The Boxcar That Rolled Itself Into a Locked Spur at Night
Shownotes
The Boxcar That Rolled Itself Into a Locked Spur at Night
A fifty-three-foot steel boxcar with no locomotive, no lights, and no crew rolled slowly into a decommissioned spur that had been physically cut off for eleven years. The switch sealing Track Nine was still bolted and rusted, the car’s reporting mark matched a unit supposedly scrapped years earlier, and the paper trail ends with a dissolved company - so how did MFCX 4418 get there?
In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the 10:11 p.m. sighting to the initial investigations, following eyewitness accounts, on-scene photographs, and corporate records to trace what happened and why one detail remains unexplained.
Person: Edward Tate
Person: Diane Dixon
Event: MFCX 4418 resting against buffer stop on Track Nine
Date: early September (Thursday night; 10:11 p.m.; 11:14 p.m. 911 call; 11:40 p.m. supervisor call)
Location: Maren Falls freight yard, Track Nine
- Boots the dog refused to move at 10:11 p.m., prompting Edward Tate to stop and observe the yard.
- Track Nine had been decommissioned and physically cut off from active lines for eleven years.
- The switch sealing Track Nine, Switch 9-Alpha, required a bar-and-bolt assembly and two-person sign-off and showed no fresh tool marks.
- The boxcar stencil read MFCX 4418, a Maren Falls Central reporting mark and four-digit identifier.
- Brightline Asset Recovery, LLC claimed the car from a Findlay scrapyard but had been administratively dissolved seven years before the incident.
Tired of ads? Listen to this podcast and 200+ more ad-free on OBOMEDIA.
Try it free for 7 days, cancel anytime: https://obomedia.com/en/gratis?ref=desc-7198320
© 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
A fifty-three-foot steel boxcar with no locomotive, no lights, and no crew rolled slowly into a decommissioned spur that had been physically cut off for eleven years. The switch sealing Track Nine was still bolted and rusted, the car’s reporting mark matched a unit supposedly scrapped years earlier, and the paper trail ends with a dissolved company - so how did MFCX 4418 get there?
In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the 10:11 p.m. sighting to the initial investigations, following eyewitness accounts, on-scene photographs, and corporate records to trace what happened and why one detail remains unexplained.
Person: Edward Tate
Person: Diane Dixon
Event: MFCX 4418 resting against buffer stop on Track Nine
Date: early September (Thursday night; 10:11 p.m.; 11:14 p.m. 911 call; 11:40 p.m. supervisor call)
Location: Maren Falls freight yard, Track Nine
- Boots the dog refused to move at 10:11 p.m., prompting Edward Tate to stop and observe the yard.
- Track Nine had been decommissioned and physically cut off from active lines for eleven years.
- The switch sealing Track Nine, Switch 9-Alpha, required a bar-and-bolt assembly and two-person sign-off and showed no fresh tool marks.
- The boxcar stencil read MFCX 4418, a Maren Falls Central reporting mark and four-digit identifier.
- Brightline Asset Recovery, LLC claimed the car from a Findlay scrapyard but had been administratively dissolved seven years before the incident.
Tired of ads? Listen to this podcast and 200+ more ad-free on OBOMEDIA.
Try it free for 7 days, cancel anytime: https://obomedia.com/en/gratis?ref=desc-7198320
© 2026 Created by an independent creator of the OBOMEDIA Network. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the property of their respective creator, who is solely responsible for them, and are distributed by the OBOMEDIA Network on platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and Pocket Casts. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without the creator's prior written permission is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].