Nov 9, 2001 I finally had some time to get back to compiling a timeline of early TOFC/COFC from news reports and feature articles in Railway Age and I have now finished the 1950s, which was the era that intermodal realy took off. For those who might be interested I have broken it down into several magagable chunks. Here is Pt 1, with the others to follow separately. Enjoy- Jim 1950s Intermodal Pt 1 1951 ATSF converts two 53ft flatcars for TOFC experiments (class Ft-L) 1952 - Rail-Trailer founded by Eugene Ryan to promote TOFC service and provide consulting on design and operations for railroads seeking to offer TOFC service - B&O begins Time Saver LCL TOFC service in December - C&EI begins LCL TOFC service - CN begins LCL TOFC service between Montreal-Toronto in December; uses converted 52ft flats - CP begins LCL TOFC service between Montreal-Toronto in December; uses converted 48ft flats - Detroit & Mackinac ??? _._ 1953 - EMD builds an experimental depressed-center, side-loading 75-foot flat capable of handling two 35-foot trailers on low-clearance routes; EMD also builds a conventional straight-deck car that becomes CGW 1 - Pullman-Standard designs a flush-deck side-loading 75-foot flat; never goes into production - Van-Car, a subsidiary of Rail-Trailer, announces plans to build a fleet of 500 side-loading TOFC flats for lease to railroads - Term "Piggyback" objected to by some railroad executives as being undignified - ARR begins handling common-carrier trailers TOFC seasonally - B&O considers extending service to New York market via RDG-CNJ - CN expands TOFC service to Hamilton in July - C&NW begins LCL TOFC service between Chicago-Green Bay in August; expands service to Twin Cities and Omaha in November, Milwaukee in December; uses converted 53ft flats - NYNH&H carries over 50,000 LCL, common-carrier, and shipper-owned trailers in its Trailiner TOFC service in 1953, generating almost $2 million in revenue; wins permanent injunction in April prohibiting Teamsters Union boycott of its terminals; NH asks ICC to clarify position on 20 questions regarding rates and what kind of traffic may be carried by TOFC: railroad-solicited using railroad-supplied equipment, common-carrier trucker, private and contract trucker, and freight-forwarder - SP/T&NO begins LCL TOFC service between Houston-Lake Charles in May; begins trailer-load service between Los Angeles-San Francisco in July for Pacific Motor Trucking - UP begins LCL and trailer-load TOFC service between Los Angeles-Las Vegas in August; extended to Salt Lake City in November, mainly to handle steel from US Steel's Geneva Works that had been lost to trucks; uses converted 53ft flats _._ 1954 - ICC suspends proposed TOFC trailer-load tariffs of B&O, DL&W, ERIE, LV, NKP, PRR and WAB in June due to protest by motor carriers; lifts suspension in July pending hearings; rules in August on 12 of the 20 questions submitted by NH; key rulings are that movement of railroad-owned trailers via TOFC does not require a motor carrier certificate and that common-carrier, private-carrier, and freight-forwarder traffic may be carried with restrictions; way finally cleared for explosive growth of piggyback service - Pullman designs an all-purpose side and end-loading TOFC car with elevating deck to reduce clearances; never goes into production - GM announces that it will not build its TOFC design but will license other firms to do so; never goes into production - Piggy-Back Inc. formed to develop the French Clejan system for the North American market - Canadian Rail Van Systems tests new container that locks to the flatcar and trailer chassis as with later ISO container systems - ATSF begins LCL and trailer-load TOFC service between Chicago-Kansas City and Los Angeles-San Diego in November; tests an experimental flatcar-mounted bilevel autorack developed by Evans - B&O begins trailer-load TOFCEE service in July; uses converted 41 and 53ft flats - CB&Q begins LCL TOFC service; builds ten 75-foot flats using Commonwealth cast steel underframes - C&EI begins trailer-load TOFC service between Chicago-St. Louis and Chicago-Evansville - C&NW begins trailer-load TOFC service between Chicago-Green Bay in March; expands service between