United States Intermodal trains

The bottom container is simply inside a well which keeps the container from moving about as it is essentially wedged in there so it cannot move from side to side or slide forward and backward, think about what holds your car battery in place, similar principal.. Prior to the top container being added small "locks" are placed on all 4 corners on top of the container on the bottom which cannot come out unless they are turned at a 90 degree angle, but before being turned into the "locked position" the 2nd container is placed on top. Then the 4 locks on are turned 90 degrees so that the 2 containers are locked together.
The same is also used on container ships. The ones loaded into the bowels of the ship are held in place by rails on the bulkhead at each end, that the containers slide into, but once the stack goes above deck level those rails stop, so they also rely on this type of "lock" that gets applied to the bottoms of the container as they are being loaded, and as they are placed on top of the container already on the ship, the machine or operator turns the locks so that it cannot move.
Of course during very rough seas it is known to have entire stacks fall of the ship as it is not a fail safe method. But within normal operations they will remain in place.
 
During a spate of +60mph windstorms last winter, a double stack train was blown over on the Rockville Bridge, with 2 containers set sail down the Susquehanna River.

NS parked a stopped coal train on the upwind side of the 3 track bridge for several days, as a wind breaker for double stack trains.

There have been alot of stringlineing derailments, (where as with HO model trains), a consist pulls to the center of a curve and derails.

http://www.gordon-elias.com/blog/2045/norfolk-southern-train-derails-in-harrisburg-pa/

http://acm.jhu.edu/~sthurmovik/Railpics/09-05-09_PRR_MAIN_LINE_SURVEY_09/PRR_Main-Line-MP-214.2-Spruce-Creek-Tunnel-west-portal-far.jpg
 
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Gandalf0444 said:
The bottom container is simply inside a well which keeps the container from moving about as it is essentially wedged in there so it cannot move from side to side or slide forward and backward, think about what holds your car battery in place, similar principal.. Prior to the top container being added small "locks" are placed on all 4 corners on top of the container on the bottom which cannot come out unless they are turned at a 90 degree angle, but before being turned into the "locked position" the 2nd container is placed on top. Then the 4 locks on are turned 90 degrees so that the 2 containers are locked together.
The same is also used on container ships. The ones loaded into the bowels of the ship are held in place by rails on the bulkhead at each end, that the containers slide into, but once the stack goes above deck level those rails stop, so they also rely on this type of "lock" that gets applied to the bottoms of the container as they are being loaded, and as they are placed on top of the container already on the ship, the machine or operator turns the locks so that it cannot move.
Of course during very rough seas it is known to have entire stacks fall of the ship as it is not a fail safe method. But within normal operations they will remain in place.
Click to expand...
Cool! Thank you! That makes perfect sense too!
 
NS has parked a coal drag on the upwind side of the Rockville Bridge overnight to act as a wind buffer ... NS has been doing this in gusty wind situations ever since the incident a year or two ago when winds blew many containers off a stack train, and threw 2 containers into the river.

It has been reported that a Jeep has been struck by a freight at MG tower ... there is quite a bit of snow up there.
 
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On the BNSF mainline, I sometimes see a 40 on top of 2 20s, but never the reverse, which makes sense. I have never seen 2 20s on top of 2 20s on a 40 ft well car, I wonder if that is ever done.

What is weird is that I sometimes see a 48 (maybe a 53, but that seems too long) on top of a 40, which seems kinda tippy to me but they do it. But the upper one is probably empty.
 
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schweitzerdude said:
On the BNSF mainline, I sometimes see a 40 on top of 2 20s, but never the reverse, which makes sense. I have never seen 2 20s on top of 2 20s on a 40 ft well car, I wonder if that is ever done.

What is weird is that I sometimes see a 48 (maybe a 53, but that seems too long) on top of a 40, which seems kinda tippy to me but they do it. But the upper one is probably empty.
Click to expand...

The 40 can sit on top of the 2 20s because they match up fine on the ends so they can interlock, and the 2 20s cannot move because they are held in place. The 20s cannot be on top because they cannot lock on at both ends to the 40 because the ends of the 20 would not be able to lock onto anything as it sits on in the middle where there are no locks.

A 48 or 53 can sit ontop of a 40 because they have 2 sets of locks, 1 set is the standard length(40) and then the other set is the full length of whatever it happens to be 48 of 53. So either way it can lock onto the 40. I have also see a 53 footer on the bottom and a 4 on top. This also works because the 53 has locks at the correct place for a 40 foot to sit on top.
 
Tomorrow I have a few videos for you from a railfan trip today, they either run as low to the ground rockets, or as big heavy and slow boulders.
 
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