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Posted by Sunnyland on Wednesday, July 7, 2021 12:39 PM

BaltACD

 that is a real sidedoor Pullman and legal riders on it, not freight hoppers. Thx, Balt

 
Sunnyland
I can remember the reefer cars when I  would visit the Frisco yard  where Dad worked. The constant hum on the motor keeping the contents cool were hard to miss.  The boxcar was and is still my favorite car because I remember seeing so many of them. When one passed with open door, Dad always said there goes a "sidedoor Pullman".  The place where hobos would catch a ride and  a good name for the car. 

 

A real Sidedoor Pullman - a troop sleeper 

 

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Posted by Sunnyland on Wednesday, July 7, 2021 12:36 PM

I am way behind, Randy, maybe my distant cuz. I remember lots of reefers in the yard when Dad would take me to watch trains. The constant hum to keep things cold.  Not sure how it all works today.   Mary Stahl

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Posted by Jackflash on Tuesday, June 29, 2021 11:26 AM

Greyhound,  I started with the IC RR in Gulfport as a switchman in June 1967 I had to work Bell Yard in Hattiesburg too,  and yes we had loads of bananas out of Gulfport daily,  had two trains into and out of Gulfport and four yard jobs.

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Posted by GERALD A EDGAR on Tuesday, June 29, 2021 8:50 AM

Indeed, UP screwed up what could have been a money-maker but then there is a reason why the Wizard of Omaha with the $$$ to buy any RR, did NOT choose to buy up UP as he knew them too well.  If a RR chooses to go after perishables again, it will be BN with its WFE, NPX & BREX/National heritage.  Given teh shortage of semi-drivers and the obvious advantage of rail, esp. long distance, there is a market awaiting an agressive RR.

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Posted by greyhounds on Monday, June 21, 2021 4:47 PM

MICHAEL C AMOROSO
Just a quick question concerning TOFC operations, who is responsible to fuel these trailers or is there enough fuel in those tanks when the trailer is brought to the intermodel yard for the complete trip of the trailer.

It depends on what the negotiated agreement between the carrier and the customer says.
 
Generally, the rails don’t retail intermodal.  They sell to truckers or 3rd party logistics companies and let them retail.  Exceptions are large firms such as Walmart or Amazon who deal directly with the railroads. 
 
A reefer container/trailer should arrive at the origin terminal with enough fuel to take it through to destination.  On a longer haul, such as California to New York, the tank may be topped off at a place like Chicago. 
 
Modern reefer equipment has remote monitoring.  If it’s low on fuel or not working the railroad can deal with the problem.  But as Tony Soprano was fond of saying: “It’s gonna’ cost ya.”
"By many measures, the U.S. freight rail system is the safest, most efficient and cost effective in the world." - Federal Railroad Administration, October, 2009. I'm just your average, everyday, uncivilized howling "anti-government" critic of mass government expenditures for "High Speed Rail" in the US. And I'm gosh darn proud of that.
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Posted by MICHAEL C AMOROSO on Monday, June 21, 2021 9:03 AM

Just a quick question concerning TOFC operations, who is responsible to fuel these trailers or is there enough fuel in those tanks when the trailer is brought to the intermodel yard for the complete trip of the trailer.

 

 

 
narig01
I'd driven any number of banana loads out of Gulfport. The company I drove for was based out of Jackson. 

 

About 13.8% of our bananas come in through the Port of Gulfport, MS.  I estimate the 2019 (2020 doesn't count) Gulfport total at 30,400 loads. 
 
Bananas should be fairly easy for railroads to handle.  They're not all that time sensitive.  They’re ripened after reaching the grocery DC.  And they’ve been on a boat from central/south America.

 Almost half (48% +) of our bananas come in through a combination of Wilmington, DE, Camden, NJ and Philadelphia.  These ports serve the populous northeast.  Gulfport is more oriented to serving the Midwest population.

The US west coast population receives bananas through San Diego, Port Hueneme, and Seattle/Tacoma.

