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

"In 2015, GE Capital announced the sale of its tank car and services business to Marmon Holdings, and the remainder of the business (other freight cars, locos) to First Union Rail."

List of rolling-stock leasing companies - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Bruce

 

[jjeff]

Imo you Should pin the link on post #1854 I'm sure I'll probably be looking for lettering every time I see an old rail car or engine.

 

[bdhsfz6]

The Tunkhannock Viaduct:

Tunkhannock Viaduct - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I tried to get tickets on the excursion train from Steamtown NHP pictured above but they sold out overnight:

 

[ArlyA]

Nice film for you RR history buffs.

 

[ArlyA]

The Russians built and opened in 2018 the longest RR bridge in Europe, the Crimean Bridge.