D.O.T when it comes to containers.

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4217247]I agree, JJ , RR cans have a loooong history of problems. It's money in the bank for the DOT. It's like you have a big billboard on the side of the container, " Hey copper, there's an excellent chance there's something wrong here". I don't mean to be rude, but I get a kick out of people going into intermodal, thinking, this is great, only to find out, it's one of the worst gigs on the planet.[/QUOTE]
Well they have gotten a lot better around here in the past few years. Haven't had a blowout in over 2 years on a chassis either. It's not hard to run them legal, I can pre trip a chassis in under 8 minutes and make adjustments if needed in that time. The only problems I run into are those dumb lights that are riveted on always come unplugged. The trick is pound it off and just throw 1 self tapper in it to secure it.

 

Hi Pool, I suppose, it's like anything. Looking for an MT was always a PITA too. Pick one out, everything looks good, take it up to the gate, " Sorry, that one is bad". WHAT? It was better than most of that junk. When they had Z-vans(do they still have those?) I used to bring a cordless drill, some rivets and some thin metal, and caulk, and climb up and fix them myself. Sometimes it was the only way to get an MT.

 

They started cracking down on containers when I started in 1987, and probably before that.

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4218152]Hi Pool, I suppose, it's like anything. Looking for an MT was always a PITA too. Pick one out, everything looks good, take it up to the gate, " Sorry, that one is bad". WHAT? It was better than most of that junk. When they had Z-vans(do they still have those?) I used to bring a cordless drill, some rivets and some thin metal, and caulk, and climb up and fix them myself. Sometimes it was the only way to get an MT.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I don't haul 53s of any kind because almost all of them need something. I use my own chassis or lease one from a pool if needed. I mostly do 40s and try to do more 20s as they pay better.

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4217247] I don't mean to be rude, but I get a kick out of people going into intermodal, thinking, this is great, only to find out, it's one of the worst gigs on the planet.[/QUOTE]

Compared to what exactly? I personally get a kick out of ******* with the otr guys because I know there jobs suck and all and how much they try and deny it. I really can't see how intermodal is worse than OTR. Forgetting OTR lets look at something everyone likes to brag about and that is LTL and how much they make but they fail to mention having to be a glorified dock worker for several years, working the extra board until they can get any bids, and in the case of FedEx having mass shootings in the work place every couple of years because they treat there employees like **** so I got to ask compared to what makes it one of the worst gigs out there?

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4218152]Hi Pool, I suppose, it's like anything. Looking for an MT was always a PITA too. Pick one out, everything looks good, take it up to the gate, " Sorry, that one is bad". WHAT? It was better than most of that junk. When they had Z-vans(do they still have those?) I used to bring a cordless drill, some rivets and some thin metal, and caulk, and climb up and fix them myself. Sometimes it was the only way to get an MT.[/QUOTE]

This was in Conrail rail yards?

 

Hi Cody, I don't mean to be judgmental. If it works for you, by all means, have at it. I'm just saying I've done it all, and intermodal was the worst, and of all the types of trucking I've done, I would never do intermodal again. Conrail was bad, but compared to what? Part of the problem was Chicago itself. Again, take it from an old fart, there's better money and less hassle in other areas of trucking. Best of luck to you.

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4218152]Hi Pool, I suppose, it's like anything. Looking for an MT was always a PITA too. Pick one out, everything looks good, take it up to the gate, " Sorry, that one is bad". WHAT? It was better than most of that junk. When they had Z-vans(do they still have those?) I used to bring a cordless drill, some rivets and some thin metal, and caulk, and climb up and fix them myself. Sometimes it was the only way to get an MT.[/QUOTE]
I am not 100% sure what you meant by Z-vans. A limited search indicates that they are just regular trailers that were for intermodal use. I guess it makes sense. I found this article at wikipedia that showed some of the category identifiers:
-U for all freight containers
-J for detachable freight container-related equipment
-Z for trailers and chassis
-R for reefer containers (cooling containers, mostly with their own refrigeration system)
The article goes in depth about how check digits are calculated, it really twists around to get that number.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_6346
Lastly, I have also noticed that rail rolling stock usually ends in an X. So you can have a JBHU234567 married to JBHZ123456, on car TTRX623456.

But I digress, yeah, they still have Z Vans around, but they look like regular trailers you see tooling down the road. There are a number of carriers whose intermodal fleet is mostly Z Vans, KLLM is one that comes to mind. I don't recall if they have any containers. I am sure mikeeee will chime in if I am wrong.

The most I have ever done to make a container "presentable" is use duct tape to cover a hole. If the boxes aren't load-worthy, no sense in taking them or putting too much effort into them. With my company, if there aren't any empties at the rail, we have other locations to find them.

Hey, I found this neat site in my search for z-vans, it is Hank Truck Forum and they have this thread titled 1980s Intermodal with lots of pics. I bet you'd get a kick out it.
http://hankstruckforum.com/htforum/index.php?topic=31827.0

 

Yup, Ebola Guy, that's the ones. The most famous were Realco (REAZ) and XTRA( XTRZ). If you remember, years ago, you'd see those vans that were 102" wide, but the wheels were 96" wide, and they looked kind of funny. That's because, the flatcars were designed for 96" inch wide trailer wheels, and when they came out with 102", they wouldn't fit on the flatcars. Also, the suspensions were rebuilt from 96" trailers, and mounted on new 102" van bodies.

 

There's no problem bud, it's just simply to start a discussion.