Twin Cities-Duluth/Superior in May - CN begins trailer-load TOFC service in July - CP begins trailer-load TOFC service in January - DL&W begins LCL TOFC service between Newark-Buffalo in June; begins trailer-load service in July and service extended to Cleveland, Chicago and St. Louis via NKP, and to Detroit and Chicago via WAB; uses 40ft flats rebuilt from retired gondolas - ERIE begins trailer-load TOFC service between Jersey City-Chicago in July; uses converted 45 and 53ft flats; orders 75ft flats from Bethlehem Steel Car for delivery in January 1955 - GN begins LCL TOFC service between Twin Cities-Duluth-Superior in May, trailer-load service in September; uses converted 52 and 54ft flats - KCS begins trailer-load TOFC service in September between Dallas-Shreveport-New Orleans; later expands service to Kansas City; uses converted 41 and 52ft flats - LV begins trailer-load TOFC service between Newark-Buffalo and to Cleveland and Chicago via NKP in July; uses converted 50ft flats - MKT begins LCL, trailer-load, and common-carrier TOFC service between Kansas City-Oklahoma City in July, later expands to St. Louis, Tulsa and Dallas; uses converted 40ft flats - NKP begins trailer-load TOFC service between Chicago-Cleveland-Buffalo in July and to New York via DL&W and LV; uses converted 43 and 53ft flats - NP begins LCL TOFC service in August, trailer-load in October; uses converted 50 and 53ft flats - NYC contracts Rail-Trailer in January to develop New York City and Boston-Chicago TOFC service using dedicated piggyback trains of 75-foot cars; service set to begin in October; A.E. Pearlman elected President of NYC in June; NYC announces in October that TOFC service will be "held in abeyance" pending further study, Early Bird service promoted instead - NYNH&H and US Post Office conduct trials of TOFC mail service; TOFC traffic in solid trains when volume warrants - PRR begins LCL and trailer-load Truc Train service between Jersey City-Newark-Philadelphia-Pittsburgh-Chicago in July; extends service to St. Louis in December; uses converted 50-foot flats (class F30D); leases first 200 75ft TOFC flats (class F39) capable of hauling two 35-foot trailers from Van-Car; moves 1,330 trailers in first year - SLSF tests Railiner COFC containers - SP/T&NO begins LCL TOFC service between Houston-Dallas/Ft. Worth - SSW begins trailer-load TOFC service in September carrying Southwestern Transportation Co. trailers - UP expands TOFC service between Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Wyoming stations in May-July; begins interline service with SP in October; tests an experimental flatcar-mounted bilevel autorack developed by Evans - Wabash begins LCL and trailer-load TOFC service between Buffalo-Detroit-Chicago and St. Louis in July; hauls 381 trailers that year; uses converted 53ft flats End of Part 1 1950s Intermodal Pt 2 1955 - ICC issues final ruling upholding TOFC common carrier truck-load rates (Plan I) of B&O, DL&W, ERIE, NKP, PRR, WAB; suspends a C&EI tariff that allowed a discount for shippers draying their own trailers, and free return of empties - Clark Mobilvan formed by Rail-Trailer to market COFC containers developed by Clark Equipment; Fruehauf to produce containers, which lock to the car and trailer chassis; Clark to produce forklift trucks to handle loading - Dry ice and mechanical cooling of trailers tested on ATSF, B&O, C&EI, CGW, LV-NKP, NP, and UP - ARR orders 24ft marine/rail containers for ship-COFC-truck service - ATSF expands service Chicago-Denver; begins interline TOFC service with GN via WP at Stockton in May; expands service between California-Arizona-New Mexico-Texas in August - B&O extends TOFCEE service to Washington, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Toledo in March; establishes interline service with C&NW in December - CI&L (Monon) begins Trailer-Maid TOFC service between Chicago-Louisville and Chicago-Indianapolis in January, interline movements with C&NW and NKP; uses converted 38-foot flats - C&NW begins trailer-load service between Chicago-Twin Cities in February; begins service to St. Louis via Litchfield & Madison and to Louisville via CI&L in June; establishes interline service with