 

 

[/quote]

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Posted by tomytuna on Tuesday, April 6, 2021 10:42 AM
what?/why u say that?
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Posted by SFbrkmn on Sunday, March 14, 2021 3:37 AM
Looks good on paper but won't work. Problem lies w/the carriers. The industry is no longer interested in expanding its business traffic base for growth. They cannot even move traffic being handled now. In February, when we all were being slammed by the bitter cold and snowy conditions, many non priority intermodal trains were being tied down parked in sidings. I did this w/ a Chicago-bound Q that was loaded with Hunt, Amazon and a few reefer trailers. Train sat in a non-CTC controlled siding nearly two weeks. The carrier simply the train was in there. I Did a trace discovered my tied-down train arrived in Chicago 391 hours late. Not good for Amazon or and loads of nuts, spices, melons and lemons. .Another reason the industry is not growing are the recent stupid fuel saving methods put in place of which engineers are being held accountable to follow, without fail "Zero/40" is the latest new gig. What this means is trains, with this listed on the outbound crew profile, cannot use throttle power over 40 mph. The engr has to reduce to idle and cannot use throttle power above that. Auto control may run it in the 45-50 range, and that is about the best it is gonna get. Keep in mind,we are talking Q and non highlighted Z trains, that can hit 70, but cannot come close to that under this new rule. Not the way to grow a business. .Lets find ways to reduce speed, have trailing units isolated, taking longer to arrive at the next crew change point, but, hey, we saved fuel today but burned every extra bd relief crew out there to drag these zero/40 runs into town.
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Posted by SD70Dude on Friday, March 12, 2021 6:16 PM

BaltACD
blue streak 1
Slightly off  topic.  G&W RR susidiary Alabama Gulf Coast RR. is going to have 2 new rail car ferrys from Mobile - Coatzacoalcos, Mexico.  Have to wonder how well the cars are treated once in Mexico befor reurning to US ?

Ready to Launch: New Rail Ferries for CG Railway - Railway Age

Isn't there an existing ferry operation out of Mobile to somewhere in South/Central America?

This is the service you're thinking of, they are simply getting new boats.  

Run-through power sometimes gets fitted with 'ghetto grates' upon arriving in Mexico. 

The TFM and FXE cars I've switched are always pretty old and run down, except for their newer autoracks.  

Greetings from Alberta

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Posted by BaltACD on Friday, March 12, 2021 5:52 PM

blue streak 1
Slightly off  topic.  G&W RR susidiary Alabama Gulf Coast RR. is going to have 2 new rail car ferrys from Mobile - Coatzacoalcos, Mexico.  Have to wonder how well the cars are treated once in Mexico befor reurning to US ?

Ready to Launch: New Rail Ferries for CG Railway - Railway Age

Isn't there an existing ferry operation out of Mobile to somewhere in South/Central America?

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Friday, March 12, 2021 5:18 PM

Slightly off  topic.  G&W RR susidiary Alabama Gulf Coast RR. is going to have 2 new rail car ferrys from Mobile - Coatzacoalcos, Mexico.  Have to wonder how well the cars are treated once in Mexico befor reurning to US ?

Ready to Launch: New Rail Ferries for CG Railway - Railway Age

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Posted by Shadow the Cats owner on Wednesday, March 10, 2021 6:29 PM

We use Gulfport MS as our primary outbound loading point for anything our customers want to ship internationally for custom blended resins.  It is an easy port for them to get to way easier than Houston or New Orleans in terms of traffic.  Has good reloads for the drivers doing the hauls and fairly low port fees for our customers.  We normally if shipping overseas require the customer to provide a 40 foot container that we will load for them and then provide the needed paperwork for the shipping line.  New Orleans is the primary grain port in the USA also ships a lot of other bulk freight.  Houston is the major port for the Oil industry and for Texas.  Heck the petrochemical industry alone in Houston feeds the port with most of its traffic.  The number of tankers going into and out of there is staggering.

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, March 10, 2021 1:49 PM

Tonnage and TEU's are BOTH relavant measures of activity.  Not all vehicles that move freight are loaded all the time - but they still have to be moved to be in a position to be loaded again.

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Posted by SD60MAC9500 on Wednesday, March 10, 2021 1:37 PM
 

charlie hebdo

According to IHS Markit’s Global Trade Atlas (GTA), in 2019 Gulfport. MI ranked 24th in TEUs,  while New Orleans ranked # 15 and Mobile ranked # 18.

Since Shadow Cats is in the trucking business,  looking a containers in international trade is more relevant.  And containers are important than tonnage,  seems to me. 

 

Typo in the article. It should be Gulfport, MS. Loaded TEU's are included in tonnage. Empties are not for obvious reasons. Example. The Port of LA might be the #1 port in TEU's, but it's not even in the top 10 when it comes to tonnage. Trucks haul tonnage not just empty boxes. I don't know if Shadow Cats hauls containers, crossdocks, or transloads into 53' Van's/Reefers from Gulfport. She can comment on this. So the tonnage is the relevancy..

 
 
 
 
 
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Posted by greyhounds on Tuesday, March 9, 2021 9:31 PM
OK, the Big Kahuna for containers on the US Gulf Coast is Houston.  This says Houston handles 2/3 of Gulf Coast container business.   
 
