Contents Introduction ...... 4

Chapter 1 History of and piggyback traffic ...... 5

Chapter 2 Piggyback trailers ...... 16

Chapter 3 ...... 28

Chapter 4 Trailer and container ...... 42

Chapter 5 Double-stack container cars ...... 56

Chapter 6 Spine and skeleton cars ...... 70

Chapter 7 and Flexi-Vans ...... 79

Chapter 8 End-loading terminals ...... 91

Chapter 9 Modern intermodal terminals ...... 103

Chapter 10 Intermodal operations ...... 115

Bibliography ...... 125

About the author ...... 127 Two Minneapolis & St. Louis trailers with the railroad’s Piggyback Quick slogan roll through a Midwestern town on an 85-foot Trailer in 1961. The M&StL had been merged into the & North Western the year before, but its trailers were carrying on the service. J. David Ingles collection

INTRODUCTION

Piggyback and container traffic articles listed there present highly Modeling represents a fascinating—and very detailed information on prototype When modeling, all facets of modelable—part of railroad history equipment, as well as in-depth, step- intermodal traffic from any era from and operations. Trailer-on-flatcar by-step instructions and photos for the 1930s to the present are accessible. (TOFC) began booming in the modeling trailers, railcars, and related A wide variety of railcars, trailers, mid-1950s. With the coming of accessories. containers, and loading equipment international shipping containers in the Railroad historical societies is available in HO and N scales, in late 1960s, trailer and container traffic are another excellent source of particular. (together, they comprise intermodal) information. Most publish periodicals, Many small manufacturers have grew to become the largest revenue and many of these contain detailed produced resin or limited-run kits for source for railroads today. articles on a railroad’s trailer and obscure trailers and other equipment, No one book can detail every container operations, including although some of these are no longer facet of each railroad’s history and history, equipment, train schedules, available (or were discontinued operations, or cover all the variations and basic train operations. Some many years ago). However, don’t be of every type of flatcar, double-stack, societies have articles, photos, and discouraged. If a model has been or spine car. Entire books have been reference information available on produced, it’s available somewhere. written about a single equipment type their websites. Check eBay and other online auction or class. This book is meant to be a Check various websites. A simple sites and shops (eBay lets you save a guide for your overall modeling efforts, Google search will yield many search and will send you a message and it covers the highlights (worrying photographs and potential sites, but when something matching your search about detailed spotting features and be aware that the quality of individual criteria is listed). minutia would have meant omitting websites can range from excellent to Whether it’s modeling a complete other features). sketchy. Try to find as many sources as modern lift terminal, solid of The bibliography on page 125 possible to verify information. Websites piggyback and container traffic, a lists the key sources used, and they of model manufacturers and prototype small-town loading ramp, or just a can provide you with more detailed manufacturers are a good source for few trailers on trains passing through, information about various car types details on current equipment, and some almost any layout will benefit from and other equipment. Many of the have additional historical information. adding intermodal models.

