Triple Crown Roadrailer Project
- Thread starter HolBr14
- Start date
cascaderailroad
New member
Question:
How many roadrailler trains are there in operation today, on prototype RR's ?
Why is the design not adapted nationwide/worldwide as a standard means of transporting truck bodies ?
Where do the roadrailers go to/from ? (terminus to terminus) ?
The Tropicanna juice train is a really cool unit train, I believe 3 times weekly between Bradenton FL, and Kearny NJ. (Don't know of any Vodka train, to go with the OJ train). lol :hehe:
How many roadrailler trains are there in operation today, on prototype RR's ?
Why is the design not adapted nationwide/worldwide as a standard means of transporting truck bodies ?
Where do the roadrailers go to/from ? (terminus to terminus) ?
The Tropicanna juice train is a really cool unit train, I believe 3 times weekly between Bradenton FL, and Kearny NJ. (Don't know of any Vodka train, to go with the OJ train). lol :hehe:
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@Euphod It's getting there.
@WCL These are being made for and tested in TS12 so they will most definatley work in TS12, not sure about later versions though.
@cascaderailroad Well the Line I am building is made up of about 25% roadrailer trains hauling auto parts from St. Louis to Detroit. That is why I made these because they are a big part of the route. As for other places I don't really know. I know they run on other places on Norfolk Southern lines but I am not sure of locations, I think I have seen pictures of some on the Horseshoe curve route, but I am not positive on that. I think stack trains have taken over the whole roadrailer idea, but roadrailers are still used. Hope this somewhat answers your questions!
Brandon
@WCL These are being made for and tested in TS12 so they will most definatley work in TS12, not sure about later versions though.
@cascaderailroad Well the Line I am building is made up of about 25% roadrailer trains hauling auto parts from St. Louis to Detroit. That is why I made these because they are a big part of the route. As for other places I don't really know. I know they run on other places on Norfolk Southern lines but I am not sure of locations, I think I have seen pictures of some on the Horseshoe curve route, but I am not positive on that. I think stack trains have taken over the whole roadrailer idea, but roadrailers are still used. Hope this somewhat answers your questions!
Brandon
SouthwestinAZ1
BNSF Peavine Foamer
@cascaderailroad. these are indeed prototypical train cars. Although I've only heard of them being on the Eastern portion of the United States pulled by Norfolk Southern, Conrail, and (I think I've heard) Burlington Northern Santa Fe. Amtrak I think still has a few trailers equipped for Road Railer service (if they run is another story 
.)
here's a link to TC's website with some more information on this very odd (imho) mode of transporting trailers http://www.triplecrownsvc.com/Bimodal.html
.) here's a link to TC's website with some more information on this very odd (imho) mode of transporting trailers http://www.triplecrownsvc.com/Bimodal.html
@cascaderailroad. these are indeed prototypical train cars. Although I've only heard of them being on the Eastern portion of the United States pulled by Norfolk Southern, Conrail, and (I think I've heard) Burlington Northern Santa Fe. Amtrak I think still has a few trailers equipped for Road Railer service (if they run is another story
here's a link to TC's website with some more information on this very odd (imho) mode of transporting trailers http://www.triplecrownsvc.com/Bimodal.html
Triple Crown Services is the sole provider of "Roadrailer" services in the US at this point. It's typically an Eastern US thing as you had said but they go to the south and also up into the midwest ( farthest is Wisconsin area and Missouri I believe via BNSF after its handed off from NS). It's an interesting way of shipping goods and works well for them, but word has it the days are probably numbered. I'd give it another 10-12 yrs before you see them slowly transition to TOFC only services with the Triple Crown Fleet. Some Chicago to Harrisburg, PA traffic has already transitioned to this since they want to save some space on their dedicated Roadrailer trains. It's still a popular service to use and its actually very cost competitive with Intermodal as I've used them at work for several truckloads to the Midwest.
coolschool200
LSRC2052
nice
i have always liked them
i have always liked them
The key to a successful application of rail-trailers is the ability to locate a backhaul. That applies also to Trailer On Flat Car.Just ask CSX...they started with a head-haul and no backhaul and suddenly realized they only broke-even. No business can operate on a break-even scheme.
A few no-profit trains and a grade-crossing fatality and they were so out of that business quick!
Too bad, they had access to four F7's(two B-units) custom painted...
The idea of carrying empty trailers on flatcars is also a no-no...there are enough truckers to carry the empties around and a balance of them at centralized hubs of operations around many industries that they don't have to backhaul an mty trailer.
That is how you roll for profit.
Alliance, Amtrak, Canadian National, Clipper, CSX, Excel, Ice Cold Express, Norfolk Southern, Santa Fe, Schneider, Swift, TMM Logistics, and Union Pacific were a few operators of roadrailers......
From trainorders.com:
"Companies that currently own RoadRailers are BNSF (Ice Cold Express), Swift, Amtrak, NS (Triple Crown), CN, TFM, Alliance Shippers, and Clipper Trucking. Schneider used to have some but never once ran them in a RoadRailer train, they sold them back to Wabash National about two years ago. Wabash then leased them to Swift (These are the ones that looked like demonstrators, with large Wabash logo and small Swift logos). Since they had never been used in a RoadRailer train, they were rusted, and Swift returned them. Also UP and ATSF tried RoadRailers back in the '80s, but later sold their RoadRailers to NS, who still uses most of them today."
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,100944
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You think you could let us know how to make them work??