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A 1950s-vintage Chicago & North Western boxcar sits on an abandoned industrial spur track on the Chicago Terminal Railway in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, never to serve another customer. Since this one was built, most freight traffic travels in containers, and what modern boxcars are around have grown in length, roofwalks and ladders haven't been used for almost 40 years, and roller bearings, rather than these friction bearings, have been the standard for a long time. I have no idea why it's here, but it's possible the adjacent warehouse is using it for storage.
Category Photography / Still Life
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 650 x 800px
File Size 334.9 kB
Great picture!
I don't know that much about trains, but I gather that most rail companies no longer permit equipment with old-style trucks to travel on their lines as they supposedly mess up the tracks (I was told this by a curator at a rail museum; someone with first-hand knowledge of the challenges of moving historic rail equipment from point to point).
It's possible this car was just left at this siding and forgotten.
I don't know that much about trains, but I gather that most rail companies no longer permit equipment with old-style trucks to travel on their lines as they supposedly mess up the tracks (I was told this by a curator at a rail museum; someone with first-hand knowledge of the challenges of moving historic rail equipment from point to point).
It's possible this car was just left at this siding and forgotten.
The issue with the old-style trucks is that they have friction bearings, where the axle essentially rests in a box filled with grease. If the grease runs low, it's metal-on-metal, which can lead to a fire. Everything built past the mid-1960s or so uses roller bearings, which use ball bearings to ensure smooth movement of the axle.
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