Life-Like Flatcar CoFC ~ TRAILER TRAIN ~ Rd# MTTX 97556 Clipper & ACL

Description: We try to be Friendly to our international customers especially with our: UPS Standard to Canada,The Trailer Train Company, organized by the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Norfolk and Western Railway in 1955, stepped in to ease the railroads' financial burden a bit. Trailer Train purchased flat cars from rail car manufacturers and the railroads that wanted to operate them as autoracks, purchased and installed the autoracks that were used on those flat cars. Trailer Train's original goals were to standardize TOFC railcar practices, foster the growth of rail transportation, provide its members with the best available equipment at the lowest cost, and to keep its members abreast of new developments. In 1991 the company changed its name from Trailer Train to TTX. Flatcars are the progenitor of every type of freight car ever employed by the railroad industry. Indeed, it sounds rather outlandish but is basically the truth. The car also predates common-carrier railroads themselves by first being used in the mid-1820s to haul large stones in New England. Throughout the mid-19th century, the design of the flatcar remained virtually unchanged thanks to its redundant, flat deck layout allowing it to handle numerous commodities. However, today there are now several variants from well cars (intermodal/containers) and center-beam flats to spine cars (intermodal/trailers) and depressed-center flats. For example, a new type of use for the car occurred during the piggyback revolution really began to take off following World War II, which was a service transporting large numbers of truck trailers in unit or mixed trains.During the 1850s flatcars were being constructed partially of iron with lengths of 25 feet by 8 feet wide. They also featured side pockets whereby iron or wooden stakes could be placed to keep large, high-centered loads from shifting or falling off (such as logs or lumber). During the 20th century the car continued to grow reaching 40 to 50 feet in length and 10 feet wide. This became the standard until the post-World War II period when specialization and other factors led to the car's size growing to 85 feet or more allowing it to handle truck trailers. The trailer-on-flatcar, or TOFC, concept appeared at least as early as 1926 when the most unlikely of railroads began experimenting with the concept; the Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee , a large interurban system which served its namesake cities. The North Shore Line was followed by the innovative Chicago Great Western in 1936, the first standard railroad to adopt TOFC in 1936. Similarly, COFC, or container-on-flatcar service dates back to at least 1928 when the Pennsylvania Railroad tested the idea using specialized 40-foot flatcars which carried five containers. It was discontinued in 1950. As the 1950s gave way to the 1960s TOFC, also known as "piggyback" (since the truck trailers "piggybacked" their trip on flatcars), began to gain momentum with many Class Is using the service in one form or another. Some truly embraced the idea and the PRR was again at the forefront with its TrucTrain service. Railroads began blocking entire TOFC trains and they were usually given top priority over their particular route, known as “hotshots.” Names like Trailer-Jet, Apollo, Razorback, Thunder-hawk, and Flexi-Van began popping up on many lines. Today, instead of using traditional flatcars to haul truck trailers, a new type of car known as a spine-car was developed. Essentially a center beam on trucks the car is specially equipped to haul trailers as well as quickly load and unload them. While the car has been embraced for its efficiency it is actually nothing more than a glorified flat car. The stack car was also another step in the evolution of COFC service. One final type of flatcar is the depressed center flat, which is still used today, capable of handling extremely heavy or tall loads. The car’s very low center of gravity coupled with its extra two axles, giving it six in total, offers the ability to haul these types of loads. Usually, you can find it carrying some type of heavy or bulky industrial equipment such as a large electric transformer. Today flatcars are seeing a renewed surge in use thanks largely to the growth of intermodal. To see all our listings, visit: Ika's Train Store Note #1: I will combine shipping for multiple items. Please purchase the items but do *NOT* pay. I will review and calculate shipping as close as to what I have to pay. I will then forward an invoice with the adjusted shipping. If you do pay ahead of this recalculation, I will refund the shipping difference as part of preparing the items for shipment. Note #2: I want you to be happy with your purchase and would appreciate you leaving positive feedback. In the event you are not, please contact me immediately before leaving feedback so we may resolve it. Thank you. Note #3: If not previously stated item(s) come from a smoke-free environment with cats. Note #4: This is a Grandma & Grandpa shop. We have a 4-business day shipping window (this means that if you pay for your order on a Friday, it may not get shipping until the following Thursday). We do combine shipping especially when we are asked about it.If you want combined shipping, please purchase all your items in one order. If you purchase items in more than one order, send us a message so that we know about the additional items and box the orders together. (When items are bought in multiple orders, we do not always notice they were bought by the same person unless we are notified by the buyer.) We refund extra shipping charges when combined shipping is requested. If we ship items separately, we do not issue a shipping refund.For our international customers: YES!! we do combine shipping. The most economical way for you to buy multiple items from us is for you to send us a list of the items you want to buy. Do not purchase them as they are listed!! (This leads to higher than necessary fees & shipping.) Send us a complete list of all the items you want. Then we will cancel the listings for the items and turn them into a special listing just for you (We'll send you the listing named before making it active). It will have your full purchase with the correct shipping box size and weight. This saves you on the international fees & shipping.

Price: 12.1 USD

Location: London, Ohio

End Time: 2024-08-31T21:11:31.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD