It is important to remember that there are two kinds of intermodal traffic. North America excels in long-haul shipping, with many containers going from a port on one ocean to a port on another ocean. Japan, Europe, and especially the British Isles, intermodal is a short-haul operation from port to trucking terminal. The average Japanese freight shipment is about six miles! -- From truck to port, and that's it. That's one reason Freightliner was less successful than Dr. Beeching & Co. promised, and why passenger service dominates the British Isles.
@@tim19962 - I find that hard to believe. The Swiss government seems to be focused on forcing Europe to shift to containerized rail freight in order to lessen truck (lorry) volume on their highways.
@@lws7394 Dr Beeching Era didn't have Channel Tunnel. From what I understand it was actual subsidiaries to focus on. Passenger was more bet on. We could make another Channel tunnel taller for Freight only if we want to.
@@Lillstisse661 there is tracks outside DFC which handles double stack containers in state of rajasthan, other than that it's just normal electrified tracks
@@Lillstisse661No, they are increasing the height clearance outside of Dedicated freight corridors too but it's done very slowly and very few states are doing it
1:05 "Or lorry, depending on how British your feeling." As someone who's developed a British accent in recent years, don't mind if I do! I've actually been using container trucks in my Thomas videos for quite a while now, and those flatbeds are now the most common modern truck to be featured on my goods train consists.
Intermodals (or pig trains as we like to call em) are also some of the most desirable jobs for railcrews. Because you usually just get on double up the train and ride for a few hours without hardly stopping. Every other train and dispatcher knows you dont stop a pig train because outside other bulk commodity trains those are the ones that make the big money
Being able to double stack containers is what makes cargo rail competitive, if you can only have one container high trains the weight is nowhere near the maximum axle load even on low axle load railways like the 22,5 ton railways in Europe. Stora Enso developed the SECU container which is larger and they use it to transport paper on Swedish railways, it utilises the bigger loading gauge "Lastprofil C" and 25 ton axle load to the fullest. P.s. I'm sorry but your Railway is in another castle !
The long distance of western usa the overhead wires can be knocked out due to weather. A two way locomotive is need diesal with ability run on overhead or third rail when power is out they can run on diesal😊
Prob the large loading gauge. When you compare US and European locos and rolling stock, the size difference is massive, even if they use the same gauge.
The US only has a large loading gauge outside the North East. Look at the C3 railcar of the LIRR or the bilevels operating on the NEC, they're 20 cm or 8 inches less tall than typical European bi-level passenger trains. It mostly has to do with the time that the railways (and especially tunnels) were built. The earlier, the smaller the loading gauge. That's why the pioneer in railways, England, has one of the smallest loading gauges.
5:32 double stacks are actually pretty rare in australia. outside of the trans-australian railway between adelaide and perth, there isnt much of any double stacks down here. all of the east coast is run with single stack container trains. although, right now there is a project going on called Inland Rail, where they're upgrading the mainline from melbourne to brisbane (including new sections of track being built across central NSW) which will allow double stacks to run in eastern australia for the first time.
I’m a bit upset that the well cars replaced the boxcars because it’s my favorite rail car but I’m still glad to see people using Boxcars like on the Grimes Branch
While Its not the same, the Road-rail system deserves a mention. Basically strapping wheels to the containers and then driving off with them. Their days are almost done, but its a unique take on this.
i work in rail intermodal for a class 1 up north coming from trucking & warehouse distro, this was an eye opener in terms of economies of scale those damn trains choo choo at more than 10,000 ft long nowadays a behemoth long line of cool double stacked metal boxes
Railroads first tried to move the trailers of transport trucks on flatcars, then using other methods, but while this worked for moving of cargo from one American land-based site to another, it did not facilitate ship transportation very well, so containers came into use so shipping could be optimized.
0:48 now yes at a single glance it mightve seemed, cheaper but the true costs were heavy subsidising on roadways aswell as sort of like now labour costs being cut due to literally 30% energy inefficiency compared to steel on steel
3:35 Reminds me of when British Railways built large marshalling yards to have wagon cars to be sorted economically but only to have them mostly empty because of the growing trend of costs on the roads and containerized freight.
To expand of Australia using double stack containers, there is currently a project stretching from Melbourne to Brisbane which one of the things it’s for is to allow for double stack containers for the entire route (as well as being the same gauge)
For me, I’ve been interested more in the TOFC/piggyback side of things for about two years now. So much so, I created a map of over 800 trailers originally owned by the railroads, most of which are in storage. I find it interesting how similar but different the two are.