B&O, DL&W, GN, LV, NKP, PRR, RDG, UP, WAB, WM - CN extends TOFC service Toronto-London in August - CP extends TOFC service Toronto-London in August; operates separate service in West - DL&W adds terminal to serve Elmira/Corning in April; extends service via NYS&W in December - ERIE adds service to Cleveland and Youngstown in March; interlines with C&NW and ATSF in December; tests NH Clejan cars in June - GN extends TOFC service Fargo-Minot; establishes interline service with CB&Q, C&NW, SOO in the East, in the West with SP and WP-ATSF via the Inside Gateway at Bieber in May - IC begins TOFC service between Chicago-Memphis in June; uses converted 40 and 50ft flats - L&N begins TOTE (Trailer On Train Express) service between Louisville-Birmingham-New Orleans in August - M&StL begins tRAILer TOFC service between St. Paul-Peoria in November; adds Twin Cities-St. Louis and interlines with WAB in December; uses converted 50 flats - NKP establishes interline service with P&WV-WM-RDG, C&NW, UP, SSW, T&NO/SP, SLSF, CI&L (MON) - NYNH&H builds two prototype 75-foot Clejan cars designed by Piggy-Back, Inc; begins testing the cars in Trailiner service in February; cars also tested by Erie, MKT, SP and UP; NH buys its first trailers (has only carried common-carrier, contract and shipper trailers before) - N&W establishes interline common-carrier TOFC service with PRR between New York-Philadelphia-Roanoke via Hagerstown in November, the first interline of common-carrier trailers. - NP TOFC service covers Twin Cities-Duluth/Superior, Twin Cities-Fargo, Seattle-Tacoma-Portland, and interline with SP - PRR begins common-carrier Truc Train service in March; hauls 944 common-carrier and 1,220 railroad trailers in May; extends TOFC service to Cleveland-Indianapolis-Louisville in June; interline service established with N&W in November and with C&NW in December; builds 300 more 75-foot flats in 1955-56; investment to date is $5 million in cars, $500,000 in terminals - P&WV mainly bridges TOFC traffic between RDG-WM-NKP, but does have its own modified flats and trailers - RDG begins trailer-load TOFC service between Philadelphia/Camden-Chicago via WM-P&WV-NKP in January; extends to E.St. Louis in April; uses converted 46ft gondolas - SLSF begins TOFC service between St. Louis and Kansas City to Dallas/Fort Worth in the summer; Tulsa and Oklahoma City added in October; uses converted 42-foot flats - Soo Line begins LCL TOFC service between Twin Cities-Neenah/Menasha in March; uses converted 40 and 50-foot flatcars and 24-foot trailers - SP/T&NO expands TOFC service between San Francisco-Ukia and San Francisco-Portland and to Seattle via NP in February; also interlines with SSW, GN and UP; operates TOFC service over more than 7,500 route miles from Portland to New Orleans; moves 37,736 trailers in first 9 months of 1955 - T&P begins hauling shipper-owned trailers TOFC between Fort Worth-Odessa for Armour & Co that summer - UP begins handling Armour & Co trailers between Omaha-Kearny; begins interline service between Chicago-Denver via C&NW and St. Louis-Denver via WAB in July - Wabash interlines with DL&W, LV, C&NW, ATSF, UP; orders 20 75-foot flats from PRR and builds 50 more - WM mainly bridges TOFC traffic between RDG-P&WV-NKP, but it does have its own converted flats and trailers - WP begins TOFC service in May mainly as interline link between GN-ATSF via the Inside Gateway Bieber-Stockton, but does have its own converted 56ft flats and trailers - Trailer Train formed in November by PRR, N&W and Rail-Trailer to supply standardized TOFC equipment to member/owner railroads End of Part 2 1950s Intermodal Pt 3 1956 - ICC upholds use of private shipper-supplied trailers in February (Plan III) - ACF introduces a reliable collapsible hitch making TOFC service more practical, economical, and standardized - ACF introduces 38-foot 2-axle Adapto cars for TOFC and containerized freight, and Lodapto cars for TOFC on low clearance routes; teams up with Clark Mobilvan to develop 17 and 35-foot containers for the system, including dry boxes, reefers, top-loading bulk boxes, bulkhead pallets and gondolas, even auto racks are tested; also teams up with Fruehauf to offer combined Adapto-trailer marketing deal - Pullman-Standard