I'd like to share my experience regarding delivery by rail (in process) and want to hear your opinions.

[BSAS-SoCal]

Hi,
Approximately I posted one regarding delivery by rail a month ago, and I'd like to give you guys heads up so it might be helpful to others and hear your opinions about my situation.

My build info is;
2025 Ford Base 2dr 7MT 2.3l Desert Sand
SAS, no other option added

04/14 Order confirmed
07/20 In production
08/01 Built
08/02 Shipped

#1. Dealership opted me in on VinView live tracking, so it was giving me update with the locations, ETAs, and a lot of helpful information. It was reliable.
However, once it arrived at Chicago IL (Interchange Complete ICR) on 08/09 - ETA was shown 08/15-21.

It does not give me any updates since then, which has been over 2 weeks as of today.

#1-1 CSX says my bronco has been arrived at Global ii in Illinois on 08/09, and there is no ETA available
#1-2 UP says my bronco is on Wayne, MI - no updates regarding this.
#1-3 Ford CS told me they cannot access to details such as locations; however it will arrive mid-September
#1-4 My dealership said they cannot access to details such as locations but the approximate date of arrival that is shown as 9/7-13

Currently, Ford tracking changed the ETA once, 08/15-21 to 08/27 to 09/02, and the dealership said it will be there around 09/07-13, so it may be changed more than three times.


The initial arrival date was 08/04, and I was thinking that is too good to be true so expected it to be arrived on late-August.

Does anyone/did anyone have the same or similar experience with mine?

I know that the shipping is not the dealership's responsibility, Ford is just something else.
Porsche gives detail tracking every second including oversea shipment and pictures of the car in production.

I am located in Orange County, California fyi.

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[RagnarKon]

It’s all tracked in VINView. Sounds like it’s at the interchange in Chicago, so it’s at the mercy of the rail schedule now.

The United States is basically split in half. East of the Mississippi River you have CSX and Northfolk Southern. West of the Mississippi you have BNSF and Union Pacific. Whenever you cross over between the two zones you are switching railroads. And frankly that can take awhile depending on the rail schedules. It all happens at these interchanges and Chicago is definitely one of the largest in the country.

Some people on this forum have had shipping take months, for others it’s been a week or two.

For me it was 7 weeks. The rail portion of the shipping went great for me, but the last mile truck delivery had a backlog, and my Bronco sat at the destination rail yard for almost a month. Original ETA was August 4th and I ended up picking it up September 10th.

 

[HolidayDog]

If you get your rail car number you can call the automated rail tracking number and it will tell you the progress of the most recent city your rail car passed through and the time.

I think mid September is about right. There will be a delay from the rail car to ship to the dealer lot. Probably in socal the delay will not be too long.

My car departed 1/17 and arrived 2/8 to Missoula, MT.

I think in the stickies of this category there is a post about how to track your new hooptie. A ford is not a Porsche so I wouldn’t try to compare them.

 

[HolidayDog]

Details from the sticky above:


There are two major rail companies.

CSX is everything east of the mississippi
UP is everything west of the mississippi

But they all start out on CSX so once they have it in their system they will follow it all the way.

So, how do you track your truck on a railcar?

First and most important. Never talk to live personnel at the railroad! Only use automated phone system. If it attempts to transfer you to a live person please hang up. The railcar information we are provided by is given as a courtesy and if we call live personnel we may lose the access and ability to track.

CSX
1. Call the CSX 1-800-235-2352
2. When prompted for location or weight, press "1" on your phone for location.
3. When prompted for the car initials, say CN (or whatever initials you have) then wait for the next prompt.
4. When prompted for the car number, say 907048 (or whatever your number is)
5. When prompted for next car say DONE.
6. That's it; enjoy your updated status report.

Union Pacific
1. Call UP at 1 800 877-5123 1 800 877-5123
2. Follow phone prompts for Trace
3. Say the railcar number complete and clearly. Example CN123456 all together
4. Listen for your update

NS Norfolk Southern
1. Call 800-635-5768
2. Press 2.
3. Press 2.
4. Enter the letters on the numeric keypad then press #. As in: TTGX will be 8849
5. Enter the numbers then press #. It wasn't taking my voice prompts but typing worked.