I’ve seen a few of the original Sealand first generation well cars on CSX trains recently. They’re definitely a nice change of pace from the normal wellcars.
Interestingly about the PRR Containers, two of those old containers still survive as storage sheds. Most prominent one I know of is currently in Mingo Junction, Ohio inside the former PRR(Now NS) yard there ironically right next to the old oil house!
RoLa trains are also very common at least in europe, instead of loading containers onto flatcrars and then onto flatbed trucks, they sometimes load the entire semi-trailer of a truck onto the train and that can more easily be attached to a semi and driven away without the need for gantry cranes
I'd just like to point out one very minor thing. On the data you show on the graphic at 06:04, you are correct that 60-footers are in Canada only, but you could have worded the next statement a little differently. Domestic containers don't have to stay within origin country, but they do stay within the continent of North America. This is because North America went ahead with 102" wide (which is the standard for truck-trailer width in North America), while all other countries, and hence, international containers (20, 40, 45) have remained with the older standard of 96" width. However, the spacing for the holes on the containers (where locating or lifting pins fit) is the same, no matter which design will be built. And... Fun fact... You will never see 20' containers on the top row of a stack train. The only way that proper securing can happen, is with 2 - 20's in the bottom of a well car, with a 40' or larger seated and secured on the top. Another fun fact... You COULD potentially ship a 53 (or a 60) internationally, but they could only sit on the very top row and would likely only be placed every second stack with nothing between, due to the overlength and overwidth. Dealing with it would then be another headache to be overcome in the destination country.
Well, my grand-stepdad was a former trucker at the time, but sometimes; my dad told me that he used to haul intermodal from other CSX’s territory railroads, from the harbor of Port of Baltimore; one of our largest port of the East Coast. At first; (Economics) is a banger, although I am displeased and not approval for ‘LONGER TRAINS’ it’s because due to a very specific of a term known ‘PSR’ issued, it was a barbaric decision. While they had to their destinations, connections to port terminals, international harbors, shipping facilities. Surely back in those days, it was a hard time since the Great Recession. Sometimes ‘accidents happen’ with our sweet, rectangular built, colorful, fundamentally loaded of steel containers to get your own country, like (America) is become a popular with financial markets to the Wall Street.
I'm not sure if this is true or not but I've heard that in the US some of the containers never get opened here. They just cross the continent due to time or cost constraints at the Panema canal.
Intermodal is cool and I had no idea it went back so far. Though I have to wonder why it containers didn't take off in the US for so much longer compared to Europe?
if the rails go to the shipping port then it can load and unload a lot of containers and more then what a truck can do and with road traffic its faster but idk if they do that they might just have trucks take them to the rail yard and then loaded onto a train there idk
NYC invested heavily in this concept. So heavily that when other railroads did not immediately join in, they ran into financial problems. Which is why they merged with the PRR to form the Penn Central. Which ran into its own problems. The Penn Central Holding Company used the railroad's profits for other ventures - which failed, forcing a bankruptcy and helped the creation of Conrail. NOTE: through all of its existence - including through the BK - The Penn Central Railroad NEVER failed to turn a profit.
Thanks for the informative video. Especially interesting to me was the mention of a rail route from Yiwu, China to London, UK at 6:29. I would be interested to know if that route is still in operation after Russia's invasion of the Ukraine.
Abaolute crime not going more into detail about india. They built a dedicated electric corridor that fits double stacks on flat cars. Absolute marvel of engineering. No more excuse for lack of electrification due to double stacks.
It's a boxcar, but the box and the car are seprate now
containers are fun, they are cool rectangles
Erm its actually a rectagonal prism
I think they are circles (joke)
NUH UH THEY THEY ARE A CYLINDER@@Yeetus_The_Trainz_Tutorial_Guy
Pretty colors too
Fucking gospel right here
It is important to remember that there are two kinds of intermodal traffic. North America excels in long-haul shipping, with many containers going from a port on one ocean to a port on another ocean. Japan, Europe, and especially the British Isles, intermodal is a short-haul operation from port to trucking terminal. The average Japanese freight shipment is about six miles! -- From truck to port, and that's it. That's one reason Freightliner was less successful than Dr. Beeching & Co. promised, and why passenger service dominates the British Isles.
The reason the uk and europe dont have more container trains is purely track capacity
@@tim19962 - I find that hard to believe. The Swiss government seems to be focused on forcing Europe to shift to containerized rail freight in order to lessen truck (lorry) volume on their highways.
