Does anyone have any info or pics of the APL liner trains before they started using the thrall well cars? I personally thought that was when the Liner trains started, but have come across two pics oof 89' flat cars painted red with APL Liner train on them. APLX 17XXX series. Both pics are bad angles for any further details as far as lettering goes. Thanks in Advance
Joel
Start by reading this paper from APL's Pentimonti regarding early adoption of stack technology. Note in particular the discussion of twistlocks removing the issue of empties blowing off bulkhead stack cars, and the relative inutility of "TOFC" as considered before the use of the articulated well cars.
The formal LinerTrain operation started in 1979, so you have a range of dates for COFC/TOFC, which I believe Pentimonti notes as relatively noncompetitive however net-profitable they may have started as being.
http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/state-of-the-art/4/4-012.pdf