 

[Oldhippie]

We may have the worst rail system in the world…at least of the modern industrial countries…good luck…

 

[Q1svt]

Hi,
Approximately I posted one regarding delivery by rail a month ago, and I'd like to give you guys heads up so it might be helpful to others and hear your opinions about my situation.

Hi BSAS-SoCal… I’m sorry to hear this… I know you have transportation issues after selling your motorcycle.

I posted to the manual thread, but here’s my take. I believe our bronco’s are sitting in the Riverside distribution center, awaiting the car carriers pick up and delivery to the dealership.

Our dealers are part of the Ford SoCal Region and they control all of those dealers.

After Ford released the 2024 Badlands rear shock fix they need to now sell the 56 broncos.

I am getting calls from 3dealers about the 24 BL is looked at and the Ford $8,500 discounts. We have the price protection for employee price… that’s a better deal for us. The Ford deal ends 9/2.

hang in there my friend

 

[wjtinfwb]

Hi,
Approximately I posted one regarding delivery by rail a month ago, and I'd like to give you guys heads up so it might be helpful to others and hear your opinions about my situation.

My build info is;
2025 Ford Base 2dr 7MT 2.3l Desert Sand
SAS, no other option added

04/14 Order confirmed
07/20 In production
08/01 Built
08/02 Shipped

#1. Dealership opted me in on VinView live tracking, so it was giving me update with the locations, ETAs, and a lot of helpful information. It was reliable.
However, once it arrived at Chicago IL (Interchange Complete ICR) on 08/09 - ETA was shown 08/15-21.

It does not give me any updates since then, which has been over 2 weeks as of today.

#1-1 CSX says my bronco has been arrived at Global ii in Illinois on 08/09, and there is no ETA available
#1-2 UP says my bronco is on Wayne, MI - no updates regarding this.
#1-3 Ford CS told me they cannot access to details such as locations; however it will arrive mid-September
#1-4 My dealership said they cannot access to details such as locations but the approximate date of arrival that is shown as 9/7-13

Currently, Ford tracking changed the ETA once, 08/15-21 to 08/27 to 09/02, and the dealership said it will be there around 09/07-13, so it may be changed more than three times.


The initial arrival date was 08/04, and I was thinking that is too good to be true so expected it to be arrived on late-August.

Does anyone/did anyone have the same or similar experience with mine?

I know that the shipping is not the dealership's responsibility, Ford is just something else.
Porsche gives detail tracking every second including oversea shipment and pictures of the car in production.

I am located in Orange County, California fyi.

My ordered 4dr.. Big Bend was about 14 days by rail from plant to dealer in central Alabama. My dealer did tell me that once it leaves the plant there is very little Ford or the dealer can do. The rail carrier could have a service disruption or other snafu that results ina delay or worse, the car being parked ina transfer yard somewhee and "forgotten" until someone pokes the system to get it back on a train. Most of the time, things go very smoothly and 10-14 days is plenty of time for delivery. But occasionally, disruptions happen. in '85, my Mustang GT was pulled out of the lot and subjected to EPA dyno testing for emissions. A totally random process that no one knew occurred until the car ultimately showed up at the dealer with a small sticker in the window and a notice inside the car. In those days there was no tracking at all. And comparing Ford, that built and shipped 1.8 million vehicles last year in North America with Porsche, that built and shipped 310k cars worldwide is a bit of a stretch. Ford probably lost as many vehicles in shipment as Porsche's total production last year.

 

[Jdyount]

Back to the whole issue with our dealership system in this country being dumb AF. Why you can't buy a CUSTOM ordered vehicle directly from Ford and pick it up from the factory is beyond me. If Ford was smart (and stupid dealership laws from 75 years ago weren't still on the books) they would set up some special package where you visit the factory and watch it come off the line...

All of that being said, yall DON'T KNOW what the pain of waiting is if you didn't have a day 1 reservation and a 2021 order... My Bronco got produced the week of 9/20/21 (after initially having a May build date), didn't get it until 11/9/21, and I was super LUCKY to get it when I did...