4 16 A westbound double-stack train heads west on Union Pacific’s double-track main line through Nebraska in 2006. the 1920s—fizzled out because of over- late 1960s, Sea-Land had a fleet what was comparatively small share of regulation, but containerized freight of more than 30 ships and 27,000 the market. There was also the issue would eventually revolutionize both containers, and it was sailing routes to of dock workers, who knew their jobs international and domestic shipping. Germany, , the Netherlands, would be eliminated. Although there were many abortive Hong Kong, Thailand, and the attempts at shipping with containers, Philippines. Standardization credit for the concept and successful In the meantime, a few railroads The answer would come, as it execution of using a large (truck trailer had dabbled in container traffic, did for piggyback, in the form of size) container that could be transferred including the Southern, standardization. As early as the late from a ship to railcar to truck goes Pacific, Baltimore & Ohio, and New 1950s, there was talk of adopting to Malcolm McLean, a trucker from York Central. Most met with minimal standard container sizes. In the North Carolina. success, with the exception of NYC’s , a subcommittee of McLean knew transferring unique Flexi-Van system (more on that the National Defense Transportation containers directly would save in chapter 4). Association (NDTA) met in 1958 and transloading time and thus money—a A limitation for containers through recommended that containers be 20 or significant challenge in dealing with the 1960s was that each container 40 feet in length (maximum U.S. trailer large cargo ships. In the early 1950s, system—including Sea-Land’s, those length had just been stretched to 40 after unsuccessfully trying to peddle his of other shipping companies, and each feet), 8 feet wide, and 8 feet tall. idea to steamship companies, McLean railroad’s—was proprietary, 14. Each There was international interest finally just did it himself. He sold his used a unique container size, required in the idea as well, and Sea-Land trucking company and worked with different highway chassis, and used and several other companies were Fruehauf to develop 35-foot containers. different means of stowing aboard in favor—although there was some He then bought the Pan-Atlantic ships. Containers required special disagreement on what the standards Steamship Company and several old cradles on flatcars or, more commonly, should be. In 1965, size standards were World War II-era T-2 tankers and simply rode on chassis as piggyback officially adopted by the International had them rebuilt to carry the new trailers. Organization for Standardization containers. Thus, even though McLean’s (commonly referred to as ISO), On April 26, 1956, one of the business flourished, and rival shipping resulting in what has become known as 524-foot refitted tankers—christened lines began copying the idea, container the international or ISO container. The the Ideal X—made its first revenue trip, freight still represented a small fraction standard was for containers 8 feet wide carrying 58 loaded containers from of international shipping. Most ports and 8 feet tall, with lengths of 10, 20, Newark, N.J., to Houston. couldn’t easily handle containers, and 30, and 40 feet. (The most common, McLean’s venture (renamed Sea- weren’t willing to make the investment by far, would become the 20- and Land in 1961) was a success. By the in cranes and other alterations for 40-footers.)

14 17 BNSF’s Logistics Park Kansas City opened in 2013. It covers more than 400 acres and features five 90-foot-tall cranes serving six 8,000-foot-long working tracks. BNSF

A key part the standard, adopted growing number of international in 1967, was the connecting system. containers. The double-stack well Intermodal timeline Based on Sea-Land’s containers, the car, introduced in 1981, greatly standard called for oval slots located at improved the efficiency of transporting 1926: North Shore begins LCL each container’s top and bottom corner. containers. Within a few years, double- piggyback service These slots would accommodate a turn- stacks were carrying international 1936: Chicago Great Western begins lock connector (an IBC, for inter-box and domestic containers on routes long-haul TOFC service with connector; also called a twist-lock) to throughout North America, 16. common carrier trailers allow containers to be stacked, and to Piggyback trailer traffic was 1955: First run of Pennsylvania RR provide standard connection points for declining, and much of what railroads dedicated TrucTrain service truck chassis, railcars, and overhead were hauling were common-carrier and 1956: Trailer Train Co. (now TTX) loaders, 15. leased trailers, with a lot of domestic begins operations This standardization made possible intermodal traffic moving to containers. 1956: First makes the wholesale adoption of containers By 2010, there were few railroad- revenue trip by international and domestic shipping owned trailers left. 1965: ISO container standards companies, railcars from multiple As shown in the chart on page 12, established manufacturers that could handle total annual container loadings first 1981: Double-stack well cars debut containers from any shipper, and the surpassed trailers in 1992. By 2000, on Southern Pacific ability to easily move containers among containers made up 74 percent of 1991: Trailer Train officially becomes ships, trucks, and railcars. intermodal traffic; by 2010, it was 85 TTX Co. percent, and today it’s close to 90 percent. 1992: Container loadings surpass Staggers Container operations moved from trailers The Staggers Act, passed in 1980, single-unit shipments to land-bridge 2015: Intermodal loadings top 13 effectively deregulated the rail industry. and mini-bridge service. This is the million It’s more complex than that, but the intermodal equivalent of a , 2015: Containers account for 89 net effect was that railroads were now where an entire train of containers percent of intermodal loadings able to privately negotiate rates with is loaded at one location for a single individual shippers. For intermodal, customer (generally at a port for an this was vital at the time because of the international shipping company) and and evolved, how piggyback and growing number of containers from carried to another location (an inland container terminals work and how their international shippers. terminal or another port). technology and size has advanced, By the 1980s, traffic was trending The following chapters outline and how railroads handle intermodal from trailers to containers, with a how intermodal equipment has grown traffic, 17.

