While looking for the Apache Ry trackage around Snowflake (AZ) I noticed that they are using the spur that runs along Hwy 277 for storing TTX TOFC spine cars-there are several miles of them. Is the spine car slowly going away?-there are more containers being moved today than trailers, and the spine cars can't do double stacks.
I don't know if they will completely go away or how long it will take. The intermodal trains I see are becoming more container and less trailer.
"No soup for you!" - Yev Kassem (from Seinfeld)
Spine cars haven't been built for a long while (since about when the well car with trailer hitches entered service) and the 40 year rule is starting to force them out.
I saw an entirely spine car BNSF Z-train on Cajon Pass last November. It felt like quite the treat.
ericsp I don't know if they will completely go away or how long it will take. The intermodal trains I see are becoming more container and less trailer.
Interesting, how the 'railroad scenery' can change in different parts of the country! Here in Southern Kansas ( rail-East of Wellington, Ks. at what could be called the eastend of the BNSF Southern T-con) ; The merchandise trains- specifically the ones with a number of high-capacity boxcars/BNSF and T-T's/ origins in Canada(?), seem to have some bulkhead flats, with loads of lumber,going west. The line I monitor comes out of the KCK,Argentine,Gardner/Topeka area, and west is Amarillo or Clovis
Also, I have observed some well cars with 'stacked' Raildeck flatbeds, mostly easbound. see link @ http://raildecks.com/process/raildecks-equipment/
AS to the solid container trains, any number going in both directions with solid import/export containers- there is recently a much longer train running through here with mid-train DPU's, and rear pusher DPU's. Lately, the domestic container trains (JBH, Schneider,Swift,some FedEx, seem to also have a number of TOFC cars tacked on the rears ( manyTOFC reefers/ Prime/Marten/Allied Shippers, etc. ) while some trains will also include a number of auto carrier cars on their rears.
We have a couple CSX single level trains ( don't know what route ? ) a day each way that have many containers on spine cars + maybe a few wells at single level. Guess a good use of spines ?
Spine cars seem to be just about the only way of handling piggyback trailers any more. As long as railroads continue to offer that service, you'll continue to see the spine cars. In this weak economy (for the railroads, anyway), trailer loadings are down while container loadings are up. So yes, spine cars are being stored. Forty years ago, we were still getting new 89'4" piggyback cars, so the spine cars haven't come of age just yet. There are couple thousand TTAX spine cars out there, and almost a thousand TTRX cars still around, and I believe BNSF has a few. It wasn't too long ago that TTX was rebuilding some of its cars, lengthening 45-foot and 48-foot platforms to 53 feet. (Interestingly, this was being done at the same time that container wells were being shortened to 40 feet from those lengths!)
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Cars built beginning July 1, 1974 and after have 50 years life. This includes the TTX spine car fleet. The spine cars with 48-foot capacity platforms are pretty much gone including the TTLX TOFC only and TTAX all-purpose cars. The 53-foot capacity spine cars are pretty much intact except for normal attrition through wrecks. The 3-unit TTRX fleet that can handle 1-57' and on most 2-28' trailers is very much alive and well. The newest of the 3-unit TTAX cars were built in September 2005 and the newest of the 5-unit TTAX cars were built in January 1998. The newest of the TTRX cars were built in May 2005.
Jim Panza - Retired TTX
Spine cars are definitely not going away, at least not yet. TTX has pretty much standardized their fleet into three different types: 40' well cars (for international boxes) 53' well cars (for domestic boxes) and 53' spine cars (although there are some that will handle 57' trailers or two 28' pups. Premium Intermodal or Priority Intermodal trains often haul trailers that require the spine cars. Although there are a few stack cars with trailer hitches, TTX has removed the hitches from their fleet relying on their spines to handle any trailer movements. Normally you will see refrigerated trailers, UPS, FedEx and LTL Trailers loaded on these spines. They demand expedited service and pay a higher rate so when you see one of these trains fly by then you know you are witnessing one of the hottest trains on the line.
Tim Garland
NS Locomotive Engineer
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