 

[BroncoChallenger]

Hi,
Approximately I posted one regarding delivery by rail a month ago, and I'd like to give you guys heads up so it might be helpful to others and hear your opinions about my situation.

My build info is;
2025 Ford Base 2dr 7MT 2.3l Desert Sand
SAS, no other option added

04/14 Order confirmed
07/20 In production
08/01 Built
08/02 Shipped

#1. Dealership opted me in on VinView live tracking, so it was giving me update with the locations, ETAs, and a lot of helpful information. It was reliable.
However, once it arrived at Chicago IL (Interchange Complete ICR) on 08/09 - ETA was shown 08/15-21.

It does not give me any updates since then, which has been over 2 weeks as of today.

#1-1 CSX says my bronco has been arrived at Global ii in Illinois on 08/09, and there is no ETA available
#1-2 UP says my bronco is on Wayne, MI - no updates regarding this.
#1-3 Ford CS told me they cannot access to details such as locations; however it will arrive mid-September
#1-4 My dealership said they cannot access to details such as locations but the approximate date of arrival that is shown as 9/7-13

Currently, Ford tracking changed the ETA once, 08/15-21 to 08/27 to 09/02, and the dealership said it will be there around 09/07-13, so it may be changed more than three times.


The initial arrival date was 08/04, and I was thinking that is too good to be true so expected it to be arrived on late-August.

Does anyone/did anyone have the same or similar experience with mine?

I know that the shipping is not the dealership's responsibility, Ford is just something else.
Porsche gives detail tracking every second including oversea shipment and pictures of the car in production.

I am located in Orange County, California fyi.

Yeah the way the rail system (and power grid, and so many other things) in this country are set up is beyond stupid. The earlier replies in this thread have things correct - your Bronco is likely tied up in a rail yard around Chicago, slowly making its way to the western side of it to get sent further west.

VinView is a great process, and your dealership SHOULD be able to access an 'advanced' tab that gives them a map showing shipping progress and the last known check-in of the rail car/vehicle. I know because my salesman for my truck showed it to me while it was still in shipping (Had to get the Bronco an oil change, so chatted about it while I waited). There are a LOT of points the rail cars will check in at, at least on the eastern side of things, and sometimes VinView gets backed up and sends a bunch at once...but it definitely sounds like yours is getting hung up.

Just be patient, it will likely be a little bit of time and you'll start getting updates that it's moving. You are completely at the railroad's mercy.

 

[tock13]

I tracked my Bronco from MAP to the yard in Seattle where it was put in a truck to the dealer. I called CSX TouchTrace like 60 times a day. I have a map with every city it said it hit. It sat for days in Walbridge Indiana then 3 days in a siding in Hauser ID, a day here and there at sidings along the route. Finally got to the dealer but it was definitely no express run!

I have to say though, ordering and then tracking what Ford was doing and then the train ride was seriously fun to experience. Even though Ford bought back my first Bronco I still feel fortunate I got to do the whole order/tracking thing twice. Totally enjoyed it and even with the rail delivery delay it was much more fun than wandering into a lot to buy something already there.

Im such a dork I actually recorded the audio of the train whistling through my town in the middle of the night with my Bronco in it.

 

[BSAS-SoCal]

It’s all tracked in VINView. Sounds like it’s at the interchange in Chicago, so it’s at the mercy of the rail schedule now.

The United States is basically split in half. East of the Mississippi River you have CSX and Northfolk Southern. West of the Mississippi you have BNSF and Union Pacific. Whenever you cross over between the two zones you are switching railroads. And frankly that can take awhile depending on the rail schedules. It all happens at these interchanges and Chicago is definitely one of the largest in the country.

Some people on this forum have had shipping take months, for others it’s been a week or two.

For me it was 7 weeks. The rail portion of the shipping went great for me, but the last mile truck delivery had a backlog, and my Bronco sat at the destination rail yard for almost a month. Original ETA was August 4th and I ended up picking it up September 10th.

