as a concept, well the idea of moving prepackaged, in containers that formed a major part of the vehicule transporting them, i believe, yes, that goes back to probably the earliest times of mechanical, even beast of burden and waterway transportation.
what i remember personally, growing up in the 1950's, where trailers, 25, 35, 40 footers later on, usually one each, on a 50' flatcar that was fitted with an ajustable fifth wheel and trailer wheel guides. this was on the southern pacific in the sierras in california, which is where i was living then (and next to there again now). this was really a lot more common then was as yet at that time represented in models and toys. and those to did represent it, didn't look very much like the real thing i was seeing at the time. TrailerTrain and the TTX logo came along some time in the 60s, with the advent of narrow, lighter weight then standard flatcars, of passenger car length, and capable of carrying two 40 foot trailers, these cares being between 85 and 89 feet in lengthe. that was of course when intermodal, meaning in that context and era 'pig-flats' as they were nicknamed, really took off, as a marketing way for railroads to compete with highways. then came the autoracks i remember, moving new automobiles on this multi-deck carriers, that were at first, based on the same fraime, under car really, as the pig-flats. then too many kids liked to throw rocks to break the windows on the new cars going by so they had to put sides on them. before this time, automobles had been moved stacked somewhat wierdly, in 50ft boxcars. well then along about that time, mid 60s, and i'm just talking where i am, in the western part of the u.s., over the sierras in californa, then we started to see, why ship the trailler wheels, unneccessary tare load, when they truck body could be rewheeled at the other end. and then there was the idea of these wheelless truck bodies on international shipping on the ocean, and then there was this standarization of that, called the i.s.o., international standards organization, and we started seeing this standardization of shipping containers as to form factor, or at least dimention of where the corners would be, so they could be stacked and all sorts of things. parallel of course were developments in the rest of the world. TTX was in the middle of that, on the railroads in the us, but neither the beginning nor ever the whole enchilada. this was all still in the 60s too.
then in the 70s we started to see traditional freight car makers get into the game, and this led to double stacks and articulated, multi-bottom cofc and tofc, and the european influence, at least in concept, of a four wheel car, the front runner, the concept again to reduce tare weight.
so the problem with pinning down a biggining is with defining where you want to begin at. trailer train WAS the biggest single name in the thick of development in the u.s. in the 60s, and of course in its evolving form, continued to be a major player for decades, but nothing really STARTED with them. even, i think the southern pacific, and possibly other railroads, had or were in the proccess of developing, their own, longer then 50ft flat cars dedicated to and designed specifially for, tofc and later cofc service, as early, if not slightly earlier, then the advent of TrailerTrain as a company. a major player, a major contributer, but not the beggining nor end of the story.
