GATX
In the “olden days”, Railroads owned and managed their fleets entirely. And when there was more demand than rolling stock, the Class 1 railroads would enlist the help of smaller railroads (typically short lines) near pickup or drop off locations. When short line railroads were popular, they would paint their railcars with cool color schemes and intricate logos, especially the locomotives. It was important to stand out, as your fleet was a rolling billboard for shippers/receivers and potential clients. As rail use began to grow, the demand for more railcars couldn’t be met in an efficient and timely manner with so many short lines to pull from, adding a mess for administration and logistical purposes (home line rules). This is where lease cars were born.
The initial lease company that really took hold was known as Railbox (est. 1974). These boxcars could seamlessly move between all major railroads (interchanges) with no need to return home unless in need of repairs. Bringing more boxcars available for shippers that could be stored nearby and move from service to service by the big railroads without involving short lines rolling stock. The bright yellow of Railbox, at one time a welcome sight, has become the base color of most boxcar lines. Trailer Train Company (TTX) created Railbox and continues to produce lease cars, most with the TBOX or FBOX reporting marks and the same heartless yellow paint job and basic logo, a common theme amongst lease companies entering the game. But let’s rewind a little to the late 1980’s, before the TTX took away the salt from boxcar dinner.
Not everyone wanted to lease another company’s cars, as it was more expensive per run but extremely convenient. Some railroads got creative, Southern Pacific for example, took cars from their own fleet, and essentially sold them to themselves, so that they could lease them. Long story short, the Southern Pacific created a subsidiary company called Golden West Service. They sold cars from their existing fleet to Golden West Service, who painted them to their classic navyish blue with the yellow and red block logo. The initial cars were given the reporting marks of GVSR (Galveston Railroad) and VCY (Ventura County Railway). These were railroads owned by the SP that were no longer active. There is some confusion out there that these railroads owned the Golden West Service, but that simply is wrong. Southern Pacific created it for accounting purposes. Simple as that. If you can’t beat em, join em, I guess.
Fast forward to today and the main focus of this blog, who and what is GATX? Obviously, from the first few paragraphs you could probably surmise GATX is a leasing company, and you’d be correct. Now, I know I said Railbox (TTX) was the main lease company during the boxcar boom, and they were, well, the newest anyway. The real OG railcar leasing company is none other than GATX. Unlike TTX, they started slow and methodically built a fleet of railcars and engines for railroad use. As of today, GATX owns/leases over 147,000 pieces of equipment for railroad use. A huge chunk of the existing rolling pool. The star of those is of course their blue boxcars with the plain white GATX logo. In this instance, simple is better, desired even. The blue is a great change-up from the sea of yellow you would typically see approaching wherever you watch trains from, if only TTX was leasing cars.
The future of boxcar service is unclear. Boxcar use has dropped off significantly from its peak days due to many factors and shipping options available have expanded, even within the railroad itself (intermodal service of goods). We can talk about yard consolidation and its affect on the use and viability of service track and customer convenience, at a later date. But one thing we do know is that the bulk of boxcars built during the boom are on their way out. They’ve reached their AAR allowable age limits, or soon will need to be replaced…one way or another. Fingers crossed, its with more boxcars, and GATX is the prime candidate to make that happen.
Now you know…