15 Rear side markers (red)

FRP side (smooth, single panel)

Upper side rail

Rear identification lamps (group of 3, red)

Latch bars

Hinges

Tail lamps (red) and turn signals (red or yellow) Reinforced lower side rail Dual tandem wheels Air hose ICC bar Mud flaps Sliding tandem 14 This 40-foot FRP dry van was built for Chicago & North Western in 1978 by Monon.

and rear. Yellow lights are at the front the 1960s, with flat pads (called “sand License plates on the rear indicate and the front and middle of the sides. shoes”) since then. The gear on trailers the state in which a trailer is registered. Red lights are on the sides at the into the 1940s typically swung back Until deregulation in 1980, trailers rear and on the rear. Turn signals and for highway use; since then, gear that could have multiple plates and/or brake lights appeared at the lower rear telescopes vertically has been standard. registration decals, needed for each starting in the late 1950s. Into the 1970s, many trailers had state the trailer operated in. Diamond- The rear bumper (officially the Rear spare-tire racks under the body on one shaped hazmat placards began Underrun Protection System, or RUPS, or both sides. The past decade has seen appearing in the mid-1970s. but unofficially the ICC bar, DOT bar, a growth in trailers with underbody or Mansfield bar) became required in wind skirts or smaller fairings, Early trailers 1953. These standards were modified both designed to lower wind drag and When the Chicago North Shore & in the late 1990s, resulting in lower- increase mileage. Milwaukee kicked off the true era of hanging, wider bumpers. Trailers with tandem (two) axles piggyback operations in the mid-1920s, For trailers built after 1993, became more common as trailer size it had a fleet of 17-foot trailers. Each conspicuity striping (alternating red/ grew to 32 feet and longer in the 1950s. was 7 feet wide, with bodies 6 feet high white reflective) is required along the Dual wheels have been standard from (see photo 5 on page 7). Typical trailers lower sides and rear (including ICC the 1930s through today, but single wide stood about 11 feet tall, with a single bar) of trailers longer than 30 feet. tires (known as super singles) gained in axle at the rear. Mud flaps began appearing after popularity in the 2000s. By the 1930s, trailers had grown World War II, and have been found Although chromed and polished to 20 to 24 feet long. This meant the on most trailers since then. Although aluminum wheels are now common on Chicago Great Western and other there is no federal regulation regarding semi tractors, for the most part, trailers early piggyback lines could outfit 53- mud flaps, most states mandate their have always had plain steel wheels, to 56-foot flatcars to carry a pair of use, with exact specifications that vary painted in various colors. Spoke-type contemporary trailers, 15. from state to state. (Dayton) wheels were most common Single-axle trailers were still the The style of landing gear varies into the 1970s, with disk-type (Budd) most common (photos 2 and 3 on page among manufacturers and by era. wheels becoming more common in the 43), although twin-axle trailers began Landing wheels were common into past few decades. appearing in larger numbers by the late

20 Upper side rail Reporting marks Front clearance lamps (yellow) and number Intermediate markers (yellow) Sheathing, multiple sections, riveted

Manufacturer plate

Air and electrical connections (recessed)

Recessed Reinforced lower side rail bill box

Sand shoes (landing pads) Landing gear

This 45-foot sheet-and-post dry van, built for Southern Pacific in 1982 by Fruehauf.

1930s. Trailer size continued growing fleets of 40-footers, 18. By this time, By the late 1960s, paint schemes were through the 1940s, with 32-foot trailers trailers were acquiring a “modern” becoming more sedate, with lettering common by 1950, and 35-footers a look. Gone were the rounded noses and/or a logo on plain white trailers. few years later, 1 and 16. Tandem axles and rooflines of early trailers, replaced Many railroads used the sides of became more common with 32-foot by squared-off noses. That size would their trailers to tout the names of trailers, and were standard on longer remain the standard (with a height either their piggyback service or that sizes. Noses were becoming more blunt, increase to 13'-6" in the mid-1960s) of named piggyback trains. These with corners squared off to increase into the 1980s, 19. included Pennsy’s TrucTrain, C&NW’s cubic capacity. Refrigerated 40-foot trailers Falcon, Seaboard Air Line’s Razorback, Fruehauf dominated the trailer became popular in the 1960s as Southern Pacific’s Golden Pig Service, manufacturing market through the railroads’ -bunker and Conrail’s Trailvan. 1950s, but several other builders were fleets were on the decline. Produce Major builders during this period making trailers, including Baker, and meat traffic were shifting to included Fruehauf, Strick, Dorsey, Brown, Highway, Kentucky, and trucks, and piggyback was a way of Great Dane, Highway, Trailmobile, and Trailmobile. regaining that traffic. Two primary Utility. owners were 40-footers and , both of Trailers grow … rapidly In 1957, just as Trailer Train was in which had significant numbers of In 1981, changes in state regulations its second year and piggyback traffic reefer trailers through the 1960s, made the 45-foot trailer legal across was experiencing rapid growth, the 9 and 20. the country. Since most loads wouldn’t 40-foot-trailer became legal across Trailer paint and lettering schemes “cube out” at 40 feet (hit their weight the United States—coinciding also during the 40-foot era were plentiful. limit before the trailer was completely with the beginning of the new Early colorful railroad schemes full), the move effectively made the Interstate Highway system, 17. The included Chicago & North Western general-purpose 40-foot trailer obsolete 40-footer—8'-0" wide and 12'-6" green and yellow, Great Northern overnight. Truckload carriers in tall—was adopted quickly by the orange and green, Illinois Central particular immediately started buying trucking industry, and railroads and orange and brown, Pennsylvania tuscan, new trailers, with railroad owners leasing companies alike were acquiring and Union Pacific yellow and red, 21. jumping in as well.

