OK, never thought I’d see the day when Google couldn’t help, but I tried and tried search after search, to no avail. I mainly found toys for sale, 1,000s of modern trucks/trailers, etc.
Anyway, does anyone know of a reference source to tell me, or maybe someone knows, what the standard trailer lengths were in the decades before 1960?
Also, when did piggy backs start on railroads?
When did containers start appearing on flat cars?
My HO scale layout is mainly transition era and I would hate to do something that wasn’t around until the 1990’s. My brother gave me a ton of trucks and containers. Some are obviously 1990-2000’s with super long trailers and tractors with the air covers over the cab.
Before 1960, you’ll find that the maximum trailer length was 34 to 36 feet. Piggyback actually started in the steam era, with horse drawn wagons, but the era you’re talking about there was the beginning of piggyback service, with several railroads having their own name for it, For example, the Pennsy called it Truc-Train (and I believe that’s how they spelled it). Depending on the level of detail you’re going for, this era had the trailers secured more firmly (and visibly) to the flat car, so you’ll need to model more tie-downs per trailer. Also, this was before the loading cranes/piggy packers came into being, so you’ll be talking circus loading with the bridge plates on the cars, ramps for loading and unloading, aiming all the trailers the same direction on the train, and aiming the cars the right direction for unloading.
The longer trucks and containers definately belong in a more modern era than you’re talking about. Also, look at the tractors with an eye toward era. Truck design changed over the years, just like the cars.
Even little known regional Bessemer & Lake Erie was experimenting with piggyback as early as the late 1950s. There’s a book I used to get from the local library that had a picture of them loading trailers circus style in the early to mid 60s and I believe the caption referred to it as a 40 foot trailer. Sure didn’t look that long to me though. And, of course, they had their own term for it too, which escapes me right now.
Before 1960 is a tough one. My guess is it would be 40 foot max, but there were probably far more less than that length on the road in that era. The specification of a standard trailer really came after the near completion of the interstate system. Before that, states tended to set a variety of max lengths and heights.
I used to load grocery trailers for a living, so I vaguely recall the changes in max length as my erstwhile former employer tends to push any equipment – and people – under their control to the limit. 45 foot trailers were allowed by circa 1980, then the 48 footers came later in the 80s. The 53 foot trailers were a product of the 1990s.
Then there is height and width. Until the 45 footers hit the road, 96" wide trailers were the standard. After that came the 102" trailers. Some lesser highways didn’t permit operation of the wider trailers, but that has gone by the wayside in the push toward standardization first set into motion by the creation of the interstate system.
Max height on the interstate is now generally anything that will go under a 13’6" overpass. Before that, individual states set their own heights and 12’6" was very common.
All these specs tended to be adopted in the west more quickly than the east, because of the limitations of existing infrastructure back east and the rapid growth of the interstate and its dominance out west. The west is also where you’ll see such rigs as triples allowed.
In the early 50s New Haven was running TOFC at the New York end of their route (I saw them in the Bronx) - 36 foot trailers on 40 foot flatcars and 40 foot trailers on 50 foot flat cars, IIRC.
Some DOD shipments would travel in CONEX boxes - cubical containers about 8 feet on a side - in gondolas or on flat cars. In the 50s, the military used CONEX boxes for everything, including spur-of-the-moment bunkers.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with JNR standard containers)
48 foot 80’s considered standard for heavy cargo that does not take up much cube volume
40’s 45’s etc are 70’s and earlier they are still useful in some areas.
getting shorter with the 30’s and 20’s Some are pups still in use today, back in the 50’s they were the standard van length of the day.
Going bak further, you got shorter a bit.
Keep in mind that total length, wheelbases, gross combination weights and axle loadings all played a role in total tractor trailer lengths. They differed by state, region and even towns.
Cabovers were useful but destructive to the driver on bad roads. Conventionals were better but took too much wheelbase in the old days.
throw in Spread Axles, doubles, triples and various other combinations to the pot of stew and simmer it over decades as various technologies were applied to trucking.
I certainly am thankful to all who provided much useful information on this topic. While Google rarely ever fails to be helpful, it did fail in this case. This group again proved how great it is in helping fellow modelers by providing what Google couldn’t.
Yeah, I was afraid much of the containers, trailers and cabs would not be era compatible, but, there are a number of pieces still usable based on the info you provided.
The birth of “modern” TOFC started on the Chicago Great Western in 1937. The New Haven RR sent reps to the CGW, and they were so impressed that they started their own “Trailiner” service that same year between Boston and New York. The NH eventually added ramps in Springfield and Providence, and was the #1 TOFC RR in the USA from 1937 to 1953 (when SP got into the act).
The tie downs, using chains, blocks, and jacks, was patented by the CGW and the NH paid a license fee to use it.
The NH’s first TOFC flats were 50’ long to handle two 24’ vans (very close to the Athearn twin trailer on flat car model). During WWII, trailer lengths were allowed to be 26’, so the NH ordered 54’ flats to handle two of these.
After the war, the trailer lengths went to 30’ & 32’. The NH then bought 40’ flats to load only one trailer per car.
In 1955-ish, the PRR started TrucTrain with 75’ flats to hold two 35’ vans. The NH also bought 75’ Clejan flats at this time, which didn’t pan out due to the introduction of the ACF hitch.
By the early-1960’s, trailer lengths were up to 40’, and the NH ordered 85’ flats to handle two vans, which is what they used until the Penn Central takeover in 1969.
Try “googling” INTERMODAL FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION and see what you come up with.
In the 1950s I worked for a hay wholesaler and we picked up bales on a 40’ flatbed. I also worked for a cowman who, in addition to forty foot stock trailers had some thirty-six footers - and maybe some even shorter - left over from previous decades. He also had one of those “illegal 55s” from the 1930s and I hauled it on a couple of occasions knowing that there would be helltapay if I ever got caught doing so.
There may well have been forty-two or forty-five footers around in them thar days but, to the best of my recollection, I never towed anything longer than a forty footer.
NAH, 53’ is no big deal out on the road, but trying to get one into a produce house that was built in the 40’s when a 40’ trailer was the big trailer, or not even allowed yet, then that 53 footer really gets huge. Add to that, the fact that the tractors have gotten longer in the last 40 years and a lot of the businesses that were built around the 40’ trailer and day cab or very small sleepers being the standard, and a 53’ trailer with a tractor that has a 240+" wheel base can get to be a real challenge to get into.
I have not been to Texas, or pulled one, but I have read that Texas allows up to a 60’ trailer for intrastate use, that really has to be a PITA in tight areas. We all know that to a DISPATCHER any truck can go anywhere, but it is a DRIVERS job to get it there. OOHHH, and "Why will it take that long to get there? It is only 6 INCHES on the map!!!
The year I am modeling (free-lance) is 1962. I am mostly running a few of the Athern TOF’s that are 50 foot flats with two trailers. I will probably have one or two longer single trailers on a 40 foot and / or 50 foot flat for variation.