Purely freight legislation
@@gerogyzurkov2259 Tunnels. Tunnel dimensions in Europe are too low for double stack containers. The same for overhead lines.
@@lws7394 Dr Beeching Era didn't have Channel Tunnel. From what I understand it was actual subsidiaries to focus on. Passenger was more bet on. We could make another Channel tunnel taller for Freight only if we want to.
5:36 don't forget that india not just run double stack trains on flatbed but also electrified it
But isn't that only on dedicated freight corridors?
@@Lillstisse661 there is tracks outside DFC which handles double stack containers in state of rajasthan, other than that it's just normal electrified tracks
@@Lillstisse661No, they are increasing the height clearance outside of Dedicated freight corridors too but it's done very slowly and very few states are doing it
Dont they also run triple stacks on highrise overhead lines?
@@polandballrbx9954 no, those triple stack containers are just dwarf containers which are smaller than normal containers
1:05 "Or lorry, depending on how British your feeling."
As someone who's developed a British accent in recent years, don't mind if I do! I've actually been using container trucks in my Thomas videos for quite a while now, and those flatbeds are now the most common modern truck to be featured on my goods train consists.
I like how we all just agreed on a standard box for shipping things in, it's rather convenient.
Didn’t know amtrakguy365 was a truck and ship youtuber
He multitasks when theres no content available or news
5:38 those F40's are awesome looking!
I love your thumbnails
Thank you Dutch Van Der Linde from Red Dead Redemption 2
@@AmtrakGuy365 can you sing poker face as Dutch Van Der Linde from Red Dead Redemption 2?
@@AmtrakGuy365 Your welcome remember the camp gets its share
Wtf @@Alawo-
@@AbelG8781 don’t go dissing a good idea
Intermodal containers are greatly efficient. They're quite convenient too. Thanks for documenting the intermodal part of railways.
Intermodals (or pig trains as we like to call em) are also some of the most desirable jobs for railcrews. Because you usually just get on double up the train and ride for a few hours without hardly stopping. Every other train and dispatcher knows you dont stop a pig train because outside other bulk commodity trains those are the ones that make the big money
These timeline and explanation videos are fantastic, I love your simple easy-to-follow editing.
Duuude fun fact: containers were actually developed by
huh who
he knew too much
aliens. It was aliens, wasn't it?
6:10 you know what railroad that model came from?
Every day I always see a Pacific national freight train passing by my hometown in Australia
Same they are so long
Same here,
but in my case they right behind my back fence,
Being able to double stack containers is what makes cargo rail competitive, if you can only have one container high trains the weight is nowhere near the maximum axle load even on low axle load railways like the 22,5 ton railways in Europe.
Stora Enso developed the SECU container which is larger and they use it to transport paper on Swedish railways, it utilises the bigger loading gauge "Lastprofil C" and 25 ton axle load to the fullest.
P.s. I'm sorry but your Railway is in another castle !
That is the most detailed thumbnail I've ever seen for a train related video. Excellent job!
They don't mean we still can't electrify the American mainline. Just build the wires higher up!
The long distance of western usa the overhead wires can be knocked out due to weather. A two way locomotive is need diesal with ability run on overhead or third rail when power is out they can run on diesal😊
@@richardhetrick4770 ever heard of the Milwaukee Road?
@@twentysixbitMILW is probably the worst example of electrification in the US lol
As an Italian, I can confirm intermodal trains are pretty much everywhere. (Even on my local line before a landslide struck)
Thank you for the subject of containers. It does raise the question on why did the USA have very high height restrictions compared to Europe.
Prob the large loading gauge. When you compare US and European locos and rolling stock, the size difference is massive, even if they use the same gauge.
The US only has a large loading gauge outside the North East. Look at the C3 railcar of the LIRR or the bilevels operating on the NEC, they're 20 cm or 8 inches less tall than typical European bi-level passenger trains.
It mostly has to do with the time that the railways (and especially tunnels) were built. The earlier, the smaller the loading gauge. That's why the pioneer in railways, England, has one of the smallest loading gauges.
5:32 double stacks are actually pretty rare in australia. outside of the trans-australian railway between adelaide and perth, there isnt much of any double stacks down here. all of the east coast is run with single stack container trains. although, right now there is a project going on called Inland Rail, where they're upgrading the mainline from melbourne to brisbane (including new sections of track being built across central NSW) which will allow double stacks to run in eastern australia for the first time.
