I have a four track yard planned for one of my yet to be build areas of my layout. How unrealistic, or uncommon, would it be to have a private intermodal company serviced by a class 1 railroad (Conrail) Note: this layout is totally freelanced.
The area would include an intermodal yard, car repair shop and crane for loading trailors onto custom painted cars. Would this ever be seen in the real world? Would I be criticized if I used some more modeller’s licence here? Thanks for your help.
The yard could be privately owned, but odds are it wouldn’t have it’s own railcars, but would rather draw from the general pool.
Ameriport in Philadelphia was operated by DARPA (Delaware River Port Authority) or Holt Cargo Systems (I forget), under contract for Conrail, NS and CP Rail. The facility has now moved to the Naval Business Center, but remains shuttered due to a labor dispute.
NS no longer operates intermodal out of Philadelphia. CP Rail’s lifts are now handled under contract by CSXI’s Greenwich Terminal, in addition to CSXI’s normal CSXT traffic.