On Monday, January 5, 2015 at 12:51:20 PM UTC-5, houn...@yahoo.co.uk wrote:   
      
   > One story that I heard is that some of them wound up in Mexico for use    
   > in passenger service as rail coaches. I don't know if that is true or    
   > not as there is very little rail passenger service in the country,    
   > though perhaps they could have found use in places like Mexico City or    
   > Guadalajara for regional rail services?   
      
   What I heard was that they went to Mexico for scrapping.  This is possibly   
   because the cars may contain asbestos, and foreign countries aren't as strict   
   about cleanup as the US.  I think asbestos was outlawed around 1970, but the   
   cars built around 1968.   
      
   The kicker is that back in the 1930s, asbestos was seen as the 'magic mineral'   
   as it was so useful for so many things.  It provided excellent fire safety, a   
   big deal in those days.  It also provided heat and sound insulation.  They had   
   a big exhibit at    
   the 1939 World's Fair.   
      
   FWIW, I asked an engineer if modern substitutes offer as much protection.  She   
   said no.   
      
      
   Returning to railroads, Amtrak got hit with asbestos clean up costs on a   
   property it never owned.   Apparently, the property was once owned by the   
   Pennsylvania RR many years ago, and because Amtrak was perceived as the legal   
   successor to the PRR, it got    
   hit with the liability.  I'm not sure that's fair, but that sort of thing   
   happened in a number of cases.  (I don't see Amtrak as the _legal_ successor   
   to the PRR).   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)