moving flatbed loads on railroad

What's the problem with tapping it? I got a load delivering 5 miles from the yard from Denison, TX but I had to use my 8ft drop tarps.

Whats wrong with people tapping the load, most of the time if you get a good company you'll get someone who tarps up tight, just as good as a dry van.

 

Are you talking about actual railroad rail? If so what is the lbs per yard weight? If so that would be very dangerous because there's no way to secure in in a box.

 

I have a flatbed business with 3 trucks. I looked into moving lumber by rail 500 miles on flatbed rail cars.
It was about $3500 and one rail car could carry 3 truck loads. Bottom line was no savings

 

I know a really good, honest broker who tried moving flatbed freight on rail for his customers and had horrible experiences with extra charges for this and that - none of which was explained up front by the RR. I would never use them. And when BNSF (the RR-owned broker) wants me to move freight I always give them a very high rate - don't care what rate they tell me they need to move it for, or the typical "that's all I have in it" excuse.

 

JB Hunt will lie to you, too. Had me go in for a p/u this past Friday. On the way to the p/u the broker called me and asked me if I wanted to take a Sunday unload instead of a Monday as planned. I told him NO and he told me my load wouldn't deliver on Monday - it would be Tuesday. He could switch me to another load that would deliver Monday am just like the other one was supposed to, so I agreed. When I got to the shipper, not only was the new load a floor load, it wasn't picked yet and would be several hours wait time. The other one was ready to put right on me. I called a few times asking for Blake and he wouldn't pick up ("He's on the phone", then "He went to lunch"
). I found another load from another broker just a few miles away and left JB's load there.

 

Boyd Brothers out of Alabama has rail flats but idk if the offer Pa to Cali service. Might be worth checking out.