Does UP continue to haul livestock?

Or is that a thing of the past? I know some people that rode on a train and rode in livestock car to haul cows to cow show. May be easier to haul them by truck now. Though there are probably provisions for them to eat and drink if they take long enough trips on the railroad.

Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, is the only operator of stock cars to haul there animals from show to show.

The last Stock Car to travel the rails ended in 1980 on the Burlington Northern Railroad with 10 Tri-Level Hog Cars converted from 40 foot Boxcars which directley behind high priority Intermodal Trains. The service ran out due to the Trucking Industry.

overseer wrote:Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, is the only operator of stock cars to haul there animals from show to show.

The last Stock Car to travel the rails ended in 1980 on the Burlington Northern Railroad with 10 Tri-Level Hog Cars converted from 40 foot Boxcars which directley behind high priority Intermodal Trains. The service ran out due to the Trucking Industry.

?????
The UP was hauling hogs in the 90's. Are they still doing it?

Farmer John (based in LA) has their hogs trucked down from the Milford, Utah area (Circle 4 Farms). The old guys talk about how they used to haul hogs and would have to water them down at certain points. You can still see the hoses lined up about every 50 feet at Dry Lake, NV, where they would stop and water the hogs. I've been told that after a few trains arrived with plenty of dead hogs at Farmer John's plant in LA, they opted to truck rather than rail them down. I've not seen any live animals on the UP other than Ringling Bros. circus train last week headed west out of Las Vegas.

Nelson Bay wrote:

overseer wrote:Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, is the only operator of stock cars to haul there animals from show to show.

The last Stock Car to travel the rails ended in 1980 on the Burlington Northern Railroad with 10 Tri-Level Hog Cars converted from 40 foot Boxcars which directley behind high priority Intermodal Trains. The service ran out due to the Trucking Industry.

?????
The UP was hauling hogs in the 90's. Are they still doing it?

as slchub has seaid water seems to be an issue when handeling animals by rail. Its easyer to truck live stock becouse of the simple fact that a trucker can stop every few miles if need be to feed and water what ever critters he may have in his load.

Not to stary to far off topic by On occation much like live stock being handled by rail the same will happen with a Reefer Car or two someone forgets to fuel one up at a half way station and you'll get a bad load of produce.

?????
The UP was hauling hogs in the 90's. Are they still doing it?

The hog cars (6 or 8 of them)on the trains I mentioned were immediately behind the trailing unit in the consist. They ran them 1 or 2 times?? a week. I know they hosed the cars down in North Platte and again in Rawlins or maybe Green River. The final destination of these trains was Seattle, as I recall. The hog cars made up part of the hotshot that was designated NP/SEAX or something close to that. Maybe our buddy UPRR Engineer knows if they're still running.

On two oocasions I witnessed livestock on the UP. The first were pigs (literally) at the front of a westbound in Cheyenne in July 1986. The second time I took a picture of a green stock car at a animal loading dock somewhere in eastern Nebraska along the UP main. This was in 1993. The next time about 7 years later I was in the area, I saw no evidence of the loading site.

I can't say for sure where they were heading, although I'd always thought it was Farmer John's around LA.

Only on the snowplow

Nelson Bay wrote: Maybe our buddy UPRR Engineer knows if they're still running.

I was contract switching the last time i saw a hog train, maybe about 95.

We had a circus train come through a couple years ago. I havent seen one in a while though, although I think they are still around.

GN 599 wrote:We had a circus train come through a couple years ago. I havent seen one in a while though, although I think they are still around.

There are still Tropacaina Juice trains still runing up and down the eastern coast line as well as scores of trains going from the West to the East mostley UPFE Trains. I see them every morning one will pass my way around 10:30a.m. with anything from 3-6 Big UP Units and a few hundred Reefers.

I spotted (placed into the industry) two cars, built specifically as stock cars, on Conrail, in 1990. This was at Oak Island Yard, at a location named "Stock", where the connector from the LVRR to the PC took effect, just west of the roundhouse. This was obviously well past 1980. Stock was named for the cattle unloading operation, and abatoir (sp?) at that location. The cars stunk, and the cows were covered in feces, and probably hadn't been washed, or watered, in days............ Those cars were bi-level, and that was the last time I personally saw a loaded stock car, anywhere. We were called on duty, specifically to spot those cars, when they came in, from the west. Having also pulled the Blue, and Red Ringling Bros trains, I wouldn't really classify the animal cars, as stock cars. Stock cars typically have open sides, covered in grates, or perforated siding, allowing ventilation of the cars, as well as ability to hose down the animals, without opening the doors. Cars I have seen have sprinklers inside, that you can connect to a fire hose type apparatus, to wash down the interior, and critters at same time. Regards

GOLDEN-ARM wrote:I spotted (placed into the industry) two cars, built specifically as stock cars, on Conrail, in 1990. This was at Oak Island Yard, at a location named "Stock", where the connector from the LVRR to the PC took effect, just west of the roundhouse. This was obviously well past 1980. Stock was named for the cattle unloading operation, and abatoir (sp?) at that location. The cars stunk, and the cows were covered in feces, and probably hadn't been washed, or watered, in days............ Those cars were bi-level, and that was the last time I personally saw a loaded stock car, anywhere. We were called on duty, specifically to spot those cars, when they came in, from the west. Having also pulled the Blue, and Red Ringling Bros trains, I wouldn't really classify the animal cars, as stock cars. Stock cars typically have open sides, covered in grates, or perforated siding, allowing ventilation of the cars, as well as ability to hose down the animals, without opening the doors. Cars I have seen have sprinklers inside, that you can connect to a fire hose type apparatus, to wash down the interior, and critters at same time. Regards

Vary Interesting. I would assume that the railroads will build or make Stock Cars when the need for them calls for them? So it would be almost safe to say that althow the last of the mass haul of live stock such as Pigs, Sheep, Cattle, Chickins, and Live Fish may have ended in the 1980's. The railroads on occation will turn old boxcar(s) into live stockcar(s) when the call for them comes for there use?

The two cars I spotted were not homemade, or converted from old boxcars. They were specifically built as cattle cars. I imagine there are still a bunch around, stored in some yard, somewhere out west, waiting to be used. Lots of equipment gets stored, until needed. Probably not many left, but someone out there can direct you, to where some are sitting. Regards

GOLDEN-ARM wrote:The two cars I spotted were not homemade, or converted from old boxcars. They were specifically built as cattle cars. I imagine there are still a bunch around, stored in some yard, somewhere out west, waiting to be used. Lots of equipment gets stored, until needed. Probably not many left, but someone out there can direct you, to where some are sitting. Regards

I would beleve it never know whats siting around out there hideing in the yards, and abandoned factory sideings in storage. I don't put anything past the railroads when it comes down to there ideas on the what if mind of thinking.