Carload of steers

[simcross]

They use to talk about carloads of cattle, how many head of 1200 lb steers will a railroad car hold? Or what are the inside dimensions of a railroad car for livestock?

 

[Lee VanRoss]

Do they still ship cattle by rail? I may be living under a rock but I can't remember a cattle car for years....

 

[simcross]

Do they still ship cattle by rail? I may be living under a rock but I can't remember a cattle car for years....

I don't think so, that is why I said they used to

 

[SBMF 2015]

Years ago a lot of fat cattle around here went to Chicago. A lot of the old guys talk about buying car loads of feeders, but most of the fats were shipped by truck.
One old neighbor Dave said when he was a little boy his uncle would buy car loads of cattle then divide them up when they got here, so if a farmer only wanted half a load someone else got the other half. Dave had a pony and would drive cattle from the train depot to the farmers. Everyone still had fences along the road then, so someone went ahead and blocked the driveways. It was easy.

 

[Dave]

There are a few old cattle cars sitting around here. I would guess that they are 8 X 40. One thing back then you didn't have to worry about being over weight.

 

[gcreekrch]

I think 20 cows or big steers would fit in a car. Seems what I was told when I was a kid.

 

[Dave]

I drove by one of those old cattle cars sitting out in a field twice yesterday. I am reducing my size estimation to 8 by 32.