Would a 40(?) ft. white Trailer with the SP pig and Golden Pig Service logo on each side be correct for a pre-1960 layout?
Mike
Hi Mike,
I’m certainly not an SP expert, but as I recall the Golden Pig logo wasn’t introduced until the late 1970s and maybe even later. Go to http://www.athearn.com/Search/Default.aspx?SearchTerm=Trailer+RTR&CatID=THV o see a pretty accurate Athearn version of a late 1950s SP TOFC van on a 40-foot Fruehauf Z-Van.
So long,
Andy
Thanks, Andy. I picked one up at a show and have since been unable to find a 50s era photo with one like that in it. I had a feeling that it was later than my time period. Oh, well.
Mike
No, it would not.
Southern Pacific began first generalized use of trailers on flatcars in the early 50’s, sometime around 1953. The SP’s trucking arm, Pacific Motor Trucking, owned numbers of trailers painted in the road’s famous Daylight orange and red. These trailers carried the railroad’s name and sunset herald on their flanks.
When SP changed their passenger colors to the grey and scarlet, PMT followed suit with trailers of silver or stainless steel, lettered with the parent road’s name spelled out in that unusual SP Gothic lettering. The lettering was black except for the S and the P in the two words, and they were bolder and larger than the balance of the lettering. They also differed as they were in the road’s scarlet, found on the noses of the line’s locomotives.
Microscale makes several decal sets for Southern Pacific/Pacific Motor Trucking trailers from the 50’s onward.
SP sold off PMT in the late 80’s if I am not mistaken, along with rights to PFE, another subsidiary company. PMT now exists as a subsidiary trucking company of Jack Cooper Transport, a long haul firm dedicated to moving new and used vehicles between specific points.
The above information hit the nail on the head. I remember the “Golden Pig” trailers showing up in the late 1970’s or so.
You could use the 40 foot trailer in the 1966-80 time frame though on a trailer flat mixed in with some 45 foot trailers. Just repaint it aluminum and letter it with the red & black lettering.
This thread came at a good time for Me, I have read that SP started TOFC service in 1953, and discontinued Steam in 1957. Would Steam have handeled any of the TOFC trains?, if so what type(s) would have been used?
Would the TOFC been an early unit train, or mixed with manifest freight? And would they have been exclusively SP/PMT trailers, or would there have been other trailers mixed in as well?
Thank You for any info,
Doug
Southern Pacific, like most other roads in the early years of intermodal service, did not have large intermodal facilities and “piggypackers” for loading and unloading of trailers.
This type of service required the use of a “circus ramp”, where single trailers were either pulled or backed on to a modified 40 foot flatcar. Bridge plates allowed behicled to cross from one car to the next. For the unititiated, a circus ramp was generally a concrete loading dock, ramped at one end, with the top of the dock level with the deck of a flatcar. A track dead-ended at the end of the dock opposite the ramped end.
Since these types of operations were slow, and shippers did not produce mass volumes of traffic, the general look of freight trains did not drastically change in the 50’s, with a car or two interspersed within the general make up of a train. As more and more shippers found that they could replace their spurs and boxcar use with trailers, the railroads then began to assign specific trains to handle the growing traffic, but these increases generally did not occur before the 60’s. Initially and for a few years after, the trailers would have been exclusively SP/PMT.
Steam was discontinued in 1958 in commute service, and the final SP steam run in freight service occurred in December 1957, with SP 2475 running from West Oakland to San Jose on New Year’s Eve withn a single Overnight boxcar and a cboose. The locomotive then handled an excursion out of San Jose the next day.
Further to the above, the SP “Overnight” trains which ran on The Coast Division began to feature PMT trailers in about 1953/54; they were usually placed at the front of the train, which otherwise consisted of the dedicated black 40’ boxcars. There are some pictures of the Overnight with trailers being hauled by a GS 4-8-4. The boxcars (subsequently painted silver) were quickly made redundant by the trailers by the mid-50s, and, following the demise of steam, the trains (also called The Ghost or The Zipper) were hauled by GP9s or F units, sometimes in advance sections too.
I’ve attempted to model the train using some repainted Athearn flat cars and trailers and Microscale decals, with the odd silver trailer interspersed. As you will see, my PMT trailers have not been modified to feature the front curved end of the prototype, but I’m happy with them.
Brian
While 373 and 374 began to feature trailers around 53/54, the blocks placed on the head end were generaly short, owing to initial lack of interest and lack of equipment. While occasional trains may have had blocks of ten or more trailers between then and say, 1960, the TOFC movement on these trains did not really take off until the post 1960 era. Most steam era photos of the Zipper were publicity type photos. SP actively cultivated this new business and wasn’t bashful about showing it off to the public and shippers.
The boxcars were from the Pressed Steel Car Co. and were constructed exclusively for express service, with well ove 400 built for Overnight Service and a portion of the balance painted in Lark two tone grey and another portion of the leftovers painted in Pullman Green. All but the Overnight cars had express trucks.
The trains were symbolled CME and CMW for Coast Merchandise (East or West) and No. 374 departed San Francisco (Misson Bay) well in advance of the Lark by about two hours and twenty minutes. No. 374 peeled off the 47 miles in one hour and 5 minutes, stopping San Jose for a fill off the Oakland Section. No. 374 was allowed 40 minutes at San Jose during the steam era for water, servicing and the addition of the Oakland Block. He would get out of town 45 minutes ahead of the Lark, pouring it on through King City some 29 minutes ahead of No. 76.
The race was on, but 374’s Mountain kept the pace hot, only allowing the Lark to gain another 9 minutes by the time San Luis Obispo came into view. 374’s Coast Division sprint ended with the Lark 20 minutes behind him at Santa Barbara. With the Lark having to stop for passengers at SLO, the CME usually gained a few minutes on its marker sniffer into Santa Barbara.
The schedules held pretty close right up until the 70’s where the term “Zipper Change” meant no fooling around at a crew
SP also had trains 375 & 376 which ran between Los Angeles and Portland Oregon(Brooklyn Yard) and was also known as the “Starpacer”.
In later years after train numbers were discontinued the train was known as the LABRT and in the other direction BRLAT. There was sometimes a second section LABRF.
I have a late 1950’s “Pig” using Athearn 40 and 50 foot flat cars with 28 and 40 foot trailers. There are bridge plares at the ends of the cars and rails to keep the trailers in place. The train is 25 cars and has a silver caboose. Usually GP9 units pull the train.
Indeed. But the Starpacers were very different trains from the Overnights in that 375 and 376 were relatively new trains compared to 373 and 374. That is reinforced by the fact that the Starpacer name and TOFC business is relatively new compared to the CMW and CME, and in boxcar days, the Starpacers (not named at that time) got regular boxcars rather than the specially painted “ovenight” cars.
The Starpacers departed The Shops Yard (the old Alhambra St. Roundhouse) at 1201AM for the sprint up the San Fernando Valley, veering right at Burbank Jct. to climb through Saugus, Ravenna, Lang and Vincent and on to Palmdale and Mojave, making an ealry morning appearance on Tehachapi and into Bakersfield and then north to Portland via Roseville. No. 340, the Advance Starpacer, ran when there was sufficient business to warrant, and during these times, 376 frequently ran in multiple sections.
While working for SP, I frequently spent many a night in and around Saugus waiting on the Starpacer. Frequent meets and passes were staged at Saugus and Ravenna, with 376 blowing by lesser trains tucked into the sidings
As a note, SP also dispatched No. 378, the Pacific Coast Expediter , from Oakland nightly on its mad dash to Portland, but it frequently went via the West Valley Line, leaving the Cal-P at Davis…