More TOFC Goodness in N from Trainworx (announcements)

[jagged ben]

I wouldn't think that many 40-footers made it past the transition to 45s because they were drop-frame. Problem with the drop-frame design is it doesn't age well. Welds at the drop tend to weaken and break. Buddy who owns a trucking company dragged me along on a couple of used trailer shopping sprees, and showed me what to look for. We (he) came away empty-handed both times.

I'm inclined to agree, but then, there's a prototype for everything...

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/552312/

(Not that 1985 is really 'past the transition to 45s'.   More like the closing chapter.) 

That Family Lines scheme, by the way, would have been a successor to the L&N scheme Trainworx is doing.  That L&N scheme would be most spot on for 60s to 70s, not 70s to 80s. 

[Englewood]

I too am glad it wasn't 53' trailers this time. The wallet has taken a pounding and will need at least a year to recover.

[Mark5]

Clipper on the former EL line in Akron May 1978:

https://akronrrclub.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/legit-tagging.jpg

From here: https://akronrrclub.wordpress.com/tag/intermodal-trains

Mark

[mcjaco]

C&EI.....a must have!

Indeed!  A leader in TOFC service!

[up1950s]

I would love to see some of these roads in pre 1960 schemes and trailers .

[jagged ben]

Clipper on the former EL line in Akron May 1978:

https://akronrrclub.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/legit-tagging.jpg

From here: https://akronrrclub.wordpress.com/tag/intermodal-trains

Mark

Nice!

[James Costello]

I wouldn't think that many 40-footers made it past the transition to 45s because they were drop-frame. Problem with the drop-frame design is it doesn't age well. Welds at the drop tend to weaken and break.

Here's a couple of quotes from the modelintermodal list that touch on loads, era and their demise:

drop-frames were commonly used for hauling new furniture, appliances, carpet, and auto parts. For example, Issue no.103 of the GM&OHS News has a photo of one (a Black Diamond) with belt rails loaded with supermarket frozen food bins loaded two-high, with the upper tier set on cross-bars.

although several roads rostered a hand-full of drop-frames, only a roads with a lot of carpet or furniture traffic had substantial numbers of them, so there was no real "most" common brand. The closest would be Dorsey, Great Dane, and surprise, surprise, Fruehauf.

> The only use I recall reading of for these was carpeting coming out of the south east. I know they had other uses, just all I can remember.

Others have mentioned new furniture, but they were also used for some lightweight but bulky auto parts (seats, dash boards, body stampings, etc.) moving shorter distances than typical rail moves.

Drop frame trailers were a holdover from the days then then rail trailer fleet was entirely 40' units, and a dropframe was the only way to get high cube in 40'. They fell from favor because they lack the versatility of a straight frame van.

A 45/96 straightframe van is roughly equal in cube to a dropframe, and a 45/102 straightframe has more cubic capacity than a 40/96 dropframe by about 100-200 cft. The low deck height poses a problem with loading docks, and the small tires limit the amount of weight that they can carry.
Additionally, many 40' dropframes could only be pulled with single-axle tractors, while most tractors used in intermodal drayage are tandems.

I worked at the now-defunct Kane Transfer Co. in Baltimore in 1982-83, and we often got them in over the SOU and RF&P ramps in Alexandria carrying loads of water heaters from Alabama. The load would be double-stacked in the drop portion of the trailer, and one-high in the nose. Because of the problems named above, nearly all of them got sent back empty to the ramp. The drivers and mechanics also hated them because of problems with the small tires (usually 7.50x15's), which ran hot at highway speeds and were even more failure-prone than the full-size junk tires used on pig vans in those days.

[C855B]

Nifty info, James! Sounded like they were a logistics nightmare overall.

[jagged ben]

I'm definitely not surprised that the small tires caused problems.  I sorta figured they were intended only for short haul trips from intermodal terminals.  It's certainly weird to see tires that size on such a 40ft trailer.  (Note that UPS drop frames have full sized wheels and wheel wells, and lasted a lot longer).   

[nkalanaga]

I don't remember ever noticing drop-frame trailers in Pasco in the 70s.  Some probably went through, but I never noticed them.  On the other hand, "Intermodal" wasn't a word yet, at least in the inland Northwest, and most piggyback flats were run, a few at a time, in manifest freights.  There was only one dedicated piggyback train, that I know of, and that was the Pacific Zip, or "Zip Train".  Pasco didn't get a dedicated piggyback terminal until the mid 70s, before that any trailers were unloaded at either the passenger station/team track, with a portable ramp, or at the Big Pasco industrial park, with either a WW II era fixed ramp, or a crane for containers.

[Mark5]

These are popping up on Ebay now, so I guess we'll see them at the usual online suspects soon. 

[jagged ben]

(Arg, can't remember what I pre-ordered.)

[Mark5]

"live" at MBK now.