As I posted earlier there's virtually no buyers out there for this equipment. The one buyer for the last 6 years ( IPH ) is obviously on the ropes and a seller if anything and the interiors of these cars make them unsuitable for other users.

My guess is that they'll try to make another attempt or two to sell them into the open market, perhaps hire a nationally recognized auctioneer ( and set a reserve on each car) which won't work. I think there's a high probability that they will part out most of the cars as the trucks, draft gear, HVAC pieces etc. have good resale value and scrap the bodies. The pieces are worth more than the whole.

IMHO-Ross Rowland

Did anyone on here bid on the flatcars, and if so, are they now at the $10K minimum?

Howard P.

We bid on several flats and one of the spine cars.

Got the same treatment, so I guess they think RORO flats with 2 years of interchange service left and spine cars with pretty much permanent containers attached are worth 10k each...

I also discovered the power cars have something like 16,000 hours on them... I'm sure they have been rebuilt or posibly major components changed without an hour meter reset. However that is a lot of time on the switchgear and other major components.

Yes, 10,000 would be about what a car would bring in scrap... IF no prep were needed and they were sitting in the mill so no transport.

Is it a possibility UP might grab a few for spares or to expand their passenger car fleet? With 3 soon to be active steamers there will be a HUGE demand to ride behind a double or triple header, and their current fleet is nowhere close to meet that demand.

Ted Brumberg wrote:

"#60018. Nee-UP baggage-messenger #6301 (AC&F, Lot #12-5529, February 1961), retired in December 1971 and transferred in 1975 to the roadway (MofW) department as #904811, sold at an unknown date to RBBX. With this car there are 2 conflicts: first, Strack lists that the #6301/#904811 was scrapped at an unknown date, and that baggage-messenger #5662 (AC&F, Lot #4094, April 1954)/to express #24430 in April 1969/retired in October 1970/roadway #904230/#904826 was sold in 1999 to RBBX and became #60018; second, also according to Strack, #60018 was stored at Palmetto as of October 2011 and was sold in August 2012 to the Florida RR Museum in Parrish, where it is used as the gift shop. Can anyone clear this up? Thanks in advance."

I have received visual confirmation that the RBBX 60018 received by the Florida Railroad Museum at Parrish, had UP 5662 stenciled on the interior of the car, above the side doors, a holdover from its days as a UP car.

[Edit, August 14, 2018] Additional information has found that the car at the Florida RR museum is ex RBBX 60016, ex UP 5662. As reported by others, RBBX 60018, ex UP 6301, was scrapped due to a fire at the Palmetto rail shop in June 2017. Information from the federal STB, and from Feld Entertainment, shows that RBBX 60018 was ex UP 904811, which in-turn makes it ex UP 6301. I have updated my UP roster to reflect these changes.

Don Strack

It's been announced on Facebook that at least two cars have been successfully tendered, housing car #42022 AND the Red Unit "Pie Car."



I'll let the successful bidders ID themselves.

I am aware of 6 cars so far that have found new homes. One of the N&W cars will be heading to Roanoke.

Rumor has it roughly 45 cars have been sold. That is way more than I would have guessed, considering the always-soft market for passenger cars. Evidently getting a car that is operational with modern heat, AC, etc, even though they are like RV's inside, has been a big attraction. It will be quite interesting to find out who got what, and how many of the buyers are PV owners, short lines, museums, diner trains, etc, vs. UP, NS, NCDOT, etc.

Okay, so with this info that the #60016 is the car that went to Parrish, not the #60018, and that it is the nee-UP #5662, not the #5663 as previously thought, then the disposition of the #5663 is unknown, beyond it being retired in 1995 by UP (was in MofW, i.e., "roadway", service as #904824, ex-#904231). Interestingly, records show that Ringling acquired what became the #60016 in 1995, even though the #5662 is shown as not being retired by UP until 1997 (was in MofW service as #904826, ex-#904230). Perhaps the number stencils seen at Parrish are incorrect, and the #60016 really is the nee-#5663?