Early Locomotives: Nah, I’d Win
Now locomotives, trucks, and boats:🤝🤝🤝 We deliver
1:06 or “Horrid Lorry” more like
Nice share friend
The Box: How the Shipping Container....... by Marc Levinson. Great book. Explains it all.
OUTSTANDING VIDEO! One of my favorite type trains🔥🔥🔥🙏👍👍
5:30 OLE in of itself isn’t prohibitive of double-stacked containers and India clearly demonstrates.
@AmtrakGuy365 this is one of my new favorite video that you have made!!!
I’m a bit upset that the well cars replaced the boxcars because it’s my favorite rail car but I’m still glad to see people using Boxcars like on the Grimes Branch
They are used for different purposes. Containers are used for intermodal. Boxcars for monomodal. Paper factories use boxcars a lot.
This video single handedly made me start liking container cars! I gotta get some for my layout!
1:05 I feel British enough to even say: "Cargo carrying diesel-powered motor vehicle".. or "Lorry"
I always see a lot of these at ebj Union station at Dallas as well as on the cpkc and Wylie and occasionally in Plano for detours
While Its not the same, the Road-rail system deserves a mention. Basically strapping wheels to the containers and then driving off with them. Their days are almost done, but its a unique take on this.
i work in rail intermodal for a class 1 up north
coming from trucking & warehouse distro, this was an eye opener in terms of economies of scale
those damn trains choo choo at more than 10,000 ft long nowadays
a behemoth long line of cool double stacked metal boxes
6:11
Liver
These containers have traveled more than me
Norfolk Southern.
What's your function
Hooking up the country helping business run
Hookin Up the Country
Screwing up our country with our business run
Hold on you know cargo moving people from N&w well I have a NS version
Container trains are the best! So proud of its popularity. Glad they're so popular I mean.
Those trains are relaxin' & geometric & oh they're for clearing.
Wish he had mention the upchallenger catch with the intermodal train
Railroads first tried to move the trailers of transport trucks on flatcars, then using other methods, but while this worked for moving of cargo from one American land-based site to another, it did not facilitate ship transportation very well, so containers came into use so shipping could be optimized.
0:48 now yes at a single glance it mightve seemed, cheaper but the true costs were heavy subsidising on roadways aswell as sort of like now labour costs being cut due to literally 30% energy inefficiency compared to steel on steel
3:35 Reminds me of when British Railways built large marshalling yards to have wagon cars to be sorted economically but only to have them mostly empty because of the growing trend of costs on the roads and containerized freight.
To expand of Australia using double stack containers, there is currently a project stretching from Melbourne to Brisbane which one of the things it’s for is to allow for double stack containers for the entire route (as well as being the same gauge)
Just recently did I see a couple CN intermodals run through the prairie towns of Saskatchewan, it seemingly happens every while
Container trains or something like this are serene and cubic type trains !
컨테이너 열차나 이런 것들은 고요하고 큐빅 타입의 열차들입니다!
I really enjoyed this video. Great.👍
Love the content also ur close to hitting 100k subs.Keep up the work man!
I work at Chelmsford Railway Station in the UK and every day I see container trains going to and from Felixstowe Port.
6:43 Sadly UP 6706 shown here is sadly going to be Rebuilt and loose her aging CNW Colors.
HEY . GT/CN had use Well cars for Piggyback Trailer. Because St.Cair Tunnel. Wasn't Tall for Standard TOFC Flat Cars & AutoRakes & Big Tall Boxcars
For me, I’ve been interested more in the TOFC/piggyback side of things for about two years now. So much so, I created a map of over 800 trailers originally owned by the railroads, most of which are in storage. I find it interesting how similar but different the two are.
I'd love to see a video on how those trains that go from the UK all the way to China would work. They sound both really cool and really complicated.
So this is why every single day a stack train passes through
Excellent production!
awesome vid like always
Now I know why container trains are so common.
I’ve seen a few of the original Sealand first generation well cars on CSX trains recently. They’re definitely a nice change of pace from the normal wellcars.
Very nice video!
6:30 I saw a mere lot of Chinese shipping containers whilst passing Ferencváros railyard in Budapest, Hungary.
1:13 the thing i sit on while i ponder the rws lore
Interestingly about the PRR Containers, two of those old containers still survive as storage sheds. Most prominent one I know of is currently in Mingo Junction, Ohio inside the former PRR(Now NS) yard there ironically right next to the old oil house!
