Local Intermodal questions (Chicago area but other areas will work)

I ran intermodel for 2 years out of Chicago. The states I ran Iowa and accounts - Quaker Oats in Cedar Rapids, Ohio - Target in Columbus, Best Buy in Finley, P & G Lima, U.S. mail in Cincy, Indiana - Monarch Beverage in Indy, Pepsi in Indy, P & G in Indy, GE in Sunman, Kentucky - aluminum can recycle plant in Berea, a few places in Louisville, Smuckers in Lexington, Illinois - P & G Danville, Wisconsin - P & G in Green Bay, Target somewhere in Wisconsin, U.S. Mail in Milwaukee, Michigan - GM in Flint and Pontiac, Ford in Brownstown, Target in Galesburg, Post in Battle Creek, Kelloggs in Battle Creek, U.S. Mail Allen Park. There are also many others those are the ones I can remember.

I ran regional out 5 days went home for two. My miles were anywhere from 1800 to 2500 a week. The weights were accurate, I sometimes would use the citgo scale on cicero on loads over 40,000 lbs (I think its public, but costs $). I never had any layovers. Of the 13 railyards in Chicago I ran mostly out of Cicero, Kedzie and Hodgkins also some 79th street (79th sucks). Getting in and out of the railyards usually wasn't to bad. I never met any Jerks in the railyards.

Rail containers are heavier than a dry box. I never liked hauling over 44,000 lbs due to this fact. Rail containers have the 4 pins one in each corner. When picking up in the rail yard always lock these back in cause 90 % of the time in there they are not locked in. You may also want to use a zip tie on the older pins(older chasis) to keep them in place. Sometimes you might have a bad chasis and need to take it to the flip line - This means a crane has to pull your box off the chasis and put it on a new one. it can take from 1/2 to 2 hours. This does not happen much but it will happen eventually...... a la Box sitting on a locking pin or a flat tire ect. It is a good idea to carry a 5 lbs sledge hammer and a crowbar with you to get some of those stubburn pins to lock in place. Also a bag full of misc lights cause there will sometimes be lights missing from the chasis.

 

were you a o/o or company? what is the cpm? fsc?

 

I have a truck running from Indianapolis up to Elwood, Il back and forth daily. I pull in and out of BNSF Elwood, Global 1,2,3,4. My truck gets $1.57 loaded and $1.27 empty. I mostly keep my truck loaded and I Never pull over 40,000 pounds. It doesn't pay great but it gets the driver home daily and there is no appointments on what I run so the driver picks his own hours. Like whats already been stated make sure you take plenty of lights as people will steal them off chassis like crazy. The repair line is crap as you will sit for ever waiting on them to fix any problems.

 

I was a company driver my pay was 38 cents per mile to start. I was there 2 years, I was at .40 cpm when I left. 85% of the time I had a drop and hook.

 

If you have your own truck, is there any benefit to having your own chassis doing container work? I mean, aside from not having to deal with other people's broken down thrashed chassis

 

I pulled containers around chicago for a week and a few days. it was the worst experience of my life. if you like waiting in line for 3 hours to get into the rail yard and another 3 hours to get out then this is the job for you. all the chassis are crap. it seemed like everytime i went there it either had no lights or flat tires leaky breaks and i dont think i ever picked one up that had air ride. my advice is to pull something else, but thats just my opinion. hope that helps

 

The problem you would run into is not all cans are the same sizes. So if you buy a chassis you will be limited to that size. Also mersk cans only go with mersk chassis. Unless you put them on a flatbed or step. I personally think having your own chassis would hurt you as you would be waiting to get a can. You would have to pull whatever can you were picking up over to the lift area and have it lifted off the chassis and put onto yours so there would be a line and most of the time it could be 1-2 hours depending on how busy at the time.

 

If one ever does pull railcans they need to carry an air hose with them to air up chassis tires. Along with extra lights since people steal lights like crazy. For a guy that wants to be his own boss and be home daily pulling cans isn't a bad gig.

 

The company I pulled for always gave us a light kit every couple of months. It had every light for every chasis . Also they had almost all Chna boxes so you did not have to worry about holes in the roof. 90% of the chasis were in excellent condition. As long as you are registered you can get in and out of the railyards pretty quick. There is one railyard that always took awhile to get into I forgot the name, but it is over the the chicago fire soccer team stadium. I may have gotten 5 loads out of there in 2 yerars.