fields its own experimental 2-axle car as well; never enters production - Malcolm McLean founds Sea-Land and begins using standardized containers for maritime shipping - Clark Mobilvan introduces 21-foot aluminum exterior-post container manufactured by Fruehauf; Spector Freight System uses them COFC via PRR Truc Train - North American Car and Hormel test refrigerated Clark Mobilvan containers on the MILW between Austin, MN-Chicago; the 475cuft containers are cooled by dry ice but have electric circulating fans, built by Highway; MILW flat cars fitted with deck locks and axle belt driven generators - Piggy-Back Inc forms Piggy-Back Service Corp to offer TOFC terminal services for Clejan cars - First TOFC transcontinental through rates go into effect November 1 - TOFC volume up over 1955: 24% on SP, 40% on PRR, 47% on DL&W, 60% on CB&Q, 83% on the Wabash - ATSF establishes interline TOFC service with CB&Q, M&StL, SP, WAB - B&LE begins interline TOFC service from Butler and Pittsburgh to New York, Louisville, St. Louis via MON, NKP, DL&W, LV; uses converted 50ft flats - B&M begins TOFC service between Boston-Buffalo-Cleveland-Chicago-St. Louis via D&H-ERIE/DL&W/LV-NKP/WAB ; uses converted 45ft flats; orders Clejan cars, order later canceled - CNJ begins interline TOFC service to Chicago via RDG-B&O - C&NW extends LCL service Chicago-Rockford & Beloit; establishes interline TOFC service with ATSF, MKT, SLSF, SSW, SP - CN expands service to Toronto-Windsor - C&O begins testing Railvan trailers equipped with rail wheels (forerunner of RoadRailer) - DL&W establishes interline service to New England via L&NE-NYNH&H - ERIE orders 50 Clejan cars from P-S for through service with NH - GN and NP begin pool handling parcel-post mail by TOFC between Duluth-St. Paul - IC extends TOFC service between Chicago-New Orleans in June, handles coffee beans from Brazil; expands to Chicago-St. Louis in November; publishes tariff for shipper-owned trailers - KCS interlines with CB&Q; orders 50 Clejan cars from P-S to expand TOFC service - MP begins COFC service between St. Louis-Kansas City in January; uses unmodified gondolas, 32x8x8 containers, and gantry crane loading; also offers limited TOFC service; uses converted 40-50ft flats and TTX flats - NYNH&H first road to adopt Clejan system; 200 79-foot cars delivered from P-S in July - PRR's Pittsburgh ramp is handling 80 trailers per day, ramp is expanded; service expanded to other terminals; sets record of handling 1,000 common carrier trailers per week, carries trailers of 28 motor freight companies; interline service expanded to ATSF, MKT, SLSF, SSW - RI orders 50 Adapto cars and a variety of Convert-A-Freight containers for COFC service - Soo Line expands TOFC service between Minneapolis-Chicago - SP decides to use Clejan system; SP and UP interline between California-Oregon - US Army Transportation Corps conducts TOCF/COFC tests using 75-foot PRR Truc Train cars and ACF Adapto cars - Trailer Train begins service March 1 with 500 75-foot PRR flats and orders 330 more cars; tests ACF and Pullman 2-axle cars, orders 1,000 ACF Adapto cars but order is later canceled; B&M, CB&Q, MKT, MP, SLSF, and WAB join; CB&Q and WAB sell their 75-foot cars to Trailer Train _._ 1957 - Roy Fruehauf predicts: "The railroad boxcar is now on the way to the Smithsonian Institution. I think piggy-back will replace practically every boxcar in the country.... Every Class I railroad will offer piggy-back service within the next several years." - ICC upholds rates for shipper-owned trailers in TOFC service (Plan III) - Fruehauf and Piggy-Back Inc introduce containers in July for COFC use with Clejan cars; tested on SP - Pullman-Standard and Trailmobile develop competing PAT container system for COFC service - Contrans operates Plan IV (shipper-owned rail car and trailer/container) COFC service - First transcontinental TOFC shipments: two printing presses shipped from Hoboken to San Francisco via DL&W-WAB-ATSF, and Hoboken to Santa Anna via DL&W-NKP-SSW-T&NO-SP; pharmaceutical shipment via DL&W-NKP-SSW-T&NO-SP - B&O expands interline TOFC service to Omaha, Denver, Billings via ATSF, C&NW, CB&Q-C&S, CRI&P, M&StL, MP, UP, WAB - C&NW begins common-carrier