I like how Flowey is in the video
RoLa trains are also very common at least in europe, instead of loading containers onto flatcrars and then onto flatbed trucks, they sometimes load the entire semi-trailer of a truck onto the train and that can more easily be attached to a semi and driven away without the need for gantry cranes
Nice i loove them good job Jared
I'd just like to point out one very minor thing. On the data you show on the graphic at 06:04, you are correct that 60-footers are in Canada only, but you could have worded the next statement a little differently. Domestic containers don't have to stay within origin country, but they do stay within the continent of North America.
This is because North America went ahead with 102" wide (which is the standard for truck-trailer width in North America), while all other countries, and hence, international containers (20, 40, 45) have remained with the older standard of 96" width. However, the spacing for the holes on the containers (where locating or lifting pins fit) is the same, no matter which design will be built.
And... Fun fact... You will never see 20' containers on the top row of a stack train. The only way that proper securing can happen, is with 2 - 20's in the bottom of a well car, with a 40' or larger seated and secured on the top.
Another fun fact... You COULD potentially ship a 53 (or a 60) internationally, but they could only sit on the very top row and would likely only be placed every second stack with nothing between, due to the overlength and overwidth. Dealing with it would then be another headache to be overcome in the destination country.
CSX has a special decorative container that says ONE COMMUNITY ONE PURPOSE. I saw it on CSX I157 on the end of that train.
Behold the container express!
5:25 hey wait a second...
I'll never forget the time UP 3985 hauled that long container train
Love your thumbnail!
Great video,
Love the thumbnail!
1:14 GIVE ME THAT THOMAS COACH!
I love your videos!!!
Well, my grand-stepdad was a former trucker at the time, but sometimes; my dad told me that he used to haul intermodal from other CSX’s territory railroads, from the harbor of Port of Baltimore; one of our largest port of the East Coast.
At first; (Economics) is a banger, although I am displeased and not approval for ‘LONGER TRAINS’ it’s because due to a very specific of a term known ‘PSR’ issued, it was a barbaric decision. While they had to their destinations, connections to port terminals, international harbors, shipping facilities. Surely back in those days, it was a hard time since the Great Recession.
Sometimes ‘accidents happen’ with our sweet, rectangular built, colorful, fundamentally loaded of steel containers to get your own country, like (America) is become a popular with financial markets to the Wall Street.
HE IS BACK BABY
Great video
very interesting and well done learned a lot
1:15
I don't think I would want a piano trying to eat me
I love your video you made.
Nice!!
That thomas couch is the most cursed thing Ive seen this year
F height restrictions who needs highway overpasses anyways, we need triple stacks... make it quad stacks!
You forgot the old German “von haus zu haus” containers.
I'm not sure if this is true or not but I've heard that in the US some of the containers never get opened here. They just cross the continent due to time or cost constraints at the Panema canal.
very nice!
Double stack well cars as a concept date back to the mid 60s but no one wanted to be the first to make them.
Fun fact: Freightliner is approaching 10 years (in 2025) as a Genesee and Wyoming company (bought 2015).
Intermodal is cool and I had no idea it went back so far. Though I have to wonder why it containers didn't take off in the US for so much longer compared to Europe?
Virgin Intermodal Container train vs. Chad Tobacco Hogshead Train.
Wait, you have HO scale Grand Trunk Locomotive? COOL.
if the rails go to the shipping port then it can load and unload a lot of containers and more then what a truck can do and with road traffic its faster but idk if they do that they might just have trucks take them to the rail yard and then loaded onto a train there idk
Intermodal brought back color to the railway.
Can you do DMUS next
5:33 NR29 currently is in the Indian Pacific livery
NYC invested heavily in this concept. So heavily that when other railroads did not immediately join in, they ran into financial problems. Which is why they merged with the PRR to form the Penn Central. Which ran into its own problems. The Penn Central Holding Company used the railroad's profits for other ventures - which failed, forcing a bankruptcy and helped the creation of Conrail. NOTE: through all of its existence - including through the BK - The Penn Central Railroad NEVER failed to turn a profit.
Thanks for the informative video. Especially interesting to me was the mention of a rail route from Yiwu, China to London, UK at 6:29. I would be interested to know if that route is still in operation after Russia's invasion of the Ukraine.
Me as a brazilian, some parts here are just with single stack load due to the eletrefication on some lines of CPTM railway
Abaolute crime not going more into detail about india. They built a dedicated electric corridor that fits double stacks on flat cars. Absolute marvel of engineering. No more excuse for lack of electrification due to double stacks.
Did engie get included with my sentry gun?