Intermodal bigger change than dieselization?

[espeefoamer]

Which change was bigger,dieselization or intermodal?
Intermodal changed almost everything about the way freight trains are operated.It eliminated many yards and changed the look of the ones that were left.Especially after containers,we got 3 and 5 unit articulated cars,and with doublestacks,may havehelped lead to the demise of the caboose.One coudn't see over them to inspect the train .Your thoughts,please.

[Anonymous]

That's a really good question.

I don't think intermodal really had anything to do with getting rid of the caboose.....trains were already getting so long that the guys in the back could really only see perhpas the last 30 cars or so, unless they were on the straightest of track.

I think technology was the biggest thing that eliminated the need for the cabooses (and the need for RRs to automate as much as possible).... I suppose that one could argue that wayside detectors and hot wheel detectors do a better job than a guy in a caboose could do with a pair of binoculars.

Intermodal, on the other hand is a really really big deal. Every year the statistics have been amazing in regards to the growth of intermodal. Intermodal is definately the way of the future, perhaps it will one day even be the end of the box car (certainly in long haul situations).

The biggest deal in regards to intermodal is the seemless transfer of goods from train to boat to truck and back again. This not only saves time and money, but allows trucks and trains to team up and get the product to the destination faster, a better result for the customer in the long run.

It seems to me intermodal will soon be the #1 business for the RRs, and at the moment I can't see too much getting in it's way.

[Anonymous]

Prorably Dieselization becuase it got rite of Steam

DOGGY

[daveklepper]

Don't forget that the North Shore interurban pioneered Chicago - Milwaukee piggyback in the 1920's! I think the New Haven the same in the 1930's NY - Boston. Dave Klrepper

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

John G. Kneiling in the late 1960's pushed his integral trains as the next big innovation in railroading after dieselization. Things haven't turned out in quite the way he proposed but he didn't miss by much.

Kneiling's ideas were centered around intermodal with containers (no trailers) and unit trains designed for specific commodities. About the only thing that hasn't come to pass was the integration of motive power and payload-carrying cars into large self-contained blocks linked by solid drawbars with conventional couplers at the end of each block. He viewed individual loose cars as part of the problem and did not include them in his ideas. Branch lines and secondary mains would also be abandoned since they couldn't generate the traffic to support his trains.

His crystal ball may have been a bit cloudy on the particulars but it was pretty clear on the concepts.

[corwinda]

Dieselization, After all; there aren't any steam locomotives in regular freight service; but there are still lots of non-intermodal cars. (And always will be unless they start hauling coal, ore, and such in containers.)

[vsmith]

Dieselization did not fundementally change the way the railroads worked, they still were hualing thing the same way they had since the days of Stephensons's Rocket.

Dieselization didnt change the passenger service, didnt change freight service, didnt change local service, just how the engines were serviced, how often they were services, and who did the servicing. The diesels often just took over the same space in the roundhouses from the steamer that had been retired to make way.

What really fundementally changed railroads was the semi-truck, the Interstate Highway system, suburbanization of new manufacturing facilities and the decline of rail delivered supplies to those manufacturers with trucks taking most of that business away. Jet travel, more comfortable cars and the motel busines had a tremendous inpact on rail travle. These really took a toll on the rail carriers.

In a sense Intermodal really saved the railroads bacon. Theres no way that a trucking line can compete on the long hual routes when a single train can deliver 200 containers across the country in 3 days. Intermodal has changed the way the RR's operate, they dont focus on branch service anymore letting short lines that up the chicken feed routes. They have been concentrating on shipper to shipper services from one major hub to another. The local switcher shunting cars at a factory has almost a thing of the past, rarely seen in many places. Routes have been shut down, abandoned in favor of the most direct routes.

Intermodal has had a greater impact than dieselization did.

[jgiblin]

But please remember why intermodal was stunted. The ICC placed some very severe restrictions on intermodal in the early 1930's in order to protect the fledgling trucking industry. While some of these regs were relaxed in the 1954 New Haven Case, it was not until 1981 that domestic intermodal was totally deregulated (over the strong protests of the trucking industry) and allowed to compete with motor carriers on an equal footing.

QUOTE: Originally posted by tomtrain

I think up to now dieselization gets the edge. It was unusual in that it reduced substantially both the need for capital and labor in providing transportation.

Unfortunately intermodal was stunted for a long time. A lot of its potential hasn't come into being yet.

[BaltACD]

Dieselization changed the fundamental element of what supplied motion to the trains.

Intermodal just changes the comodity that the trains haul. Comodities that trains have been hauling have changed with every train that gets moved. With the founding of the B&O....in the early years Flour was the highest volume comodity that they moved. I can't even comprehend how far down the list of comodities moved, flour would be for today's railroads.

[PNWRMNM]

I think dieselization. It wiped out so many jobs and entire functions, like water service. It allowed greatly increased train weights and increased speed over the road, especially in the mountains. It also increased the capacity of the fixed plant by enlarging train sizes. The diesel was revolutionary.

Intermodal is just another kind of unit train operating between dedicated terminals. It is a way to compete head to head with the truckers and to gain access to non rail served customers, which are the vast majority today. I believe it will be the industry's growth engine and operationally it seems to be quite reliable.

Mac