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Shipping container weight
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Maximum weight of a container is governed by the fact that generally you have to truck it between the ramp and the customer's dock, and in most U.S. jurisdictions that sets the container gross at 40,000 lbs.<br><br>Average weight is not so easy to determine. Many things that go in containers such as auto parts, clothing, electronic goods, toys, packaged food, etc., are low density. Backhaul container loads such as scrap paper are high density. <br><br>However, you're asking a "what if," namely, what would stack trains have looked like had containerization and the double-stack car been invented about 10 years earlier? In that era most U.S. railroads preferred four-axle for merchandise business because it was a more cost-effective option -- the real need for six-axle didn't appear until single-unit horsepower climbed into the 4,000-hp range, after which it became difficult to get that horsepower onto the rail consistently. A 3,000-hp, six-axle unit is simply dragging around extra weight once speed increases to 25 mph or so. <br><br>I think you could go either way -- GP40s or SD40s -- and justify it. You could even mix them up indiscriminately on your stack trains. Heck, Rio Grande did!<br><br>S. Hadid<br>
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