Roadrailers

[Notch 8]

Unless a rookie service planner picked the route of course lol jk. All seriousness I bet there is a length limit you hit before you start worrying about curve radiuses but most mainlines that Triple Crown run on in the mid-west dont have really right curves that would be a problem anyway unless you are talking connecting tracks and that sorta thing.

There is a maximum length of 125 cars, the cars follow the radiuses well because of the position of the bogie and the length of the car of only 53'

[StupidFlee​t]

The last time I saw a Triple Crown train on the WLR was 3/23/2005 and for some reason I believe that it had originated in Minneapolis. They have been running some conventional Triple Crown trailers in TOFC as well.

The only portion of the water level route that normally sees Triple Crown traffic (and has been for some time) is the portion between Cleveland and Sandusky.

[Notch 8]

As Magnum stated earlier TCS continues to utilize RoadRailer trailers and, in fact, has over 6,500 currently in operation.
They are, however, also offering conventional intermodal transit, trailer-on-flat-car (TOFC) in some select lanes.
So the TCS train that I caught in Waterloo was most like a re-route due to track maintenance on it's normal route....
I had heard for sometime that TCS was winding down and in fact just to opposite is happening, with that said there has
not been any new RoadRailers added to the fleet either.... The picture posted in a earlier post is unique as it is 1 of the 30
refrigerated trailers that is in the fleet..

[LakeATCS]

I had heard for sometime that TCS was winding down and in fact just to opposite is happening, with that said there has
not been any new RoadRailers added to the fleet either.....

That is correct, the Roadrailers do have a drop dead FRA date after which they can no longer be used on the rails. (15 years after being placed in service)

For most of the fleet it's coming up within a couple of years.

[GreatLakesRailfan]

The picture posted in a earlier post is unique as it is 1 of the 30
refrigerated trailers that is in the fleet..

Thank you! The number didn't look right, but that explains why.

[justalurker66]

There is a maximum length of 125 cars, the cars follow the radiuses well because of the position of the bogie and the length of the car of only 53'

With only 12 inches between trailers there has to be some limit. My mathematical guess is that the trailers would touch on a 12 degree curve ... which means a reroute via the Marion Branch would have been close to the limit on the curve connecting to the Chicago Line. (That curve has now been rebuilt as 9 degrees ,,, I do not know the radius of the connecting curve at Claypool.)

Not that Roadrailers have ever been on the Marion Branch - but it would be interesting to know if it was possible.

[rob46580]

I would guess this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1HhIu0po3w hints at a reason there are no regular roadrailer trains west of Sandusky on Chicago Line maybe?

[Notch 8]

There is a maximum length of 125 cars, the cars follow the radiuses well because of the position of the bogie and the length of the car of only 53'

With only 12 inches between trailers there has to be some limit. My mathematical guess is that the trailers would touch on a 12 degree curve ... which means a reroute via the Marion Branch would have been close to the limit on the curve connecting to the Chicago Line. (That curve has now been rebuilt as 9 degrees ,,, I do not know the radius of the connecting curve at Claypool.)

Not that Roadrailers have ever been on the Marion Branch - but it would be interesting to know if it was possible.

Next time that I'm at Wabash National I'll ask what the max radius that the RoadRailers can handle, If you look at the attached photo's you will see the radius's that have to negotiate getting in and out of the Triple Crown Yard over to East Wayne Yard and they're tight. There is a Triple Crown Train on the photo labeled Midway.

[railohio]

The reason they don't run the Chicago Line is because Fort Wayne is the hub...

[Notch 8]

The reason they don't run the Chicago Line is because Fort Wayne is the hub...

Correct, but TCS does run the Chicago Line but TOFC's

[bdconrail29]

The maximum length isn't 125. 261 and 262 routinely have 150 trailers.

[Jim]

Correct, the maximum trailers is 150. TCS backs trains around Piqua wye in Fort Wayne. Its about a 150 degree turn. You can be sitting on Anthony Blvd watch a TCS train being pushed westbound on the Huntington District and look in your rear view mirror and see the same train going eastbound on the PRR elevation about 1/4 mile away. I have seen two TCS derailments at Piqua wye. In both cases the trailers were on their side on the outside of the curve. One was in the late 90's and the one pictured was 2 summers ago.

[JStryker722]

Correct, the maximum trailers is 150. TCS backs trains around Piqua wye in Fort Wayne. Its about a 150 degree turn. You can be sitting on Anthony Blvd watch a TCS train being pushed westbound on the Huntington District and look in your rear view mirror and see the same train going eastbound on the PRR elevation about 1/4 mile away. I have seen two TCS derailments at Piqua wye. In both cases the trailers were on their side on the outside of the curve. One was in the late 90's and the one pictured was 2 summers ago.

Can I get a Homer Simpson moment for $200,Alex? Lol