Watching trains today I saw a double-stack train of mostly "HUB GROUP, INC." and "EMP" 53-ft containers. All were the same size, but some of them had a stencil at the top center of the side that read:
"WARNING HIGH CUBE"
I thought "High Cube" meant it has a higher capacity than more usual sized boxcars... so why the "WARNING"? The ones with the stencil wording were not any taller than the ones without it.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
High Cube Containers that I've seen are usually a bit taller than standard containers. The difference is easier to see if they're at a loading facility.
More of a warning to draymen who will ignore the caution anyhow and shove it somewhere where it should not have gone.
The warning on a High-Cube container may be for the truckers carrying it. There are YouTube collections of low bridges where they didn't....
The 11' 8" bridge, wherever it is, hasn't moved yet but the truckers keep trying.
Norm
Norm48327 The 11' 8" bridge, wherever it is, hasn't moved yet but the truckers keep trying.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
I wonder where that 11' 8" bridge is? Man, dat's one tough bridge!
Railroad tough!
Firelock76 I wonder where that 11' 8" bridge is? Man, dat's one tough bridge! Railroad tough!
I think it is in Raliegh, NC on the NS.
Notice that the majority are either rental box trucks or 'local' business trucks of a similar size. Only a few 'over the road' rigs.
It's in downtown Durham, NC. They don't actually hit the bridge any longer, they are hitting a massive steel I-beam that the NCDOT Rail division, along with NS placed at the same height about 10 feet ahead of the bridge. You can clearly see it in some shots on the video.
"Domestic Containers" (such as the Hub Group, J B Hunt and Schnieder boxes) intended for use in the US are about 12" taller than standard international containers in order to keep them competive with over-the-road trailers.
It's not just the draymen that have to worry - the lift jockeys in container yards have to pay attention to clearance restrictions. While it's less of a problem now, in years past quite a few rail lines could not clear double-stacked domestic boxes. As an example, CR/CSX used to have a overhead bridge in downtown Columbus that could handle double-stacked ocean cans or a domestic/ocean set, but not a set of two domestics. The eastbound intermodals that originated here had to be loaded accordingly, or the train would have take a sixty-mile detour to the northwest on the old NYC Columbus-Toledo/Detroit Scottslawn Secondary and hit the St Louis-Cleveland line at Ridgeway, Ohio before turning east (the usual routing via the old NYC Big Four line to Cleveland intersects it at Galion, OH). Yes - they converted a few boxes into "open tops" before they lowered the tracks under the bridge (which involved moving buried communication lines and city water/sanitary lines). You can never be too careful - the trucking company for which I worked into the mid-1990's still took time to put "reverse font" warning labels visable in the driver's rearview mirrors on our standard 13'6" highway trailers. I still had a guy try to take one under a 12'0" bridge in Louisville, KY - with a load of powered red food dye in fiberboard bulk containers on a windy, rainy day, it looked like a scene from a bad Zombie Apocolypse movie."Tony, didn't you tell me you'd been down there once a month for years when I gave you that load?""Yeah, boss - but I was driving a flatbed back then!"
A question: will the self-driving trucks avoid all low clearance overhead structures?
Johnny
Deggesty A question: will the self-driving trucks avoid all low clearance overhead structures?
If my experience with Google Maps is any indication, I doubt it. You could outfit the tractor with some sort of triangulation device that would halt the vehicle before it passes under a bridge that the trailer won't clear - but imagine the fun if when it malfunctions or "reads" a low-flying pigeon as an obstacle on the Dan Ryan Expressway during rush hour...?
CatFoodFlambe Deggesty A question: will the self-driving trucks avoid all low clearance overhead structures? Deggesty A question: will the self-driving trucks avoid all low clearance overhead structures? If my experience with Google Maps is any indication, I doubt it. You could outfit the tractor with some sort of triangulation device that would halt the vehicle before it passes under a bridge that the trailer won't clear - but imagine the fun if when it malfunctions or "reads" a low-flying pigeon as an obstacle on the Dan Ryan Expressway during rush hour...?
As long as the height of trailers is more than that of an empty flat bed, and truck drivers are hired to be "steering wheel holders", and untested in their abilities to read maps( and/or signs).
As long as the Highway Bubba's build overpass structures to lower heights than that of the maximum regulated trailer heights.....Aluminum trailers and concrete and steel overpasses will be in conflict. Until then, Trailer Repairmen and Wrecker Companies will prosper.
samfp1943 As long as the Highway Bubba's build overpass structures to lower heights than that of the maximum regulated trailer heights.....Aluminum trailers and concrete and steel overpasses will be in conflict. Until then, Trailer Repairmen and Wrecker Companies will prosper.
Most of the low underpasses were built many years ago and have not been replaced or upgraded. (very expensive) For instance, the height standard for Interstate highways (which were supposed to clear any road legal vehicle) was lower in the 1960's than today. The size of trailers grew. Most Interstates and many local roads have been rebuilt since then, but there are many thousands of low underpasses remaining.