21 1

CHAPTER FOUR Trailer and container flatcars

Trailer Train’s first flatcars were the Flatcars were the standard means of carrying trailers and 75-foot F39 cars inherited from the . Unfortunately, containers from the beginnings of piggyback operations by 1958, the cars were rendered obsolete by 40-foot trailers such as through the 1980s, 1. Through the years, these flatcars this beaded-side Norfolk & Western Fruehauf van. J. David Ingles collection evolved from rebuilt older general-service cars to dedicated- service flats of progressively longer and lighter designs.

42 2 Louisville & Nashville converted these 43-foot flatcars for TOFC service in 1955 by adding rub rails and jack connections. Kentucky built the exterior-post 32-foot trailers. Louisville & Nashville

Early piggyback flats The first piggyback operations used standard existing railroad flatcars—a natural choice. Although railroads converted some 40-foot flatcars for TOFC service, most early cars were 50- to 56-footers (53 feet was common). This allowed each car to carry a pair of the small (20- to 24-foot) trailers common through the 1940s, and then single 40-footers when they became legal in the late 1950s. However, cars first had to be converted to carry trailers, 2. How each railroad accomplished this varied widely, but many of the basic components and ideas were similar. Central to car designs was that through the 1950s, the only way to load and unload trailers on cars was by driving them on and off strings of cars at end unloading ramps (more on those 3 in chapter 8). To allow trailers to cross the gaps between cars, each car had a Workers tie down two short trailers on a 53-foot converted flatcar at the Chicago & steel bridge plate at each end (on the North Western ramp in Green Bay, Wis., in 1954. Chicago & North Western

43 19 The pedestal jack has been positioned and raised under the trailer kingpin. The crew then attaches and tightens the chains. Chicago & North Western

Dedicated piggyback trains were often scheduled to arrive overnight or in the early morning, as the goal is usually getting customers’ trailers to their docks early in the day. (Chapter 10 goes into more detail on train operations.) Terminal tractors Small single-track ramps were likely to contract with a local trucking or drayage company to provide loading service. For ramps that had their own tractors, these were usually older equipment far removed from first-line service. Larger terminals would have two or more tractors, and be much more likely to have specialized vehicles. In the days before companies like Ottawa and Capacity introduced specialized yard tractors (more on those in 20 chapter 9), railroads sometimes came up with their own specialized Chains were attached at the rear of the trailer as well as the front. The bridge plate solutions. One early version was and brake wheel have already been raised. The portable lamp at left is needed at a custom-order tractor built by night. W. A. Akin Hendrickson for the Pennsy, 24. The

100 21 Even after the coming of the automatic trailer hitch, railroads didn’t completely trust them. The holes in the Budd-style wheel provided a handy anchor for chains. Pennsylvania Railroad cab had rear-facing controls that allowed the driver to face the trailer for backing operations. It also had an open cab design so the driver didn’t have to leave the cab to disconnect brake and electric lines. Most of these were two-axle tractors for better maneuverability. Changes By the late 1960s, many small single- track ramps were being closed. Major terminals, especially those on larger railroads with extensive intermodal operations, were switching to cranes and side-loaders such as Piggy Packers for loading. However, plenty of small- and medium-sized yards (and some large ones) still used end ramps well into the 1980s. One example was the Soo Line, at the time a medium-sized Class I railroad serving the upper Midwest. Through the 1970s, the railroad 22 never operated a dedicated piggyback train, but it still handled plenty of Only a single worker with an air wrench is needed to raise and lower the ACF hitch intermodal traffic. In 1977, the railroad and to lock the jaws in place on the trailer’s kingpin. Pennsylvania Railroad

