Eastern Railroad Discussion > Roadrailers Still Rolling

Harvest time is getting on us, and the Triple Crown roadrailers are still making their trek between K.C. and the Motor City.  Here is the eastbound west of Tolono, Illinois, this afternoon.

The second shot shows a westbound 199 east of Bement.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

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Nice Copland shot there in #1. 

Glad to hear the annual rumors were untrue, again. Picture one is so right on!

Jim

for a couple more days?

Mary,
Nice to see a Roadrailer still in action! In the late Eighties my step-daughter (I like to refer to her as my "Red Headed Step Child" she is still a much loved beautiful red-head at 45 years!) was attending college in State College, PA. We lived in the SE PA in suburbs of Philadelphia. I found it a blessing to trundle her to and from college. Sometimes at holidays she had to use the bus but we did our best to provide the transportation. This led to quite a few stops at several popular Conrail spots. The most obvious was "Cove " Interlocking just above Harrisburg and the Lewistown Station. Both easily accessible and suitable for an infant and a toddler. A few other sites worked and another was a complete disaster! A story for another day (one of the last Broadways). My biggest regret was shooting analog video then, rather than 35 mm. Whatever, the memories are priceless.  On point, I recall several times seeing the Roadrailers across the Juniata River as we travelled along US Rte 322. I'm guessing their days are numbered and probably containers will replace them. Sigh! Another unique operation will dissapear.
Thanks for the memories.
Gonut

Who could tell me more about the route these take, more intermediate towns. So far, I have KC, Decatur, Tolono, Detroit. The reason I ask is because a couple of years ago I tried to figure it out in the field and got hopelessly screwed up and gave up! Same story around KC earlier this year. It's the old Wabash, correct? Will try again if it lasts and gas gets cheaper, this year not looking good either with looming probable UAW strike! === === = === JLH



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/23 09:40 by highgreengraphics.

First-class scenes of living history.
Bob

Thanks for the fine current pic of the remaining Triple Crown service.  I enjoyed seeing our early Triple Crown roadrailer on the Eastern Lines (Atlanta-Alexandria VA).  That is until Triple Crown decided it was easier to pick traffic off the box cars rather than taking traffic off the highways.  As their network expanded, Triple Crown removed the roadrailers and substituted a container train here.  Most people don't remember how Triple Crown started their service on the Eastern Lines.  It was in seldom photographed extended Southern Railway pig trailers additionally lettered for Triple Crown.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/23 02:43 by Notch7.

Very   nice.  Tolono.  Where  IC passenger  trains    were  a   sight  to  see.  Still a  NS  to   CN  connecting  track  there?

Roadrailers were developed by the C&O research department in associaton with a third party engineering firm. C&O ultimately found little use for them; mainly storage mail for USPS...a bit ahead of their time it turned out. 

Here is an original Road Railer in Grand Rapids yard in November of 2015, wheels removed being used as a storage shed.  No idea if it is still there or not - stumbled upon it while wandering around in the yard (inspecting cars, not trespassing, so calm down 😄 ) 

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highgreengraphics Wrote:
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> Who could tell me more about the route these take,
> more intermediate towns. So far, I have KC,
> Decatur, Tolono, Detroit. The reason I ask is
> because a couple of years ago I tried to figure it
> out in the field and got hopelessly screwed up and
> gave up! Same story around KC earlier this year.
> It's the old Wabash, correct? Will try again if it
> lasts and gas gets cheaper, this year not looking
> good either with looming probable UAW strike! ===
> === = === JLH

Moberly, Hannibal MO.Danville, IL. Lafayette, Logansport, Peru, Wabash, Huntington, Fort Wayne, Butler IN. Montpelier OH, Adrian,Milan and Romulus MI. Former Wabash.

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/23 08:23 by cnr6776.

the whole thing about road railers, they weigh more due to their beefier frame, so on the highway they can't legally haul as much in some cases, old RR trailers can be seen in service, darkhorse ran them

The weight difference on modern roadrailers is not much compared to a regular trailer.  The truth is that most loads on the highways don't reach maximum payload anyway.

Eng.Shadetree

cutboy1958 Wrote:

> Very   nice.  Tolono.  Where  IC passenger
>  trains    were  a   sight  to  see.
>  Still a  NS  to   CN  connecting  track
>  there?

All connection tracks between the two carriers at Tolono have been removed.