CARPACK; DODX FLATCARS

 A string of DODX flatcars are sitting in Hillsdale Yard...

All of the cars are from the 40xxx series of heavy duty flats, including GRE (General Railway Equipment) built 40573, still in it's as-delivered olive green.

40501 is in the 2001+ Cascade green, similar to that used by BN. This car was built by Ortner Freight Car.

40564 is in the late 90's urethane green. This car was also built by Ortner.

40059 is in the Cascade green. Note that unlike the other flats, this one does not have a recess behind the side grab irons, identifying it as an FGE-built car. Yes THAT FGE, which built and operated refrigerator cars! They also built cabooses for several railroads.

40486 is also in Cascade green, but was built by Thrall.

40573 still has it's deck numbers painted on the deck. Of course, due to the normal wear and tear of loading and unloading, these eventually wore off, leading the Army to find a new solution.

40501 and the other flats have the deck numbers welded on the deck surface, surrounded by the white rectangles.

40564 shows the same deck detail. Note also that the decks have openings for container pedestals, but often times these are missing, due to the fact that they rarely actually carry containers.

The 40xxx series of flatcars were delivered from 1981-1987 by the four different builders mentioned above, with the FGE cars being the first in 1981, followed by the Thrall cars in 1982-83, Ortner cars in 1985, and finally the GRE cars in 1987. Designed for heavy duty loading, they are the only cars in the DODX fleet that can carry two M1 Abrams tanks: the 41xxx series can only carry one, and none of the other flats in the fleet are strong enough to support the weight.