_________________
Additions and corrections are welcome. Thanks in advance.

Looking for data on just a few of the Ringling cars. All others are accounted for, either sold at end of operations, sold earlier at various dates, or scrapped at various dates.

#40010 (nee-UP "Alpine Camp", to #5543).

#42003 (nee-UP #5405), stored at Palmetto as of 10-2011.

#42016 (nee-UP #5433).

#42204 (nee-C&O #2618 "City of Alderson", to ACL "Volusia County").

#60011 (nee-UP #6319).

#60020 (nee-UP #6321), stored at Palmetto as of 10-2011.

#63002 (nee-UP #6329).

#63012 (nee-UP #5773), stored at Palmetto as of 10-2011.

UP (re)-acquired 3 cars at end of operations: #60006 (nee-#6312), #63004 (nee-#5764), and #63013 (nee-#5780, power car, became #2055). Are the other 2 now in service as well or still pending shop work?

_________________
Additions and corrections are welcome. Thanks in advance.

Where is the full listing?

Check the following threads/pages for information. Not every car is listed, but most are:

http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=41667

https://web.archive.org/web/20180326093654/http://passcarphotos.info/RBBX%20Car%20Dispositions.htm

http://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=41749

As posted in the Surviving Passenger Cars in the U.S. group on Facebook, this car was scrapped, as reported in the last post of a Trainorders thread from January 2004, titled Costs of moving a railcar....

Rainier Rails wrote on April 27th:
>> Okay, so with this info that the #60016 is the car that went to Parrish, not the #60018, and that it is the nee-UP #5662, not the #5663 as previously thought, then the disposition of the #5663 is unknown, beyond it being retired in 1995 by UP (was in MofW, i.e., "roadway", service as #904824, ex-#904231). Interestingly, records show that Ringling acquired what became the #60016 in 1995, even though the #5662 is shown as not being retired by UP until 1997 (was in MofW service as #904826, ex-#904230). Perhaps the number stencils seen at Parrish are incorrect, and the #60016 really is the nee-#5663? <<

Sorry for the delay in responding; the notification email was in my spam folder...

Evidence provided by others in private emails strongly suggests that the sighting of the UP 5662 number above the interior door on the car at the museum should in fact be 5663. A simple misreading of two similar numbers. Back in August, I asked for confirmation, but the museum is a volunteer organization, so I did not, and do not really expect a response.

Here are the histories I decided on:

UP 5662 --> UP 24430 --> UP 904230 --> UP 904826 --> scrapped by UP.

UP 5663 --> UP 24431 --> UP 904231 --> UP 904824 --> RBBX 60016 --> Florida Railroad Museum in Parrish, Florida (2012)

UP 6301 --> UP 904811 --> RBBX 60018 --> not sold at 2017 auction; unmovable on own trucks, scrapped by RBBX at Palmetto in 2017.

My source that UP 904824 (UP 5663) became RBBX 6016 is David Seidel's roster in 2002 of UP lightweight cars, which in turn is based on internal UP documents, or railfan reports from members of the Camerail club in the Omaha area. Seidel says that UP 6301 was scrapped and that UP 5662 and 5663 became RBBX 60018 and 60016, respectively. It appears that Seidel had UP 5662 and 6301 swapped in his materials.

Ringling's own documents dated August 2017 show that RBBX 60018 is ex UP 904811 (UP 6301). RBBX 60016 is not shown in the same 2017 document.

RBBX 60016 is also not shown in Ringling's filing with the federal Surface Transportation Board, dated August 2013. This same filing document from 2013 shows RBBX 60018 as being "recycled" at the Palmetto shop, and confirms that it was UP 904811 (UP 6301).

I have not yet found any UP documents showing dispositions of MoW cars, including the railroad's own "official" Equipment Record ledger book which I have a microfilm of, and have scanned as digital files.

Don Strack

The Ringling cars picked up by NCDot are now being put up for auction. Auction site here:

https://www.ncstatesurplus.com/NCStateS ... d_supplies