Railroad Train Carrying Only Truck Trailers?

Inter modal is growing everyday. Union Pacific has double tracked almost all line from El Paso to CA. Eventually they are going all the way to DFW. They are going after OTR freight big time. There will always be market for oversize and other stuff that they can not handle. They even have a reefer only train now from W coast to E. They are guaranteeing 5 day service and so far have had good results. At UP giant yard in NE they brought in NASCAR pit people to help speed refueling and service. They have had TOFC for 40 years. Just taking it a lot more seriously now. I see them all the time in FTW. UPS, Western Xpress, the pumpkin, and many others use them. And that is in addition to all the foreign containers that they haul.

 

I saw a RR (CSX I think) tv ad not long ago and they claimed to take something like 235 trucks off the road to save the environment and reduce traffic. That made me laugh because I knew as well as everyone here knows that they will still need 235 trucks to move those 235 trailers to wherever they need to go.

 

try 32 hrs, Atlanta, GA to Fontana CA.

 

Nope 470 trucks! 235 on each end! HMMM saving where? But a politician will buy it!

 

My brother works out of the Willmar yard, but lately hes been going out to South Dakota just so he can keep the average hours hes used to. Actually he and a few other guys he works with just rented an apt. out there and they do their time and then head home for the few days they have off. He's an engineer now but if would have just stayed in WIllmar he would of been laid off as well.

 

Rollover my bad. I was using their math.

 

I don't see very many reefers on those trains. Point - produce is very sensitive to temperature, and RRs don't give it the tender loving care it needs. We have a ton of team truck business out of Cali to the east coast. Honestly, you need to be checking the load on a fairly regular basis to prevent top freezing.

 

Forgive my ignorance for asking, but dont railroad companies get federal funds? Why should my taxes help put me out of work? (that's like working at Burger King and eating lunch at McDonalds, aint it?) I wonder how much freight they would be hauling if we took away their federal money?
And if I am wrong about my perception, please, correct me. But I thought the only way the railroad stayed in business was b/c the gov't gave them money.

 

Maybe that's why Warren Buffet owns the controlling interest in BNSF and a lot of UP and NS. And he backed Bambi too.

 

Ah, my first post...nothing to add, just wanted to say that the last post made me