Gosh, it took 7 weeks?
Hopefully everything goes well for you, me and all of us who's waiting for their broncos.
Also thank you for the insights about the insights.

Since I have no transportation for my leased vehicle was out about a month ago, it is pretty harsh to live without, and thought Ford system would be accurate for it is my first time to do a custom order.

What more can I do?! Even though it takes time to get delivered, it gives me an excitement at the same time too.

 

[BSAS-SoCal]

If you get your rail car number you can call the automated rail tracking number and it will tell you the progress of the most recent city your rail car passed through and the time.

I think mid September is about right. There will be a delay from the rail car to ship to the dealer lot. Probably in socal the delay will not be too long.

My car departed 1/17 and arrived 2/8 to Missoula, MT.

I think in the stickies of this category there is a post about how to track your new hooptie. A ford is not a Porsche so I wouldn’t try to compare them.

Thank you for your comment!
How's your life with Bronco so far? Could you share your experience with it?

 

[BSAS-SoCal]

Hi BSAS-SoCal… I’m sorry to hear this… I know you have transportation issues after selling your motorcycle.

I posted to the manual thread, but here’s my take. I believe our bronco’s are sitting in the Riverside distribution center, awaiting the car carriers pick up and delivery to the dealership.

Our dealers are part of the Ford SoCal Region and they control all of those dealers.

After Ford released the 2024 Badlands rear shock fix they need to now sell the 56 broncos.

I am getting calls from 3dealers about the 24 BL is looked at and the Ford $8,500 discounts. We have the price protection for employee price… that’s a better deal for us. The Ford deal ends 9/2.

hang in there my friend

I appreciate you for remembering my situation!

If I remember correctly, your bronco is on QA hold, right?
Are you going to take a different route than waiting for yours?

That is a super great deal to save some $, however, I'd love to wait for mine, even though I can get a badlands with SAS for some cash on top of the amount for my base SAS but.. I don't need more features and techs. Thus I'll stick with mine!

I really appreciate the info though!

 

[BSAS-SoCal]

Back to the whole issue with our dealership system in this country being dumb AF. Why you can't buy a CUSTOM ordered vehicle directly from Ford and pick it up from the factory is beyond me. If Ford was smart (and stupid dealership laws from 75 years ago weren't still on the books) they would set up some special package where you visit the factory and watch it come off the line...

All of that being said, yall DON'T KNOW what the pain of waiting is if you didn't have a day 1 reservation and a 2021 order... My Bronco got produced the week of 9/20/21 (after initially having May build date), didn't get it until 11/9/21.

I respect the owners of Broncos who reserved their cars during the first year of productions.
Even 2025 is post Covid, it feels like a long wait, I cannot imagine how long they've been waiting for their Broncos in 2021-2022, like for hundreds days.

How's your life with your bronco so far? Could you tell us more about your story?

 

[BSAS-SoCal]

Yeah the way the rail system (and power grid, and so many other things) in this country are set up is beyond stupid. The earlier replies in this thread have things correct - your Bronco is likely tied up in a rail yard around Chicago, slowly making its way to the western side of it to get sent further west.

VinView is a great process, and your dealership SHOULD be able to access an 'advanced' tab that gives them a map showing shipping progress and the last known check-in of the rail car/vehicle. I know because my salesman for my truck showed it to me while it was still in shipping (Had to get the Bronco an oil change, so chatted about it while I waited). There are a LOT of points the rail cars will check in at, at least on the eastern side of things, and sometimes VinView gets backed up and sends a bunch at once...but it definitely sounds like yours is getting hung up.

Just be patient, it will likely be a little bit of time and you'll start getting updates that it's moving. You are completely at the railroad's mercy.

The sales manager at my dealership has been helping me for a month, but he is no longer there.
So other salesperson is helping me, and he said he does not have access to see it. They are no help to me.

So, all I can do is just wait, but I am their client, who is going to buy a car from them which means I am making their sales. Wish they are more supportive and caring of their customers. I did not ask much, just about details regarding the shipments.

Hopefully, mine leaves where it is stuck soon!

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