Greetings All,
Freight Car Spotlight #3-2022 / Trailer On Flat Car (T.O.F.C)
Today's very long freight car spotlight will focus on one of my favorite types of freight cars, the Trailer On Flat Car also known as T.O.F.C., piggyback and various other railroad specific names like TOFCEE to the B&O. 
In the early 1950s many railroads were in trouble and they knew it. Passengers were flocking to airlines and automobiles. The trucking industry fortified by better highways and byways increasingly picked off less than carload traffic as the Interstate Commerce Commission strangled the railroads in regulations.
RRs like the New York Central, Pennsylvania, New Haven and others with short hauls were increasingly vulnerable to trucks that could easily travel the RRs average linehaul of 300 plus miles and economically deliver freight door to door.
Credit the railroads with coming up with a "if you can't beat em join em" idea of hauling their truck competition on flatcars. This was a profitable venture and continues to be a win-win for both types of freight haulers. Lets take a look at TOFC traffic thru the years on the NYCTL.
New Models
A recent visit from 1:1 ATJOE1972 included a visit to Trainmaster Models in Auburn, Georgia where I came across two sets of 40' refrigerated trailers and an All Purpose 85' Trailer Train Flatcar that I thought would serve the layout well.
Two new Athearn Blue Box 40' Refrigerated Pacific Fruit Express trailers will bring fresh produce from the west coast to Empire City. 
After being unloaded at the TOFC ramp in Terminal Yard the trailers deliver their fresh produce to Empire City Produce using local drayage services.
Here is the new Trailer Train 85' All Purpose Flatcar suitable for trailer or container loading. This type of car was first introduced in 1966.
Some Prototype Information
In a printed ad called "Another New Haven Success Story" The New Haven RR reported a TOFC increase of over 73% in 1952. During the month of August 1952 the NH transported over 3,500 trailers. The ad closes in bold letters "That is why the New Haven has just ordered another 100 flatcars."
In 1953 the New Haven would transport over 50,000 trailers in their Trailiner TOFC service.
B&O started their trailer load TOFCEE service to 14 key cities between NY and Chicago in July 1954 using converted 41' and 53' flatcars.
In 1954 the Standard Railroad of the World launched a successful TOFC program called TrucTrain using 75' flatcars.
In 1955 the PRR along with the Norfolk & Western RR(partially owned by the PRR) and Rail Trailer Corporation formed a company called Trailer-Train using 500 75' cars from the PRR that were capable of carrying two 35' trailers. Trailer Train Service began in 1956. 
Trailer Train
The Trailer Train Corporation focused on three things:
1. Standardize the rail equipment of piggybacking with a two trailer car as the basis.
2. Foster the growth of piggybacking by providing its members with the best available equipment.
3. Furnish equipment to its members at the lowest available cost.
In 1958 the 85' flatcar with two trailer hitches became state of the art. Without the trailer hitch securing trailers was labor intensive and time consuming.
TOFC Traffic Grows
In 1960 the B&O TOFCEE traffic escalated significantly and the B&O established high speed all piggyback freight trains called Trailer Jets.
In 1964 the New York Central bought into the Trailer Train consortium as the need to interchange intermodal traffic became overwhelming and their vaunted Flexi Vans, although profitable, were largely a captive phenomenon.
On June 8, 1967 the ATSF and NYC tested a high speed high premium coast to coast Super C TOFC train from 40th Street in Manhattan to Los Angeles via Chicago. The ATSF would later launch it's Super C Trains alone on January 17, 1968 offering high speed premium TOFC service between LA and Chicago after the NYC pulled out. Santa Fe Super C Service lasted until 1976.
After the NYC-PRR merger on February 1, 1968 the NYC Super Van (SV) trains and PRR Truc Trains (TT) were named Trail Van (TV) trains after an employee naming consist. In July 1973 the Penn Central won the Golden Freight Car Award for their Trail Van Program.