Container shipping has concentrated in fewer ports.  The container ships are a lot bigger, and they spend less time taking up space at a pier because they unload and load faster.
 
 
New Orleans gets bulk volume because it’s on the Mississippi River and, as a result, the barges go there.  It’s not a significant container port.   There are also significant Petro-chemical industries along the waterway.
 
Banana boats tend to be smaller container carriers.    They use smaller secondary ports that fit their needs.  i.e., Wilmington, DE, Gulfport, MS, and San Diego, CA.
 
"By many measures, the U.S. freight rail system is the safest, most efficient and cost effective in the world." - Federal Railroad Administration, October, 2009. I'm just your average, everyday, uncivilized howling "anti-government" critic of mass government expenditures for "High Speed Rail" in the US. And I'm gosh darn proud of that.
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Posted by charlie hebdo on Tuesday, March 9, 2021 8:20 PM

According to IHS Markit’s Global Trade Atlas (GTA), in 2019 Gulfport. MI ranked 24th in TEUs,  while New Orleans ranked # 15 and Mobile ranked # 18.

Since Shadow Cats is in the trucking business,  looking a containers in international trade is more relevant.  And containers are important than tonnage,  seems to me. 

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Posted by SD60MAC9500 on Tuesday, March 9, 2021 8:07 PM
 

Shadow the Cats owner

The major issue with the Port of New Orleans has to do with the Huey Long Bridge itself.  It is to low for modern ships to clear underneath it.  So they have made Gulfport MS the go to port for the Gulf of Mexico for most Ocean Cargo Vessels.  Yes Mobile and New Orleans still gets the occasional ship into them but for the most part it is Gulfport if your wanting to ship overseas.  I have filled out plenty of customs forms for Gulfport in my time at my job.

 

Concerning the Ports of Mobile, and New Orleans.. As of 2018 the former is ranked 11th, and the latter ranked 6th in the nation by tonnage.. That's pretty significant meaning they get more than a occasional ship.. Gulfport is not even ranked in the top 50 ports.

 
 
 
 
Rahhhhhhhhh!!!!
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Posted by SD60MAC9500 on Tuesday, March 9, 2021 5:03 PM
 

greyhounds

 

 
SD60MAC9500
When did they sell it? Last time I was down there was 2018. I didn't even remember seeing anything KCS related. I did notice the Chiquita facility was in operation. Which I thought previously Chiquita had left Gulfport.

 

The line was sold over 30 years ago when the ICG was restructured into something that could possibly make money.

Chiquita did move from Gulfport to New Orleans for about a year.  They then switched back to Gulfport.  

New Orleans is not a good port.  It exists because of the barge-ship transfer for bulk commodities.  For containters, it's an also ran.

 

Ok you just sparked my memory. I forgot about MidSouth Rail Corporation. IIRC KCS bought the operation back in the mid 90's. 

 
 
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Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, March 9, 2021 4:33 PM

Back in the day, the hottest train on NYC's Adirondack Division was BA1 - the banana train.  Ran all the way to Montreal.

I've seen pictures of it with ALCO FA's on the point, to give a time reference.

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Posted by greyhounds on Tuesday, March 9, 2021 4:19 PM

narig01
I'd driven any number of banana loads out of Gulfport. The company I drove for was based out of Jackson. 

About 13.8% of our bananas come in through the Port of Gulfport, MS.  I estimate the 2019 (2020 doesn't count) Gulfport total at 30,400 loads. 
 
Bananas should be fairly easy for railroads to handle.  They're not all that time sensitive.  They’re ripened after reaching the grocery DC.  And they’ve been on a boat from central/south America.

 Almost half (48% +) of our bananas come in through a combination of Wilmington, DE, Camden, NJ and Philadelphia.  These ports serve the populous northeast.  Gulfport is more oriented to serving the Midwest population.

The US west coast population receives bananas through San Diego, Port Hueneme, and Seattle/Tacoma.

 

"By many measures, the U.S. freight rail system is the safest, most efficient and cost effective in the world." - Federal Railroad Administration, October, 2009. I'm just your average, everyday, uncivilized howling "anti-government" critic of mass government expenditures for "High Speed Rail" in the US. And I'm gosh darn proud of that.
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Posted by Shadow the Cats owner on Tuesday, March 9, 2021 4:18 PM

The major issue with the Port of New Orleans has to do with the Huey Long Bridge itself.  It is to low for modern ships to clear underneath it.  So they have made Gulfport MS the go to port for the Gulf of Mexico for most Ocean Cargo Vessels.  Yes Mobile and New Orleans still gets the occasional ship into them but for the most part it is Gulfport if your wanting to ship overseas.  I have filled out plenty of customs forms for Gulfport in my time at my job.

