NS's Triple Crown

Have not heard much about this service lately. I was hoping NS could partner with UP or BNSF and extend service to the West Coast, but apparently this has not happened (yet?). If anyohe knows what the current situation is and what real plans there are for the future, I’m sure many besides me will be interested.

RoadRailers seem to be on their way out. It may have seemed like a great idea, but no one in the world ever really figured out how to use them effectively. I’ve compared them to a navy battle cruiser. The battle cruisers also seemed like a great idea, but when the shooting started no one ever knew what to do with them. (See HMS Hood.)

I just received my September digital issue of Trains. Fred Frailey has an article on NS intermodal. Its focus is on the new “Crescent Corridor”. A whole lot of money, time, and effort has gone in to developing faster intermodal transit times, new intermodal terminals, etc There is no mention of RoadRailers in the article.

I have a lot of (bad) experience with RoadRailers. The first commercial freight (not mail) operation in the world was on the ICG between Memphis and Louisville. I was working in intermodal marketing for the ICG when that disaster happened. The limitations of the equipment rapidly became apparent well before the service started.

The RoadRailer proponents, Mr. Reebie and his cult, had an absolutely unshakable belief, bordering on fanaticism, that RoadRailers had to be operated in separate trains and could not be mixed with other intermodal equipment. They would not even consider the fact that this was a death wish. Their belief was that conventional intermodal service was crap and that any mixing would degrade RoadRailer service. Well, our intermodal service wasn’t crap and you certainly don

[quote user=“greyhounds”]

RoadRailers seem to be on their way out. It may have seemed like a great idea, but no one in the world ever really figured out how to use them effectively. I’ve compared them to a navy battle cruiser. The battle cruisers also seemed like a great idea, but when the shooting started no one ever knew what to do with them. (See HMS Hood.)

I just received my September digital issue of Trains. Fred Frailey has an article on NS intermodal. Its focus is on the new “Crescent Corridor”. A whole lot of money, time, and effort has gone in to developing faster intermodal transit times, new intermodal terminals, etc There is no mention of RoadRailers in the article.

I have a lot of (bad) experience with RoadRailers. The first commercial freight (not mail) operation in the world was on the ICG between Memphis and Louisville. I was working in intermodal marketing for the ICG when that disaster happened. The limitations of the equipment rapidly became apparent well before the service started.

The RoadRailer proponents, Mr. Reebie and his cult, had an absolutely unshakable belief, bordering on fanaticism, that RoadRailers had to be operated in separate trains and could not be mixed with other intermodal equipment. They would not even consider the fact that this was a death wish. Their belief was that conventional intermodal service was crap and that any mixing would degrade RoadRailer service. Well, our intermodal servi

Greyhounds is right. The critical markets for RoadRailer trains always involved proper lanes that had enough business to justify the service AND bidirectional traffic that would balance the number of trailers in use. There is a smaller, theoretical market for RoadRailers appended to the end of trains, but the hassle involved in manipulating them outweighed any theoretical gain from the lower tare weight and easier intermodal exchange (over piggyback with LetroPorters, for example).

In my opinion the real kiss of death was the rise of container intermodal, with all the infrastructure to use the boxes underwritten by large shipping markets. I was waiting for the CargoSpeed system to have a fair trial in the United States, as that system allows for mass unloading of trailers ‘in parallel’ to waiting tractors, without any need for container chassis that never mate up to OTR fifth-wheel height correctly. But I suspect I will be waiting a very long time … like Linus on Halloween, perhaps?

II have said this a long time ago. With double stack if you want to move 50 or 100 boxes that is the volume that makes sense to spend money on machines to lift the boxes. One of the nice things about Road Trailers is that you can set up an operation on the cheap. When CN set up their Montreal ramp all they did initially was to put down a lot of gravel to have a driveable surface. They spent less then $50000 on the facilities. My opinion is that could justify their existence where either you did not have a lot of money or the business was not sufficient to spend for the machines to unload containers. But where there enough volume to do something. IMHO I think some of the shortlines should consider trying to get the haul from container yards to big box store DC’s. This is the kind of volume (10-30 boxes a day) that should make it worth the business. One could use a road railer chassis to move the boxes(container) to a location within a mile or two of the receiver and then drive over. Alternatively have a spur to the receiver and then be able to deliver a bunch at once. Most of the big box DC’S do not have the room in the building for a rail dock and do not see the need. However if one were to use roadrailers they would not have to change how they do things. Essentially they could continue to use truck docks to receive merchandise. One thing that a lot of people do not see is how much room a raildock for boxcars uses compared to a truck. A railcar is unloaded from the side and takes 60+ feet of frontage space compared to a truck at about 15 feet. In addition there are more people with CDL’s than locomotive certification and as such the less dock space is tied up waiting to get empties out of the way. Most shippers and receivers want a lot of flexibility in warehouse operations. And having a truck operation gives them that. In plant rail is used when it can be justified. I wish I had the ability to put up smokey faces cause I would use the soa

You may only need 12 feet of building wall for a dry van, but you need at least 125-150 feet in front of the building to maneuver the trailer into the dock. What is gained in frontage is lost in lot space needed to get trailers into the dock…

First, let me say that Amtrak’s exit from the freight market was not the result of pressure from the freight railroads. Amtrak didn’t haul enough freight to worry about. David Gunn killed the service because it was a money looser. And Amtrak doesn’t have extra money to loose. They loose quite enough on their passenger service. Amtrak freight service was a dumb idea from the get go. If anyone wants details, I’ll try to find time to write about them.

As for RoadRailers, someone could write a book on why they have basically failed worldwide. We tried to sell them to Europe, Australi

RVOS1979. The space inside the building is a lot more expensive then the lot outside. When you look at modern warehouse buildings you will see docks on at least 2 sides of the building. And in many cases 4 sides. This is particularly true of DC warehouses which tend to be built where land is cheap and the cost of the building is more of a factor. Rgds IGN

One other comment. I think with the demand for CDL drivers at a premium the demand for getting intermodal terminals closer to shippers and receivers will create an opportunity for change. Rail has an inherent advantage in being privately owned to create their own rules(by and large) . The place where it counts is what trucks refer to as long combination vehicles. Road Railers are the railroad version of doubles/triples/any number of multiplies. Rgds IGN

How was Amtrak losing money on express? Were the terminal costs that high I am curious. Thx IGN.