In 1969 the Kings Port &Western RR initiated TOFC service between KP&W's Williams Yard in Kings Port NY and Terminal Yard in Bedford NY via the Penn Central for the Penn Central Car Movements series.
In the June 1974 Penn Central Freight Schedule there are thirty eight dedicated Trail Van Trains covering the vast PC system.
In 1974 the Erie Lackawanna derived about 40% of its revenue from TOFC traffic. UPS at Croxton, NJ was their biggest customer with the EL handling almost 36,000 cars in and out in 1974.
The Trail Van (TV) trains would continue into the Conrail era and Conrail would become a dominant TOFC carrier. As trailer lengths grew to 45' and beyond the 85' cars could only handle one trailer.
Trailer Train addressed the longer trailer lengths by reworking 89' TOFC flatcars to accommodate 45' trailers back to back. The car could handle twin 45's or three 28' trailers. TTX in 1987 would couple two 89' TOFC cars together with drawbars. Named "Long Runners" these cars could handle the 53' trailers now in service.
TOFC Spine Cars
As railroads focused on the next generation of more efficient TOFC operations the ATSF introduced their ATSF 10 Pack Fuel Foiler spine cars in 1978 to handle 40' and 45' trailers.
The fuel foiler sets lowered the weight and height of the cars and increased fuel savings. Below is one of two five piece Athearn BB sets. This is considered a single car.
The spine type cars would lead to even lighter weight cars called Front Runners with single axle trucks.
Road-Railers reduced the weight of the train even further like this kit from Walthers where the trailers are joined by railroad trucks called bogies.
A view from the Ramp
During my time with CSX Intermodal in 2010 the BNSF would deliver one and sometimes two very long intermodal trains to Fairburn Yard in Georgia every Saturday afternoon. Can you say forced overtime! At the tail end of the train would be trailers on spine cars and flatcars if they were part of the train makeup.
TOFC Today
Several years ago class 1 railroads BNSF and NS began pushing trucking companies to phase out trailer on flatcars and start using containers. In 2019 Trains magazine reported trailers made up 7% of intermodal volume and flatcars capable of handling trailers make up 11% of the TTX intermodal fleet. But containerization doesn't work for everyone like big intermodal shipper UPS whose freight network uses 28', 40' and 53' trailers so we should still see some TOFC traffic on the rails.
Lets take a look at some of the above models in action on the layout
Prototype Photos
TTAX 970052 85' All Purpose Flat at New Orleans 1975
SP 513156 85' Trailer-Flatcar Service with lumber load in 1997
CBQ 94530 with two front end loaders. Cicero, IL 1980
TTX100037 85' Flatcar with two trailers. Girard, PA 1960.
UP 53697 85' All Purpose Flat with two trailers. No date or location provided.
Additional Reading and Resources
This was a great history lesson in the world of TOFC and intermodal! A well done time line showcasing all of the types of trailer train movements on various railroad. Very impressed with your video and all of the equipment you own to make this freight car spotlight. I did catch one of the APRR leased engines on one of your intermodal trains. It shows the engine is doing its time!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for freight car spotlight #4!
Thank you very much 1:1 Sir Neal!!! This a labor of love in a way as TOFC is one of my favorite aspects of prototypical and model railroading. The APRR 358 continues to be a workhorse on the layout continually being leased by the PC and CR to alleviate chronic motive power shortages.
DeleteThat was an impressive review of TOFC approaches by various railroad throughout the years. You have an extensive roster of trailers that looked fantastic on the featured trains! Thanks for the history and the depictions of trains from the NH,NYC, PRR, B&O, CB&Q, PC, EL, and ATSF! Thanks for the reference to the TOFC traffic between the N.Y.C.T.L. and the Kings Port Division! Great video! You conveyed a lot of information in a most enjoyable format! Thanks for the railfan opportunity!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Ralph!!! Glad you enjoyed the historical references and depictions of the various TOFC trains. I was hoping you'd get a kick out of the KP&W - NYCTL TOFC service!
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