PASSING TRAINS PT 33; KCT35 PT 2

 The conclusion of KCT35...

A rare car, but still seen during the 90's was the VTTX 85' container spine car, converted from a flatcar.

Another conversion from the 80's was the TTEX "Long Runner" drawbar-connected flatcar set. Designed to accommodate the longer trailers of the late 80's/early 90's, this car is an example of a conversion made from two "channel-side" cars, where the second car has had its body widened at one end to allow for the wheel swing of the trailer spanning the two cars. A more common conversion used either a pair of "flush-deck" cars, or one of each (channel and flush), with the flush deck being the second car, thus not needing the widened spot. Like all the other cars in this train, these have become rare today, as all-purpose spine cars and double-stack well cars have taken over. As for the trailers, MS Carriers has since been acquired by Swift.

Another 48' all-purpose spine car, with a mix of 48' trailers -including an orange Schneider National and a BNSF- and one 53' CIE trailer.

Followed by another TTEX paired flatcar. NW Transport is another "fallen flag", having went out business in the late 90's.

A PACER STACKTRAIN 53' container rides a chassis and straddles the drawbar gap between cars. The three 53' trailers is the reason TTX began making these conversions; otherwise only one trailer per car would be carried, instead of three per pair.

A pair of TWIN 45 cars bring up the rear, with a pair of Vermont Railway 45' trailers on the first one.

Another look at the VTTX converted flat. Originally built during the 60's as a TOFC flat car, they became obsolete during the 80's, when 45' trailers become the norm; they could only carry one of these due to the 85' length. Because of this, many of these cars were stripped of their decks -which ran alongside the center sill, instead of across the entire car like conventional flatcars- and converted to COFC-only service with container brackets that allowed any combination of 20' and 40' containers. While effective at prolonging their lifespans, the conversions soon became obsolete again due to the rise of double-stack well cars and articulated spine cars. They were still good for small container shipments, such as military containers and even trash containers, and were often mixed into general freight and merchandise trains.