> I think this thread might have gone astray a little bit - the intent >of my original question was "why WERE there so many boxcars in use in the >1970s"? From my personal observations, it looks like the boxcar phase out >started by the late 1970's, and was fully underway by the mid-1980's, but >with TOFC technology existing back in the 1950's, I was just surprise that >this paradigm shift still hadn't occurred (or hadn't occurred in a big way) >by the 1970's. > The question is: Why so late? > It's an evolutionary process. Look at stack trains- SP was fooling around with them in what, 1980? Wasn't until 1985 or so that they began to build momentum, and not till 1990, 10 yrs later, did they became prevalent. RR's AND shippers were set up for boxcars. Developments take time to implement as everyone tries to wring out what they can from their past investments. TOFC was also a tough sell, since it created another tier of product to educate the customer about. Rail was cheap but slow; truck expensive but fast; TOFC somewhere in between. Some shippers didn't want to bother with TOFC (even today), as ladings in intermodal trailers must be secured differently and more heavily than over-the-road truck trailers (the impact of train slack action and switching moves). ------------------------------------------------------------ Visit the erielack photopage at http://el-list.railfan.net ------------------------------
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