TOFC service between Chicago-Twin Cities in June using TTX 75ft flats; later expands service to Council Bluffs and Sioux City - CN and CP begin common-carrier TOFC service with 8 trucking companies between Montreal-Toronto in September - C&O tests Railvan trailers in mail service between Detroit-Grand Rapids in December - CRI&P negotiating with western trucking companies PIE and CF to provide common-carrier TOFC service between Denver-Chicago, Kansas City and St. Louis - ERIE begins common-carrier service between New England-Chicago via the NYNH&H in January using Clejan cars - FEC begins TOFC service between Miami-Jacksonville - IC expands TOFC service to Jackson, Mississippi - KCS begins using Clejan cars - M&StL begins common-carrier TOFC service - NYC experiments with prototype single-unit Flexi-Van car developed by Fruehauf-owned Strick Trailers; places $8 million order for its first 150 Mark I two-unit Flexi-Van side-loading COFC cars, 900 containers, and 150 bogies; will handle only railroad-solicited service and equipment (Plan II), will not handle competing common-carrier traffic (Plan I) - SP builds its first 150 79ft Clejan cars and orders 830 trailers; tests containers for COFC service on Clejan cars; begins common-carrier service between Los Angeles-San Francisco-Portland with three western truck lines - Trailer Train begins fitting 200 existing 75ft flats with ACF hitches; begins converting 286 PRR 50ft flats with ACF hitches to carry single 40-foot trailers (class F30G); issues design specifications for 85-foot flats capable of handling two 40-footers or one 40 and one 45-footer (class F85); C&NW joins Trailer Train End of Part 3 1950s Intermodal Pt 4 1958 - ACF rolls out first 85ft TOFC flat - General American Transportation Corp purchases Piggyback Inc to acquire Clejan system - Railiner side-loading container system introduced by Southern Car & manufacturing; tested by B&M - Stick develops 17.5ft Stricktainer system that can be handled 2 per 35ft chassis or using Flexi-Van bogies - Seatrain develops 35ft Seamobile intermodal container system - Matson using Trailmobile 24ft marine-rail-truck containers between California-Hawaii - Two freight consolidators/forwarders, Republic Carloading and U.S. Freight's Universal Carloading, lease their own Clejan cars for Plan IV TOFC service (shipper-supplied rail car and trailer/container) ; Acme Fast Freight, National Carloading, and Clipper Carloading plan similar service; ICC suspends some Plan III and IV tariffs in August pending judgment - US Freight Joins Trailer Train to lease TOFC cars; buys Flexi-Van containers and bogies for use on NYC lines - Ringsby, a common carrier trucking company, acquires forwarder rights of Interstate Express and orders 15 cars and 50 containers to offer Flexi-Van service - ABC Freight Forwarding begins "Speed Van" Plan IV COFC service between NYC (Elizabethport, NJ) and Baltimore via B&O - American President Lines acquires Flexi-Van containers for international rail-marine service - REA Express uses New Haven's TOFC service between Boston-NYC - Alaska RR, Alaska Steamship Co, and Garrison Fast Freight using 24ft containers and 40ft truck trailers in joint intermodal service - ATSF builds 25 88-foot TOFC flats (class Ft-11) capable of handling two 40ft trailers - B&O and CB&Q handle trailers of Swift Packing between Omaha and Philadelphia as Plan III (shipper-supplied trailer/container only) service - CB&Q buys 100 Flexi-Van containers and bogies for joint TOFC/COFC service with NYC; hauls TOFC loads on overnight local head-end passenger trains Denver-Chicago and Omaha-Kansas City, handles up to 17 trailers Den-Chi nightly - Florida East Coast begins common carrier trailer load (Plan I) TOFC service - IC expands its Plan II (railroad supplied equipment) TOFC service to Omaha and Sioux City - L&N begins interline TOFC service; handles 844 TOFC carloads in 1958 - Maine Central begins common carrier (Plan I) TOFC service - Milwaukee Road, already handling meat in refrigerated Clark Mobilvan containers for Hormel, begins Flexi-Van COFC service in December - MP begins using 35ft refrigerated containers in COFC service - NYC begins Flexi-Van COFC service in April between