[RITSlist] TOFC on RI Questions

[Jim Eager]

>When did 40' trailers become the norm? It appears 89' flats came out 
>in 1961 so it was before that.

Forty-foot vans were becoming increasingly more common with motor 
carriers by the mid-late 1950s, but railroads were stuck at 
35-footers as the 75ft tofc flats of the time (the old Walthers 
model) could only load two 35s or one 40. This prompted carbuilders 
to develop 85ft cars capable of loading two 40s. Trailer Train and 
several railroads put the first 85ft tofc flats into service in 1959, 
while the RI got their first cars in 1960. (Athearn's revamped raised 
sill tofc-only model is based on a Pullman car from 1960-64.)  The 
first 89ft cars were indeed introduced in late 1961, and were capable 
of loading two 40s or one 40 and one 45 (a 40 with a nose-mounted 
reefer at that time).

>When did 40' trailers get phased out for 45'/48' trailers? It 
>appears that it occurred after RI ceased operations.

Forty-five footers were street-legal in most Western states and in 
Canada long before the Rock's demise. In fact, Rock Island Motor 
Transit operated 45ft vans, which were acquired second hand by the 
Western Pacific sometime before 1978 and employed in tofc service, 
marked "Oakland-Salt Lake City Only." Several other railroads also 
operated 45s in tofc service before 1980, when the Motor Carrier Act 
made 45ft vans legal nation-wide. However, railroads were slow to 
convert due to the business recession and the fact that existing 
piggyback flats could not load two 45s. As the recession eased 
railroads began to lease the longer vans and convert 89ft flats to 
load two 45s. In 1982 the Surface Transportation Act legalized 48ft 
and 102in wide trailers.

>Did RI trailers predominate until a certain time frame?

Judging from photos it looks like RIZ and RIMT and motor carrier 
trailers were most common (all of the ones you listed, plus Ringsby), 
with PC trailers leading in through interchanged vans.

-- 

Jim Eager <jeager at sympatico.ca>
Toronto, Ontario, Canada


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