Which year did they start?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hello all. I’ve been reading most of your posts for some time now. Sure is a lot of information here which has helped me to start my layout. I’m modeling HO and time period is steam to diesel. My question is, which I know 99&99/100 percent of you know the answer to ( I’m the 1/100 percent that doesn’t know) is what year did the railroads start with piggy back carriers. Thanks in advance for your imput. woodyg

2

I don’t know when they started (or what would have been the first carrier to do so) but I do remember seeing them in the mid-50’s on the New Haven. They were common there by then so I would assume (dangerous idea) that they date back at least to the early 50’s or maybe late 40’s.

If nothing else, this will bump the topic back to page 1 where maybe someone who does know will see it.

Regards

Ed

3

I think CGW started piggy back service in the 30’s

4

I think by the late thirties many roads were using piggybacks,some on special trains,as there were no interstates,so overnight fastfreights were popular on some city to city operations(Boston-NY)etc.

5

Canadian Pacific Railway claims to be the first in 1952 it’s probably BS tho considering it’s from the corporate heritage site+ they’re canadian.
http://www.cprheritage.com/history/CPRtimeline.pdf

6

The first road to use trailers on flat cars was the North Shore (interurban) in the 1920s. The trailers were originally horse drawn!

The NYC and Pennsy experimented with LCL and TOFC service in the 1930s, with specialty equipment assigned to service between two scheduled points. They, along with the D&H (and I think the Rutland) also had milk trailer service on flats.

After WWII, many roads started playing with TOFC service in earnest, with the Pennsy basically leading the pack. They created the Trailer Train service by 1954. But by that time, several roads had already initiated their own TOFC service, including the NKP, DL&W, Erie, IC and CGW. By 1956, TOFCs could be seen all over the place, including running behind the last of steam.

7

Thanks for the replies. That info fits right in with my time period on my layout. Thanks again. WOODYG[:)]