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(erielack) Freight consists in EL (and earlier) trains...



As usual, I spend *far* too much time at work staring at the EL Calendar in
front of me! I noticed the shot for this month shows a sharp SD45/SDP45 duo
pulling the train, but the consist behind the units are what intrigues me
more:

50' double-door IC boxcar
50' double-door B&O boxcar
40' single-door Rock Island (?) boxcar
40' single-door Penn Central boxcar
40' single-door Milwaukee Road boxcar
40' single-door Genesee & Wyoming boxcar (!!!)

et al.

The train continues with quite a number of boxcars until you finally hit a
covered hopper (ACF CenterFlow variety). I've noticed a lot of other photos
with consists with significant boxcar consists.

Today's freight consists have MUCH more variety, by comparison. Why is this?
Has specialization (covered hoppers, centerbeam flats, etc.) removed the
commonality of boxcars in freights? I noticed in older (DL&W/Erie era)
trains that boxcars were very predominant as well. I figured that by 1970,
the specialization rage had already taken over, but I guess not?

Thanks for letting me do a "brain-dump" on this!

	- Paul


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