North Bergen, NJ-Chicago; expands service to most of NYC/P&LE system by November - RI converts 250 52-foot war-emergency composite gons for TOFC service - SLSF hauls first interline TOFC between Chicago-Pennsicola - SP orders 150 85ft Clejan cars from GATC; establishes interline service to Seattle and Tacoma via NP, and Chicago-Oakland via RI-D&RGW for common carrier Plan I traffic of Consolidated Freightways, which sparks court challenge by Teamsters unions; tests auto carrier trailers in TOFC service in conjunction with GM - Trailer Train orders 800 85-foot flats from ACF and Pullman-Standard; B&O, RI and U.S. Freight (a freight consolidator and forwarder) join Trailer Train _._ 1959 - ICC authorizes Plan III tariffs for freight forwarders - General American introduces G-85 85ft TOFC flat capable of handling both conventional and Clejan-equipped trailers and containers - States Marine Lines orders Flexi-Van containers for international rail-marine service - REA Express uses PRR Truc Train TOFC service between Philadelphia-Chicago - TOFC shipment of new automobiles using semi-trailer auto carriers begun by SP, WP, and Frisco; other roads soon follow during 1959-60 in an effort to lure auto traffic-all but lost to trucks by 1959-to return to the rails, including CB&Q, C&NW, D&H, D&RGW, ERIE/EL, GN, KCS, L&N, MILW, MKT, MP/TP, NP, RI, SSW, WAB and UP; NYC tests two different Flexi-Van auto carriers and later begins revenue auto service as well - ACL joins Trailer Train and begins TOFC service between Alexandria, VA-Jacksonville, FL via RF&P - ATSF acquires Flexi-Vans and bogies; converts 200 44ft flats into 100 permanently coupled pairs for TOFC service - BAR moves loaded gasoline tanker trailers in TOFC service - C&O begins TOFC service between Detroit-Chicago in February; handles TOFC flats on passenger train "George Washington" between Staunton, VA-Charleston, WV; begins RoadRailer service in May between Grand Rapids-Traverse City; expands service to Detroit in November - CN orders new 46-foot single-trailer flats equipped with ACF hitches from NSC; offers international interline TOFC service via DL&W; handles loaded local delivery trucks (as opposed to trailers) TOFC between Moncton, NB and Halifax, NS - CP orders new 46-foot single-trailer TOFC flats equipped with ACF hitches from NSC; tests GMD prototype two-axle TOFC flat; handles TOFC loads on passenger trains between Winnipeg-Ft. William, ON - MILW handles conventional interline TOFC - MP orders 20 40ft Flexi-Van containers and bogies for TOFC/COFC interchange with NYC - PGE handles TOFC traffic between North Vancouver and the Alaska Highway - SAL joins Trailer Train and begins TOFC service between NYC-Philadelphia-Baltimore-Miami via B&O and PRR - Vermont shortline Springfield Terminal ships first TOFC load - Wabash leases 10 40ft refrigerated trailers - WP begins common carrier (Plan I) TOFC service between Oakland-Salt Lake City for PIE, Garrett, and Interstate - Trailer Train takes delivery of its first 85-foot TOFC flats from ACF and Pullman; ACL, GM&O, IC, L&N, NKP, SAL, SSW and WP join - Additional 85ft TOFC flats ordered by C&O, CRI&P, D&RGW, ERIE, FEC, GN, NP, PFE, SOO, SP, SSW, UP, WM, WP, and North American Car _._ 1960 - Pullman delivers a prototype trilevel autorack car to the Frisco in January, followed by 130 production cars; by the end of the year over 1,200 autoracks are in service or on order; railroads' share of auto traffic climbs from low of only 8% in 1959 to over 20% in 1961; TOFC movement of new automobiles rapidly declines and ends by 1962 as sufficient autoracks are delivered - Pullman introduces it's 87ft Lo-Deck low-level flat for TOFC and autorack service on low-clearance lines - US Mail handled in Flexi-Vans on passenger runs on IC, MILW and NYC - B&O begins using 75 35ft containers in its TOFCEE service; loading is by wheeled straddle loaders; used on low-clearaance line to St. Louis and interchanged with Mopac, which also uses containers - CN hauls TOFC loads on passenger trains between Moncton-St. John, NB - ATSF, C&O, MILW, DT&I, GN, KCS, NP, RF&P, SP, Southern, T&P, TP&W and UP join Trailer Train _._ -- Jim Eager
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