What for Intermodals do you have?

I like intermodal trains a lot, i'm curious about other intermodal trains and containeryards. Below you see a picture from my train. I think it's a nice picture. I have 24 Gunderson Husky Stacks from Roundhouse and 16 from Walthers.

 

As I model the Santa Fe in 1995, I have a lot of intermodal. Too many containers to count, mostly Deluxe. Have around 125 trailers, about half Deluxe 53ft, custom painted roadrailers I use as pigs. A lot of JB Hunt stuff. I do have more trailers than flats/hitches, but that should change when Deluxe eventually releases the 5-unit, 53ft spine car; and the 3-unit, "Triple 57/Twin 28ft" spine. I have a mix of Walthers, Deluxe, Microtrains, and Alan Curtis cars.

 

Deluxe makes the nice containers from all i think. They are just like the original. Also makes deluxe nice trailers and good drivingscales to. When i want so much cars and containers i must save a lot of money, the products are in the Netherlands expensive.

 

In a blast from the past I have a small number of short trailers, generally in RR paint schemes, GN, NP, CB&Q, NYC, etc., on 50 foot modified flats for a small representation of the early 50s era of intermodal traffic either out of Chicago, or Seattle/Portland.

 

About 6 of the Atlas TOFL in GN and 1 on order:


3 or 5 of the Walthers well cars.

Hmm, wonder what the 24' trailers will look like being hauled by my ultra mondern engines in a mixed consist with well cars.

Questions:
1) Do well cars ever get run in mixed consists?
2) What years were the 24' TOFLs used?
3) Was / is there a "correct" direction for the trailers to be facing? I'm guessing they all had to be "forward"

[ October 10, 2005, 12:10 PM: Message edited by: Grey One ]

 

8 or so 5-car sets from alan curtis, 20 custom painted container cars from alan curtis, several 5 car sets from deluxe including the newest cast ones.

 

Ivo, this picture will look familiar to you.

The double stack BNSF at the club layout, last summer:

 

Looks familiar but i'm not sure, i tought their where 8 intermodals at the back and 2 loco from me at the front, maybe it is a mistake

 

I have 14 TOFC, mostly Atlas but with a couple of Con-Cor and Micro-Trains. I have more than I really need, but I like them.

I do have a MT BN Dallas trailer on an MT flat that stays on the layout because my stepson is named Dallas.

 

For those of you looking for a quick and rather cheap way to fill a container yard, I present the paper doll method to intermodal.

http://www.igshansa.de/igsdownload.html

 

Thanks for the link David. Nice.

 

I've got three Walthers double stacks, and the DI Maxi stack (?). I've canged out the trucks and the couplers and it still runs like garbage. Even with weighted containers, it's flopping all over the tracks. How do you guys get them to run?

 

Excellent link David. I'll surely print some of those off. It'll save me alot of money. Too bad there are only two 40' container brands.

 

>I've got three Walthers double stacks, and the DI Maxi stack (?). I've canged out the trucks and the couplers and it still runs like garbage. Even with weighted containers, it's flopping all over the tracks. How do you guys get them to run?<

I own several of the walthers double stacks, both single and 5 units. I replaced the Walthers trucks with Micro-Trains trucks and have not had many problems with them. Except for the two single units that somehow bent in there box, and when I tried to straight'in them they both snaped into several piece's. I also have several DI 5 unit Maxi-Stacks and aslong as I have wieghts in at least 3 containers they all run flawless.
Kevin Mumaw

 

Bernie Kempinski has link on his Alkem Models website where you can download three files and assemble blocks of containers. I think they are all 40 footers. Each file makes two blocks of containers with 9 containers represented. You assemble them around a block of wood or styrene. They are three sided and meant to be placed against a backdrop. There are many companies included in the container stacks including: Evergreen, Uniglory, Matson, OOCL, MSCA, & GWS.

Here is a link to the webpage. Alkem Scale Models Container Files

Go check them out.

 

Modern Intermodal trains take many forms. Most common are the "unit" or "blocked" trains. These have mostly containers or mostly trailers and are travelling between large terminals to be off loaded, split up, or rerouted. This is especially prevalent from seaports on the coasts to major inland terminals like Chicago, St Louis, and Kansas City.

There are a large number of trailer only trains running out of all sorts of cities with groups of products onboard. There is one train running out of Portland that is all paper in rolls in trailers that goes to the midwest and disperses to paper plants all over. The reefer trains with truckloads of fruit are pretty cool, too.

The more mixed trains run on different corridors, and can be part containers and part trailers. One of my favorite trains used to be the Espee run down the I-5 corridor from Portland to LA that carried whatever they had plus all the bare table cars at the end.

In addition, often the load masters will tack a 5-unit or two on the back of a manifest freight when it leaves to get something they missed on one of the bocked trains. This looks pretty cool, and the most common positioning is at the end of the train.

Pretty much, if you can imagine it, it runs that way once in a while. These days, trains are rarely of one kind of car, so to properly model what you see now, mix them up. Some Gundersons, some Thralls, some older cars some newer cars, 40' wells, 48' wells, 53' wells, 89' flats, 60' flats, and any combination of spines except front runners (all to be cut up when their lease agreements expire, many if not most out of service now) make up modern trains.

On the model side, having a mix of Walthers, deLuxe, Roundhouse, Alan Curtis, and MicroTrains cars is a good thing, as that is what the prototype does. When the Maxi 4's come out, you can get both as they are slightly different prototypes. On the container side, there are a lot of choices out there. deLuxe has 20', 40'. 40' high cube. 40' reefer, 48' smoothside, 48' reefer, 53' corrugated, 53' ribside, and the tank tainer; Walthers has 40' high cube logo panels and 48' rib sides; and Micro Trains has the 20' and 40' smoothsides. Roco and Fleishmann have Euro style containers, and ConCor has the Herpa containers, some of which are nice, some of which are over scale and not of any known prototype.

The prototype container mix leans heavily to the ocean going containers- 20's 40's and 45's- on the longer routes, and the domestics- 48's and 53's- on the non-seaport runs. You just need to pick your route and model accordingly.

One thing for sure- if you want a colorful modern train, Intermodal is a great way to go!

Best-

George Johnsen

 

George, when you say that the Maxi-4's are different prototypes, is it fair to say the Katos are later, since their numbers are for the post 2003 orders? If so that's good news for you if you eventually do the BNSF version as I need the first BNSF cars off the assembly lines done in June/July 1999. I suspected there were different phases/prototypes for the two BNSF orders but you are the first I've seen make mention of it.

 

Had to pipe up in this thread. Been away from this board for a long time - just started looking again today. I work as a Manager for the UP at the ICTF in Long Beach, CA. ICTF is a near-dock facility located a few miles inland from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. We handle international container traffic almost exclusively.

In my year there, I've spent time managing the loading/unloading ramp, and more recently as a yardmaster-type controlling rail movement in and out of the ramp and support yard. Intermodal has a lot of variety and options, and many of the posters so far have made excellent observations.

I'd be happy to answer any questions I can about intermodal traffic, how we load, car types, etc. It's really amazing to see what it takes to move containers across the country.