101 at the railroad’s Seattle yard in 2007. Because they can move containers directly to storage areas, the number of hostler and inter-facility truck moves are diminished. Multiple cranes ride on the same set of rails, which allows cranes to work on multiple trains at once or allows a single train to be worked by multiple cranes. Basic terminal operations Printed carlists and radio communications in the 1970s largely gave way to computerized lists and computer terminals by the 2000s. Yardmasters at modern terminals receive computerized lists of containers, trains, and railcars coming in, and know where they’re bound for. 18 Intermodal managers and clerks can issue directions and orders to The five cranes at BNSF’s Logistics Park Kansas City stand 90 feet tall, ride on rails, operators, yard truck drivers, and and are electrically powered. Each can work multiple tracks, or multiple cranes can train-switching crews, all via computer work the same train. BNSF screens (laptops or other devices). Containers are tracked by GPS, and optical recognition is used for incoming trailers, containers, chassis, and railcars. How a train is handled depends upon the type of terminal and the type of train. Inbound trains may arrive in an adjoining yard track or directly to a working track. The entire train may be unloaded, or trains may be switched so that cars with boxes and trailers bound for other destinations are switched out. For example, a mini-bridge container train from a port, say from Long Beach arriving at Chicago, with all containers from a single shipper, 19 may have platforms blocked so that those heading to points farther east can A ground crew member works in tandem with the crane operator. Here, a worker be cut out while the rest of the train is lowers the trailer landing gear and unlocks the hitch to release the kingpin before the sent to working tracks for unloading. crane lifts the trailer. Another operation sometimes needed at an inland terminal is to it is part of a 1,500-acre center cranes more closely resemble the large take an inbound double-stack train for distribution, transloading, and cranes used to unload ships. These and turn it into a single-stack, or warehousing. It has six 8,000-foot live cranes span up to eight tracks as well transfer containers to other car types tracks, parking spaces for 1,800 trailers, as truck lanes and part of the container for forwarding to lines with restricted and 4,300 container stacking spots. storage area. clearances. Along with sheer size, a new type of The BNSF cranes shown in photo crane is being used at these and other 18 were built by Kone Cranes. They Loading and unloading new terminals. Unlike the rubber-tired ride on rails, are electrically powered, The mechanics of how containers and cranes that span a pair of tracks and a and stand 90 feet tall and 275 feet trailers are loaded and unloaded varies truck lane, these huge new wide-span wide. The first of these were installed widely by terminal. Facilities with

110 20 For a trailer lift, the crane operator lowers the arms, adjusts the spread to match the trailer size, and engages the lower clamps on the lower side rails. The trailer is then lifted and placed on the ground and the clamps and arms disengaged. multiple tracks typically have a crane working each track, with side loaders assisting and moving containers as needed. Side loaders were common at smaller terminals. It takes many crew members to make a terminal work smoothly, including crane and loader operators, ground crew members, tractor drivers, and train crews. Crane and side loader operators typically work as a team with another worker on the ground. When a cut of cars is placed for unloading, a ground crew member walks the train in front of the crane or side loader, unlocking IBCs and trailer hitches, lowering trailer landing 21 dollies, and securing twist locks on loaded chassis as needed, 19. Drivers For a container, the operator matches the crane’s pins to the corner castings. Doing a will have placed empty chassis pair of end pins first ensures that the other end will match when lowered. along the cars as needed. The crane then proceeds down the line, lifting containers and trailers and placing them on the ground or on chassis. Drivers pull trailers and containers/ chassis as they are loaded. For loading, the process is reversed. Once drivers have placed trailers and containers, the crane will pick them up and place them on the railcars, following hand signals from the ground crew member. The ground member makes sure each car is secure with hitches set, IBCs are locked in double- stacks, and IBCs are placed on lower containers in stack cars prior to placing the top container. Experienced crane operators can make a lift—placing one container or 22 trailer in position—in under a minute. A good average is 60 to 90 seconds per Tugboats guide the 4,500-TEU Mol Encore (built in 2003) to a berth with multiple lift. On a modern straddle crane, the unloading cranes at the Port of . The port features 270 berths with 91 operator is in an enclosed bay (early ship-to-shore container cranes. Port of Los Angeles

111 European lines docking at New York, Charleston (S.C.), Virginia, Savannah (Ga.), or Houston. As the 1970s dawned, railroads began devising more-efficient ways of hauling this traffic. Two basic types of service were being envisioned: land- bridge and mini-bridge. Land-bridge service was envisioned as North American rail lines serving as the middle segment between two ocean segments: for example, containers 13 traveling from China to Europe arriving by ship on the West Coast, traveling American President Lines signed a deal with Union Pacific to carry double-stack in a solid train across the country, containers from Los Angeles to Chicago in 1983. This UP train is on Santa Fe’s Cajon and loaded aboard ship again on the line in 1986. Andy Sperandeo East Coast (saving a trip through the Panama Canal or around Cape Horn). Busiest U.S. rail intermodal St. Paul. Trains were 15–25 cars long, Mini-bridge service would become ports/terminals, 2013 used three-man crews, and ran through much more common. This is taking a 1. Chicago area 5,669,000 normal crew-change points. trainload of containers from a single 2. Long Beach area 4,881,000 A similar train was Illinois Central shipper at a port to a point within 3. Atlanta 1,302,000 Gulf ’s Chicago to St. Louis Slingshot. the country, where the containers are Started in 1975, the train used one off-loaded and driven to their final 4. Dallas/Fort Worth area 1,268,000 locomotive, no , two-man crews, destinations (for example, from Long 5. Seatle/Tacoma area 1,035,000 and had a 15-car maximum length. Beach to Chicago). 6. South Kearny/North Bergen 989,000 area Railroads were providing basic Containers and double-stacks mini-bridge service by the early 1970s, 7. Memphis area 796,000 As international shipping moved but initially by carrying containers 8. Kansas City area 632,000 to containers and away from time- waybilled singly in existing trains. The 9. Harrisburg, Pa. 610,000 consuming (and expensive) break-bulk difference between that and a true 10. Stockton, Calif. 561,000 operations from the 1960s into the bridge service is rates: ocean shipping 11. Jacksonville, Fla. 540,000 1970s, railroads began carrying more lines received a rate break for moving a 12. Norfolk, Va., area 507,000 international shipping containers (see trainload of containers.

Figures are total originating and terminating chapters 1 and 3). Most of these were The first true land-bridge service containers and trailers that traveled by rail. imports, carrying consumer goods was carried out by Santa Fe and Source: Association of American Railroads from Asian and European markets Penn Central. In August 1972, the to the United States. Unlike truck railroads paired to carry SeaTrain Lines and four-member train trailers, which usually feature individual containers originating in Asia from crews were still standard through the shipments, this new container traffic Los Angeles to , bound for 1970s. Because of the nature of dedicated included large numbers of containers Europe. The 60-car train used then- piggyback trains (higher speeds with (by the shipload) from the same conventional 89-foot piggyback flats, little or no en route switching moves), shipping company, bound for a single 12. The rail route saved about 10 days several TOFC trains were among destination or region. over all-ocean . the first to operate with fewer crew Initial operations included Sea- American President Lines (APL) members, run without cabooses, and/or Land containers moving between began mini-bridge service in 1979, skip normal crew-change points to make Europe and the West Coast; ships contracting with the Union Pacific longer runs. This meant negotiating with docked in Houston and containers and C&NW to move containers from operating unions to do so. went by rail to California. Seatrain had Los Angeles to Chicago, albeit on Trains doing this included Central containers traveling from Hawaii to conventional flatcars. As chapter 6 Vermont’s Rocket, which in the late the East Coast or Europe, with ships explains, the Southern Pacific had been 1970s ran from Palmer, Mass., to St. docking in California and traveling working with ACF and Sea-Land to Albans, Vt., with a two-man crew, no overland by rail, saving time over a develop the first double-stack cars. caboose, and a 15-car maximum pulled trip through the Panama Canal. Other They entered service in 1981, hauling by a single locomotive. container traffic came from Asian containers from California to Houston, In 1978, Milwaukee Road began companies docking at Los Angeles, followed by APL double-stack trains in running its Sprint from Chicago to Long Beach, Oakland, and Seattle, and Thrall well cars in 1983, 13.

