How hard would it be to do a trace on a freight car? It is currently on a siding off the NEC near Washington D.C., so I don't know if it would be traced by Amtrak or by NS. It is a boxcar, KCS 172084, been sitting there since 2006. It would be interesting to see if this car is even in the system, or is "lost".

The car should be traceable through the system of whichever freight carrier provides service to that location -- I assume Norfolk Southern based on your post. Amtrak would have nothing to do with it. Tracing has gotten a lot more "inside" since the terrorism threat magnified than it was, say 10 years ago.

I kind of wonder the same thing about a certain CSXT ex-RF&P boxcar that has been sitting on the same siding for more than a decade. But for that one, I suspect the answer is that it's either retired or long-lost.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/10 20:30 by toledopatch.

Check out CSX also. CSX has Benning Yard nearby. Earl...

Can't find any movemnet history on car which indicated (at least to me) it has been deleted from system. However, it is still registered in UMLER as a valid car, so who knows.

Well then it's lost. There is no trace of it in the CSX or NS computers.

Funny.

Dave

A related question would be - why would a car in apparently good order be left in one place for so long?

I'm assuming it's not placed at a location where it would be repaired or scrapped.

A look at rrpicturearchives and railcarphotos showed many cars in it's class apparently still active though no shots of this car. Which is pretty remarkable in itself that a photo of a car sitting for more than a day would not turn up online.

Interesting subject...

It is sitting where it was left after it was last unloaded. It is only a couple hundred feet from the loading dock where it was unloaded. A friend of mine notified the KCS car department, we'll see what happens from there...

Dave

OK, the car is lost and then found sometime later - how do the car charges work out? Has the meter been running on this car for all these many months?

John Gezelius
Orange, CA

puddlejumper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It is sitting where it was left after it was last
> unloaded. It is only a couple hundred feet from
> the loading dock where it was unloaded. A friend
> of mine notified the KCS car department, we'll see
> what happens from there...
>
> Dave

Now, THAT will be an interesting discussion topic at KCS (and the RR the car in question is still sitting on), I think!