Canadian Railroads > Freight Car Friday - TTX Spine Car with COFC

Monday August 17 presented an opportunity to spend a few hours in the east end of Edmonton. Between Bretville Junction and Clover Bar Yard, along Hayter Road, I shot #119 at 1129.
1. Mixed in with the expected well cars was this three-pack articulated spine car, TTRX 371099, carrying (left to right), ZIM, ONE, and MSC 45G1 40' containers. I hadn't see one of these in a long, long time, so it seemed worth the file space. I also like how the shot demonstrates the lower ride height of the single container in a well car, the design revolution that allowed double-stack to work. Where would the railroads be without that innovation?
2. The first shot was the "roster" shot of ONE's ONEU 014430_2; I know it's not a traditional railroading colour, but these things do add pop to a photo. The spine car's designation as a twin 28'-all purpose spine car is a bit puzzling, as well as instructive. They are designed to handle containers or trailers, with the folded down hitch at the end closest to the camera, and the pad for the trailers wheels being long enough to handle a trailer from 28' pup size, to 53' (info from TTX web site). Their site mentions 5-car articulated spine cars, not the three, and I'm not sure what's "twin" about it, given that you can't accommodate a pair of 28' trailers on one platform, and there are 3 platforms available. Any explanations?
Fred

---

---

We get spine cars all the time down on the BNSF Southern Transcon. They've pretty much replaced the 89 foot flatcar in hauling TOFC/COFC.

Yes, spine cars are a good fit for TOFC since only one 53 ft. trailer will fit on an 89 ft. flat.  But TOFC is almost extinct in Canada.  Once in a very long time, I'll see a chassis in a well car on 120, and somewhat more often there will be a spine 5-pack, but it seems to be an almost exclusive American phenomenon these days.

20 or so years ago some brand new 3-pack spine cars with TRR reporting marks showed up in Halifax.  Each section had two 5th wheels, and could handle two 28 ft. trailers, or one up to 57 ft. long (haven't seen one of those yet).  Are you sure your TTX spines can't do the same?  I can't quite read all the lettering in the image.

GTD

The car pictured in this post can handle 1 57 foot trailer, 2 28 foot trailers or a container up to 53 feet long on each section.
They're very versatile.
 

cn6218 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, spine cars are a good fit for TOFC since only
> one 53 ft. trailer will fit on an 89 ft. flat. 
> But TOFC is almost extinct in Canada.  Once in a
> very long time, I'll see a chassis in a well car
> on 120, and somewhat more often there will be a
> spine 5-pack, but it seems to be an almost
> exclusive American phenomenon these days.
>
> 20 or so years ago some brand new 3-pack spine
> cars with TRR reporting marks showed up in
> Halifax.  Each section had two 5th wheels, and
> could handle two 28 ft. trailers, or one up to 57
> ft. long (haven't seen one of those yet).  Are
> you sure your TTX spines can't do the same?  I
> can't quite read all the lettering in the image.
>
> GTD

The point precisely, about TOFC being an American thing. When I got a few hours at Sandpoint in 2007, I could not believe all the trailers I was seeing, a lot of JB Hunt, and maybe USPS as well. It had been years already since I'd seen many trailers in Canada.
Fred

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The car pictured in this post can handle 1 57 foot
> trailer, 2 28 foot trailers or a container up to
> 53 feet long on each section.
> They're very versatile.
>  

The trailer hitches are folded down, obviously, so I'm guessing the wheel pads are long enough to put a pair of 28' pups back-to-back, with a hitch at each end? Or do they run elephant style, with the second hitch in the middle of the car?
Fred



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/20 10:53 by feclark.

feclark Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PHall Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The car pictured in this post can handle 1 57
> foot
> > trailer, 2 28 foot trailers or a container up
> to
> > 53 feet long on each section.
> > They're very versatile.
> >  
>
> The trailer hitches are folded down, obviously, so
> I'm guessing the wheel pads are long enough to put
> a pair of 28' pups back-to-back, with a hitch at
> each end? Or do they run elephant style, with the
> second hitch in the middle of the car?
> Fred

Back to back.

Wow, American thing vs States thing. Not even sure they have a phrase for it in the US, or are aware of it for that matter.
In my travels I often heard ' the States '. Haven't been to Canada in a while so I don't have a grip on what the current phrases are.

btw the spine cars often show up on the many webcams on the US transcons. The shorter wheelbase makes them more stable compared to the longer cars. Some of the Transcons use DPU's, either mid-train or rear, so that plays into it as well.