I have seen a few cases on local roads where a low clearance obstruction was purposly built to keep trucks from using them.
The highway dept I worked for has procedures to ensure that at least the minimum clearance was maintained when a road under a bridge was repaired or rebuilt. But once in a while mistakes were made. If the clearence was reduced (even if still above minimum standard) the change was logged and a sign signs reflecting the new clearence installed.
Another problem is extra-legal loads. The people of the Permit Branch work very hard to see that they are routed over roads that can handel their excess heights, widths, lengths, or weights.
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
Catfoodflambe I know exactly the bridge you are talking about at Harrisburg.
The railroad overpass (known locally as the "viaduct") in Milford, MI suffered from two issues. One was the growth of the height of trucks, the second was that old pavement was never removed before new pavement was added. Thus the clearance grew less and less each time the street was paved.
They finally wised up and did a complete reconstruction, gaining quite a bit of clearance in the process. The railroad is the CSX Saginaw Line (ex-PM, C&O)
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
A couple of thoughts. Getting back to the original topic, I saw several of the EMP containers today, and they are 9'-6" high. That is one of the standard heights, and now very common for domestic containers. But if you watch carefully, you can often see a height variation on doublestacked containers, expecially if it includes overseas ones. Other common heights are 9'-0" and 8'-6", and occasionally even smaller. So the "warning high cube" is just pointing out that the container is taller than many.
Low bridges seem to be a challenge for truckers. The solution is simple, since they want to run on that route just increase the clearance. It may cost big bucks, but since the truckers like to think they pay their share, I'm sure they will not hesitate to provide the financing.....
CSSHEGEWISCHHigh Cube Containers that I've seen are usually a bit taller than standard containers.
timz CSSHEGEWISCH High Cube Containers that I've seen are usually a bit taller than standard containers. Taller than 9 ft 6 in? How much taller? Are two such containers allowed to be stacked on the train? For that matter, is a High Cube container allowed to be on top of a 9 ft 6 in container?
CSSHEGEWISCH High Cube Containers that I've seen are usually a bit taller than standard containers.
Taller than 9 ft 6 in? How much taller? Are two such containers allowed to be stacked on the train? For that matter, is a High Cube container allowed to be on top of a 9 ft 6 in container?
I believe double stacked 9'6" containers which then measure 19'2" when loaded into well cars designed for their carriage end up measuring 20'2" which is the current maximum double stack height.
basementdweller Catfoodflambe I know exactly the bridge you are talking about at Harrisburg.
Having worked in Chicago, for a time; I became very familiar with some of its bridge "quirks" which seemed to abound there.
The Company I worked for at that time was not only a small truck line, but had a terrific business repairing trailers damaged in the area (Bridgeport/Stockyards).
The Pershing Ave bridge (West- under the then-MPRR) was particularly nasty/ tricky. An M/T 13'6" would pass under it without incident on the North Curb lane; if it was taken under in any other lane, it would need big-time repaired. Another was up on Western Ave near downtown(?). A taxing place for an OTR driver, without a Chicago low underpass map.
A low underpass map?? I've lived in the Chicago area my entire life and I thought that they were all low underpasses.
Pennsylvania Ave. overpass on GTW in Lansing, Mi. eats trucks. One of the owners decided to borrow one of the box trucks to move his son into his apartment for med school at MSU. AA 24' box that was the same height as the overpass. Going south loaded no problem, going north, empty, a problem. We basically had a dump truck when he was done. Didn't stop until he got out the other side and had peeled the roof back but not off, kind of like a sardines, it covered the rear door. He just drove it back to Flint and parked it. Called me and said "I think we should order a new box truck 602". We did.
BOB WITHORN Pennsylvania Ave. overpass on GTW in Lansing, Mi. eats trucks. One of the owners decided to borrow one of the box trucks to move his son into his apartment for med school at MSU. AA 24' box that was the same height as the overpass. Going south loaded no problem, going north, empty, a problem. We basically had a dump truck when he was done. Didn't stop until he got out the other side and had peeled the roof back but not off, kind of like a sardines, it covered the rear door. He just drove it back to Flint and parked it. Called me and said "I think we should order a new box truck 602". We did.
A inch makes a difference!
I have sold thousands of reverse printed 13'6" High Trailer decals in my career.
Chicago is notorious for the low overpasses. The low overpass maps are interesting to look at ... for about a minute. Wouldnt want to handle a 53 ft trailer these days in an urban center.
Ed
Certainly not a trailer, but a clearance issue nontheless - back in my CB radio days, I had a fiberglass antenna on the car. It stood 11'6". There were a couple of times I hit the binders when I saw a lower clearance posted, but those were the minimum clearance for the entire bridge - I never hit anything.
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