Intermodal transit operation in the 1940's-1950's on the Southern Pacific and other RRs

Model Railroader Prototype information for the modeler
1

A recent post had me thinking about the start of intermodal transit. The earlier post pointed out that certain railroads have agreements with specific land or ocean shipping companies to haul their containers, which is why you see containers of a certain line hauled by a certain railroad.

My query is about the 1940’s-1950’s. In photos I have seen of the SP, the intermodal consists seem to be made of ToFCs with 20’ or 45’ trailers all liveried with SP Truck Service trailers. There were at least two liiveries that I have seen, one of a version of the ‘Daylight’ red and orange, and one with silver with narrow red or orange bands.

There were other Trailers around eg the PFE had a silver with orange band livery, I think.

But how did these trailers run - were there trains with mixed trailers, or were all trains of one trailer type or owner?

Did other trucking companies put their trialers on ToFCs on the SP or other RRs for long distance transit? If so, when did this practice stop?

Many thanks for the help from your combined brains.

Peter Harris

2

In the early 1950’s, there were no established standards for tie-downs of trailers for TOFC service. SP used a method known as Clejan, in which trailers and yard tractors were equipped with flanged steel wheels just inside the tires which fit on rails mounted on the flatcars, which did not have solid decks. The steel wheels bore the weight of the trailers (and yard tractors) on the flatcars and since the rails took care of the steering issue, circus-style loading and unloading went faster. As you can imagine, this required a dedicated fleet of specially equipped trailers.

3

Thanks for that information. However, I see that the PFE used trailers similar to the SP. Were these Clejan fitted too?

The flatcars looked very similar, and I think were used as pool cars by the SP. Was this true of the UP too? I have also seen a picture of a PIE van on one of the PFEs trailers. All very confusing to me!

Regards and season’s greetings to all.

Peter Harris

4

I don’t believe there were any 45’ long trailers in the 40/50 time period. What you saw were probally 36/38’ trailers, so they’d fit on a 40’ flatcar. The 40 foot trailer probally mid fifties.