12-15-2014, 11:24 AM
On box cars and reefers, the load is accessed from the center door, unless it is an all door boxcar that I think was used only by the S.P. in lumber service. It doesn't matter how it is unloaded or loaded, since it is over the trucks, but one end would typically be loaded or unloaded, then the other end and finally the middle would be loaded. Unloading would be opposite with the center being unloaded then the ends. This is a place where two fork lifts might be used one working each end once the center of the car was unloaded.
There is one industry that I know of on the LAJ where plastic pellet cars are left on the siding, and customers send trucks up to unload a truck load of pellets as needed from day to day. This company had three pellet cars on the siding at a time. Also keep in mind that rail cars are much larger than any truck on the road. I used to go into Redondo Junction regularly to repair or do maintenance on ExpressTrac reefers for AmTrac. These cars were rebuilt 57 foot reefers, and they loaded out oranges in So Cal for eastern markets. The oranges were boxed and were not on pallets so the loading crew would unload 53 foot trailers onto pallets that the forklifts would then take into the reefer where the boxes would be taken off the pallets and hand stacked in the reefer car. One 57 foot reefer would require three 53 foot trailer loads to fill. I presume it took three 53 foot trailers to handle the unloading at the eastern terminus. The 64 foot trinity reefers would probably require 4 or 5 trailer loads to fill the car and the same to unload it.
BNSF had some new at the time 91 foot reefers (not available as models yet). The inside length on these cars is 72 feet. I don't know how many trailers it would take to load or unload one of these monsters! My point is that reefers are carrying time sensitive loads. If they are being unloaded into a warehouse, they would be unloaded immediately upon arrival, and probably be delivered one day and picked up the next.
If the car was being unloaded into trucks or loaded from trucks, the number of trucks needed would be on hand ready to go.
There is one industry that I know of on the LAJ where plastic pellet cars are left on the siding, and customers send trucks up to unload a truck load of pellets as needed from day to day. This company had three pellet cars on the siding at a time. Also keep in mind that rail cars are much larger than any truck on the road. I used to go into Redondo Junction regularly to repair or do maintenance on ExpressTrac reefers for AmTrac. These cars were rebuilt 57 foot reefers, and they loaded out oranges in So Cal for eastern markets. The oranges were boxed and were not on pallets so the loading crew would unload 53 foot trailers onto pallets that the forklifts would then take into the reefer where the boxes would be taken off the pallets and hand stacked in the reefer car. One 57 foot reefer would require three 53 foot trailer loads to fill. I presume it took three 53 foot trailers to handle the unloading at the eastern terminus. The 64 foot trinity reefers would probably require 4 or 5 trailer loads to fill the car and the same to unload it.
BNSF had some new at the time 91 foot reefers (not available as models yet). The inside length on these cars is 72 feet. I don't know how many trailers it would take to load or unload one of these monsters! My point is that reefers are carrying time sensitive loads. If they are being unloaded into a warehouse, they would be unloaded immediately upon arrival, and probably be delivered one day and picked up the next.
If the car was being unloaded into trucks or loaded from trucks, the number of trucks needed would be on hand ready to go.