122 Major U.S. intermodal routes and terminals, 2012

Edmonton

Saskatoon

Vancouver Calgary Regina Moncton Winnipeg Seattle Saint John Tacoma Dryden Halifax Spokane Thunder Bay Montreal

Portland Dilworth Auburn Billings Albany Ayer Toronto Minneapolis- Worcester Syracuse Springfield St. Paul Buffalo Scranton Milwaukee Newark/Elizabeth/ Toledo Cleveland Bethlehem North Bergen Rochelle Harrisburg Morrisville Philadelphia Pittsburgh Chicago Baltimore Omaha Salt Lake City Indianapolis Columbus Front Royal Alexandria Oakland Reno Decatur Stockton/Lathrop Denver Cincinnati Kansas City Louisville Georgetown Norfolk/Portsmouth St. Louis Legend Fresno Evansville Kingsport More than 500,000 lifts per year Greensboro Las Vegas 250,000 - 500,000 lifts per year Nashville Charlotte 100,000 - 250,000 lifts per year Less than 100,000 lifts per year Albuquerque Little Huntsville Note: Volumes are for 2005 Los Angeles Rock Memphis San Bernardino Amarillo BNSF Railway Atlanta Charleston Canadian National Phoenix Canadian Pacific Birmingham CSX Transportation Savannah Ft. Worth East Coast Dallas Iowa Interstate Tucson Jackson Kansas City Southern El Paso Mobile Jacksonville Montana Rail Link Montreal, Maine & Atlantic New Brunswick Southern/ © 2013 Kalmbach Publishing Co., Orlando Eastern Maine TRAINS: Rick Johnson Norfolk Southern Map research by Curtis W. Richards San Antonio Houston Pan Am Railways and Matt Van Hattem Ft. Pierce Tampa St. Lawrence & Atlantic Union Pacific Ft. Lauderdale Laredo Miami

The Staggers Act of 1980, which Typical international container schedule deregulated railroads, greatly aided railroads in securing container traffic. Chicago Cleveland

Railroads were now able to negotiate Day 1: Trucking Los Angeles/ Long Beach company picks up E A N O C Day 34: Shipment arrives at rates with individual shipping lines load at manufacturer F I C Cleveland area intermodal P A C I and delivers to pier facility, and is trucked to without ICC approval. International Day 22-23: Container importer’s facility Shenzhen is unloaded at Los shipping companies were also then Angeles/Long Beach and onto a train able to solicit domestic backhauls for Day 2-3: Chinese Day 5: Container is 0 Scale 1,000 miles Day 24: Train departs customs process loaded onto a ship © 2015 Kalmbach Publishing Co. Southern California containers that otherwise would have outbound paperwork TRAINS: Rick Johnson been returning empty, which wouldn’t have been possible before Staggers. A combination of the move to at sea, so high train speeds aren’t worth eventually started carrying some stack containers, deregulation, and the the effort or expense (see container traffic, it concentrated on trailers until its development of double-stack cars led to schedule above). This means stack merger with Burlington Northern. an explosion of container traffic from trains generally run on slower schedules Clearance issues in the the 1980s through the 1990s. In 1989, than TOFC trains, and they are usually Northeast—a problem with ordinary there were 100 scheduled stack trains in heavier and longer. trailers in early piggyback days—were the United States; by 1996, APL alone Trains carrying domestic containers especially troublesome with double- had 250 bridge trains/routes in North receive faster service. And you’ll often stacks. Although many routes can now America. The map above shows modern see double-stacks mixed with trailers handle these trains, many double- major U.S. double-stack routes, along and other domestic container traffic, stacks coming in from the West Coast with container terminals. depending upon traffic levels. would be single-stacked at Chicago Trains carrying international Some railroads initially steered clear or another inland facility before containers are scheduled differently of double-stacks, notably Santa Fe. That continuing to the East Coast. than piggyback trains, which are often railroad’s Chicago-Los Angeles main line The chart on page 122 shows hotshots because they’re competing was a speedway by railroad standards, the largest U.S. ports, where most directly with the speed of trucks. For and Santa Fe ran hotshot piggyback international container traffic hits the the most part, international double- trains along the corridor. Heavy, slow rails. A perennial problem is that after stack traffic isn’t as time-sensitive—a double-stack trains didn’t fit Santa Fe’s their contents are unloaded, containers container has already spent several days operational plans. Although the railroad often make the return trip empty.

123