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Posted by greyhounds on Tuesday, March 9, 2021 3:53 PM

SD60MAC9500
When did they sell it? Last time I was down there was 2018. I didn't even remember seeing anything KCS related. I did notice the Chiquita facility was in operation. Which I thought previously Chiquita had left Gulfport.

The line was sold over 30 years ago when the ICG was restructured into something that could possibly make money.

Chiquita did move from Gulfport to New Orleans for about a year.  They then switched back to Gulfport.  

New Orleans is not a good port.  It exists because of the barge-ship transfer for bulk commodities.  For containters, it's an also ran.

"By many measures, the U.S. freight rail system is the safest, most efficient and cost effective in the world." - Federal Railroad Administration, October, 2009. I'm just your average, everyday, uncivilized howling "anti-government" critic of mass government expenditures for "High Speed Rail" in the US. And I'm gosh darn proud of that.
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Posted by SD60MAC9500 on Monday, March 8, 2021 6:19 PM
 

greyhounds

 

 
SD60MAC9500
No it's CN. Thouch KCS does have trackage rights on the ex-IC, and GM&O to Mobile, AL from Jackson, MS. The branch to Gulfport comes off at a junction in Hattiesburg, MS.

 

The line to Gulfport was sold to the KCS.

 

Thank you for the correction. When did they sell it? Last time I was down there was 2018. I didn't even remember seeing anything KCS related. I did notice the Chiquita facility was in operation. Which I thought previously Chiquita had left Gulfport.

 
 
 
 
Rahhhhhhhhh!!!!
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Posted by greyhounds on Monday, March 8, 2021 2:48 PM

SD60MAC9500
No it's CN. Thouch KCS does have trackage rights on the ex-IC, and GM&O to Mobile, AL from Jackson, MS. The branch to Gulfport comes off at a junction in Hattiesburg, MS.

The line to Gulfport was sold to the KCS.

"By many measures, the U.S. freight rail system is the safest, most efficient and cost effective in the world." - Federal Railroad Administration, October, 2009. I'm just your average, everyday, uncivilized howling "anti-government" critic of mass government expenditures for "High Speed Rail" in the US. And I'm gosh darn proud of that.
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Posted by BaltACD on Monday, March 8, 2021 7:58 AM

Gulfport is also on CSX's, NO&M Sub between New Orleans and Mobile.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by SD60MAC9500 on Monday, March 8, 2021 6:16 AM
 

narig01

FWIW Isn't Gulfport on the Kansas City Southern now? It's been years since I was there. 

No it's CN. Thouch KCS does have trackage rights on the ex-IC, and GM&O to Mobile, AL from Jackson, MS. The branch to Gulfport comes off at a junction in Hattiesburg, MS.

Short story about this area for which I know somewhat well. Some very distant relatives of mine down in these parts of the South use to ship paperwood from their mills on both the Southern Rwy.,and the New Orleans Great Northern Railway a predecessor of the GM&O. 

 
 
 
Rahhhhhhhhh!!!!
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Posted by narig01 on Sunday, March 7, 2021 9:07 PM

FWIW Isn't Gulfport on the Kansas City Southern now? It's been years since I was there. 

       I'd driven any number of banana loads out of Gulfport. The company I drove for was based out of Jackson. 

      As to cargo sliding on rollers inside a container that is what cargo retaining equipment is for. One company makes a molded plastic piece used with a 2x4 stud to hold cargo. It does just fine holding 4000lb ibc steel chemical containers on a metal floor.

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Posted by BaltACD on Sunday, March 7, 2021 2:40 PM

Sunnyland
I can remember the reefer cars when I  would visit the Frisco yard  where Dad worked. The constant hum on the motor keeping the contents cool were hard to miss.  The boxcar was and is still my favorite car because I remember seeing so many of them. When one passed with open door, Dad always said there goes a "sidedoor Pullman".  The place where hobos would catch a ride and  a good name for the car. 

A real Sidedoor Pullman - a troop sleeper 

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Sunnyland on Sunday, March 7, 2021 2:26 PM

I can remember the reefer cars when I  would visit the Frisco yard  where Dad worked. The constant hum on the motor keeping the contents cool were hard to miss.  The boxcar was and is still my favorite car because I remember seeing so many of them. When one passed with open door, Dad always said there goes a "sidedoor Pullman".  The place where hobos would catch a ride and  a good name for the car. 

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