12-27-2010, 10:10 AM
I have heard many stories that during the 60's as the number of 40' cars started to dwindle the general attitude was if you can't hold and load a larger car, to bad. This time also coincided with the advent of the interstate system so many of the smaller shippers found it cheaper to ship by truck instead of sitting on enough product to load a 50' boxcar or expand their facilities. I remember in my home town many places that still have the dock and sometimes still have rail that could hold one 40' boxcar. Railroads were not to sorry to loose the one car customers as they were time consuming and costly. This began the time of cutting switch jobs on Class I's, which continues today, and has forced customers to either consolidate their traffic to one facility or hand it to shortlines who are willing to do the work.