There have been 681 RailWhales. While more 6-axle cars were built than 8-axle ones,
and there still are more of the smaller cars in service; the following summary shows that
the 8-axle fleet is holding up better than the smaller cars. Fifty-eight percent of the
bigger cars are still around, versus only 36 percent of the smaller ones.
Some railroaders say that the 8-axle cars are better than the 6-axle ones because they have
a shorter rigid wheelbase, and are less prone to derail on uneven track or sharp curves.
The October 2003 information was obtained from UMLER, the Universal Machine Language Equipment
Register. Although 296 cars are still listed in UMLER, the number of cars in active service
at one time is in the range of 250-260.
| CAR SUMMARY – OCTOBER 2003 |
| |
BUILT |
RETIRED |
REMAINING |
| 6-AXLE |
462 |
294 |
64% |
168 |
36% |
| 8-AXLE |
219 |
91 |
42% |
128 |
58% |
| TOTAL |
681 |
385 |
56% |
296 |
44% |
It is worth noting that the big car leasing companies – ACFX, GATX, NATX, and UTLX –
have retired virtually all of their RailWhales. This reflects the lack of demand for
these cars beyond the big companies which own their own heavy-duty tank cars. The biggest
losses among the other fleets are the DUPX 28050-28090 and MCPX 23000-23036 groups.
The DUPX group was relatively small capacity cars that were built to transport a dense
commodity, motor fuel anti-knock compound (tetraethyl lead). When the U.S. auto industry
switched to unleaded fuel for most new vehicles, the tetraethyl lead traffic disappeared. No
one needed 8-axle cars that could only carry 28,000 gallons, so they were retired.
The following table shows the number of cars built in each series (NEW), the number
of cars remaining at the end of October 2003 (NOW), and the percentage of cars
remaining (%).
| SERIES |
AXLES |
NEW |
NOW |
% |
NOTE |
| ACFX |
17779 |
17790 |
|
8 |
12 |
7 |
58.3 |
|
| ACFX |
18948 |
18952 |
|
8 |
5 |
4 |
80.0 |
|
| ACFX |
85299 |
85302 |
|
8 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
|
| |
| ACFX |
89331 |
89332 |
|
8 |
2 |
1 |
50.0 |
|
| ACFX |
89351 |
89352 |
|
8 |
2 |
2 |
100.0 |
|
| CELX |
6400 |
6458 |
6 |
|
59 |
59 |
100.0 |
|
| CELX |
7500 |
7502 |
|
8 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
|
| CELX |
10400 |
10438 |
6 |
|
39 |
39 |
100.0 |
|
| DUPX |
12401 |
12405 |
|
8 |
5 |
4 |
80.0 |
|
| DUPX |
28050 |
28090 |
|
8 |
41 |
0 |
0 |
|
| DUPX |
29400 |
29439 |
6 |
|
40 |
23 |
57.5 |
|
| DUPX |
29600 |
29666 |
6 |
|
67 |
43 |
64.2 |
|
| DUPX |
29700 |
29769 |
|
8 |
70 |
65 |
92.9 |
|
ESMX
CCBX
VICX |
4800 |
4833 |
|
8 |
34 |
28 |
82.4 |
1 |
| GATX |
11571 |
11574 |
|
8 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
|
| GATX |
81663 |
81677 |
|
8 |
15 |
0 |
0 |
|
| GATX |
94650 |
94706 |
6 |
|
57 |
0 |
0 |
|
| GATX |
96500 |
— |
|
8 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
| GATX |
98200 |
— |
6 |
|
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
| GATX |
98202 |
98214 |
6 |
|
13 |
0 |
0 |
|
| GATX |
98217 |
98238 |
6 |
|
22 |
0 |
0 |
|
MCPX
MONX |
23000 |
23036 |
6 |
|
37 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
| NATX |
37300 |
37301 |
6 |
|
2 |
0 |
0 |
|
| NATX |
38000 |
38054 |
6 |
|
55 |
0 |
0 |
|
PRR
PC
CR |
500000
|
500001
799000
70899 |
6 |
|
2 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
| RAIX |
4300 |
4319 |
|
8 |
20 |
17 |
85.0 |
|
SHPX
ACFX |
17451 |
17475 |
6 |
|
25 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
SHPX
ACFX |
17481 |
17495 |
6 |
|
15 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
SHPX
ACFX |
88348 |
88361 |
6 |
|
14 |
2 |
14.2 |
5 |
SHPX
ACFX |
88362 |
88375 |
6 |
|
14 |
2 |
14.2 |
5 |
| UTLX |
83699 |
— |
|
8 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
Note 1 – These cars were built for Essem Corp. (ESMX), a
subsidiary of Union Carbide Corp. In about 1984, the 32 cars that were still in service
received the Union Carbide CCBX reporting mark. Around 1988, 25 of the 32
active cars received the Vista Chemical Corp. VICX reporting mark. In 1998,
Vista Chemical became CONDEA Vista and the VICX cars and reporting mark were
acquired by Union Tank Car Co. In October 2003 UMLER listed three CCBX cars
and 25 VICX cars.
Note 2 – This car isn't listed in UMLER, but it still exists.
GATX donated it to the National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis.
Note 3 – Most of the Monsanto cars wore MCPX reporting marks
through their existence. Three cars (23034-23039) had the MONX reporting mark
for a few years, but this was changed to MCPX.
Note 4 – These cars aren't listed in UMLER, but one of them still exists.
Conrail donated car 70899 to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in 1998.
Note 5 – These cars originally had the SHPX reporting mark, but
this was changed to ACFX.
Note 6 – This car isn't listed in UMLER, but it still exists. Union
Tank Car Co. donated it to the Galveston Island Railroad Museum in 1983.
