QUICK FACTS

Model: 50’ XAF11 boxcar
Built: November 1975
Builder: ACF Industries, Milton, PA
Past Railroad Owners: Railbox, Seaboard System, CSX Transportation
Current Owner: TOYX, Inc.
Current Location: Farmingdale, NJ

Boxcar No. 628 was built in November of 1975 by ACF Industries at their plant in Milton, Pennsylvania as Railbox No. 12389 (class XAF11, ACF lot 11-06832). It was one of a fleet of tens of thousands of bright yellow boxcars that have roamed North American rails from the mid-1970s to the present.

A private cooperative jointly owned by many of the nation’s railroads, Railbox’s goal was to create a “pool” of boxcars that could be used on any railroad, at any time, for any commodity to address a nationwide shortage. Financing for the new equipment was provided by 10 of the participating railroads and some private investment firms.

By the early 1980s, the nationwide boxcar shortage had been alleviated (largely as a result of Railbox’s fleet), and Railbox found itself with a surplus of cars. Starting in the late 1970s, the company’s earliest orders of boxcars were reassigned to the railroads that financed them. The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (branded as the Chessie System after 1973) had financed the XAF11 class of 305 cars (RBOX Nos. 12344-12648), which became C&O Nos. 400000-400304. RBOX No. 12389 became C&O No. 400045. Chessie System, the Seaboard Coast Line, and the Louisville & Nashville Railroad were merged in 1983 to form the Seaboard System, and this series of cars was renumbered to SBD Nos. 141000-141304. C&O No. 400045 became SBD No. 141045.

In 1986, the Seaboard System was merged into CSX Transportation, and the car became CSXT No. 141045. After 38 additional years of service, CSXT No. 141045 was donated to TOYX by CSX Transportation in October of 2024 for use on Toys for Tots collection trains on the Southern Secondary between Jamesburg and Farmingdale, New Jersey. It was renumbered as TOYX No. 628, recognizing the historic battlefield for the Battle of Monmouth (June 28, 1778) that this car travels through every year as well as the June 28th birthday of Operation Toy Train co-founder John Sobotka. The No. 628 is currently stored on the Delaware & Raritan River Railroad in Farmingdale, NJ, where it resides between Operation Toy Train’s seasonal toy collection trains.