Early 1970's boxcar shortage

  I have a Pickens made by Lionel in the MPC era.

No.

I must be the only one E-Mailing the people at MTH and Lionel for the PICKENS box cars.

If you need them to be made in that scheme, please contact Lionel and MTH employees through their website contact forms.

I might have to contact them again about the Pickens exterior-post 50' box cars.

Andrew

The Lionel 6464-style Pickens box car was the #6-9789 made in 1977. It was part of the 6-1765 Rocky Mountain Special set, which was the "top of the line" that year. I don't know if it was ever offered separately, but set breakups were common.  

The Public Delivery Track did a special run of the Middltown & NJ along with the New Hope & Ivyland. I've seen them but I didn't buy them because they aren't steam era cars. I probably should have picked them up as they may never be done again. 

Beth shows Atlas Trainman Middletown & New Jersey model as in stock.  John

Thanks John. I didn't know they were still available. Now all I have to do is come up with the money!

Does anyone have any more info on that red, white, & blue logo that all these cars have in common?  What's its significance?  Is it the logo of a parent corporation that owned all these short lines?  What's the connection between these rail lines that they'd all share a common paint scheme?

Thanks,

Stu

The logo could be a stylized reminder showing they were free runners.  Built to earn per diem fees, the owners didn't need these cars for outbound product.  At the time, there was a standard joke floating around corporate traffic departments that if all the cars were returned to their owners (or long term lessee) there wouldn't be enough room on their tracks. Just my thought.  John

I also have the Lionel Pickens car. It seems that MPC Lionel had it's finger on the Railway industry's pulse.

That per diem boxcar phenomenon was certainly a colorful period for the railroads. Those unheard-of names showed up everywhere. Lake Erie Franklin & Clarion, Valdosta Southern, and my favorite, the Apalachicola Northern; the Port St. Joe Route. (MTH 30-74005)

"Where's that from?" was a common question, for sure. I suppose there were a few roads that could never have handled all the cars they actually owned.

Didn't Weaver produce a lot of these paint schemes on their 50' boxcar?

Love the Bath and Hammondsport boxcar.

Is there a marking on these cars which distinguishes them as lease cars?

Thanks for the common connection ... National Railway Utilization Company.

A Google search led to this page NRUC which led to the below photo of another participating line.

Thanks again,

Stu

I saw several Seattle & North Coast cars in a train last week.  They were really in bad cosmetic shape.

NH Joe

The Lionel No. 9789:

Atlas O Trainman Port St. Joe Route:

Also, one of the boxcars pictured above by CNJ 3676 (the orange one) is from the East Camden & Highland, which is still very much in operation. This industrial railroad, including railcar storage and warehousing, is based in Arkansas and Louisiana (connects to the Union Pacific in Ark. and the KCS in Louisiana). Lionel did a LCCA convention car a number of years ago featuring one of their boxcars:

"The EACH offers customers a variety of services and locations, forging successful partnerships through innovation and creativity.   Our current customer base includes some of the nation’s largest leasing companies, private car ownersand Class I Railroads as well as a host of smaller companies.

Whether your needs include handling 1 or 1,000 railcars, the EACH welcomes the opportunity to provide an economical service design that best fits your individual requirements.  

The EACH has been providing contract customers with railcar storage and switching solutions – both long term and short term – for over 30 years.  Being one of the safest, most successful and well recognized railcar storage companies signifies our ongoing commitment to our customers and to our employees."

New Haven Joe posted:

I saw several Seattle & North Coast cars in a train last week.  They were really in bad cosmetic shape.

NH Joe

Amazing, that railroad lasted from only 1980-1984. But just long enough to build an enduring fleet of boxcars.

Found this photo with Google. I hate the graffiti, it shows no respect for a historical artifact.

Yes Bob, Weaver did produce a few of the box cars pictured in 50' cars.

I wish Lionel would paint a Flyer Baldwin in the NRUC Pickens Scheme.  I always liked it and it ran a mile from my house. 

Raritan River has about 50 cars in circulation - that probably kept the short line railroad in business in the 70’s and 80’s