It appears that the dismantling of the SFTZ marked BNSF trailer fleet may have begun with the sighting of a trailer remarked in FSTZ markings. As seen above on December 14th, the 48' Pines built FSTZ812197 was seen hustling packages for UPS between St. Paul and Chicago. It was announced earlier this year that it would phase out all of their rail controlled trailers by 2006.

As of the end of January 2006, no other FSTZ marked BNSF vans have been spotted, so announcing the demise of the fleet may have been a bit premature...

Both CN and CP are receiving new orders of insulated 53' sheet and post boxes from Hyundai. These boxes have been riding the BNSF from Southern California to Chicago before heading to their new owners. These boxes have been shipped with and without their heater equipment installed, as some CP boxes have been seen with Carrier Solara heaters installed. The CN boxes display a new paint scheme for their new CN Worldwide service that's bilingual with French Canadien on the curb side and English on the drivers side as seen in photos above.

Continuing to expand it's domestic container fleet, Schneider National has begun receiving 53' external post containers built by Hyundai. These boxes feature a completely new sidewall design for Hyundai with the wide stacking posts and increased number of x-posts. This is in keeping with the other builders within the SNC fleet that all feature reduced sidewall thickness for increased internal width. Current series appears to be 977976-978174+ per UMLER, and units between 977980-978132 have been physically sighted. This places the Hyundai boxes series right up against the continuing recent Wabash builds that have been sighted up to unit 977845.

It appears that Gunderson produced a small number of 53' Maxi-IV well cars for Pacer earlier in the year. Just fifteen cars in the BRAN6300-6314 series were produced with 6/05 build dates from the Portland plant.

APL is adding boxes in all common sizes to their fleet. Boxes sighted to date have been in APHU marks for the 40' & 45' high cubes (1-1-1 square doors on all), while APZU has been used on the 40' standard boxes (1-1 square doors). All boxes seen have been in plain blue paint, without any APL logos.

Yet another new container leasing company has shown up in the US... Xines boxes have been spotted on the west coast decaled for Yang Ming service. The boxes seen so far have been 45G1's with 1-1 beveled doors in XINU803000 series, though their website shows other standard height 20' and 40' dry boxes of similar construction.

NCS is nearly completed with the delivery of 250 new 3 unit 53' all-purpose spine cars to TTX. Classed NAF33 and within the TTAX753300-753549 series, these cars are similar to the most recent NSC 57' spines in that they feature body mounted brake hardware.

Gunderson is also continuing production of additional 40' Maxi-I well cars for TTX as well. Class GWG52, the above shown car was built 9/05 at Gunderson's Concarril plant in Mexico. Series on these cars appears to be DTTX750662-751061 with production having begun 3/05. STB filing #25766 shows production of the GWG52's continuing upto DTTX751451 in the near future. It's possible that production of this series may come from the Gunderson Portland plant as Greenbrier-Concarril L.L.C. is not shown as the builder, which has been the case previously

This news is a bit old, but for the sake of those that aren't trackside a lot... Near the beginning of 2005, Hyundai Merchant Marine changed the logo on their box fleet. Gone is the trademark font with the stylize "A", replaced with a more bland looking font. The new logo can be seen to the left in comparison photo shown above. This new logo has been observed on all new built container equipment across the breadth of the Hyundai fleet.

As noted earlier in UMLER digging, Trintyrail has begun delivery of BNSF239200-239499 that do match the well cars built earlier in the year (see 3/15 item below). Units in the lower portion of the series have been seen with 9/05 build dates and job# 05-3016.

Gunderson has resumed production of their 40'x 5 unit Maxi-I well cars for BNSF, this time with the new logo on them. Series appears to be BNSF238300-239199, with the first cars (including that shown above) showing 8/05 build dates. Cars sighted to date have been from the Gunderson Portland plant that marks a change from recent Maxi-I production at Gunderson Concarril.

Following a recent announcement that BNSF would be transferring 3,800 of their 53' domestic containers to Swift Transportation, remarked containers have begun to hit the rails. Remarked as SWURU, the boxes retain their unit numbers. A large Swift logo replaces the BNSF/NACS logo on the sides and nose, and a document box has been added on the curb side of the nose. Contrary to what has been reported/discussed on other websites, the 3,800 units would not constitute the entirety of the BNSF 53' box fleet...

Both Stoughton and Wabash National are under way with production containers for Schneider. Adding to the 100 demo units that each builder built for SNC, it looks like the production order has been split between the two builders. Stoughton began production of units in the SNLU971400-972100 series during March, while Wabash began production of their units in the SNLU972600 series in late April. Neither of the production boxes exhibits any major structural changes from the demo units. The Stoughton boxes have been seen with minor lettering placement changes, while the Wabash units now have the stacking posts and door frames in orange to match the remainder of the box.

Now breaking into the JBHU225000 series, Wabash continues delivery of their ubiquitous 53' Durabox container to JB Hunt. Noteworthy is the fact with delivery of unit JBHU225500, Hunt will have received 10,000 of these boxes!

Florida East Coast Railway is taking delivery of 1,250 new 53' all purpose (AP) single unit well cars from Gunderson's Trentonworks plant. The cars are red and will occupy the FEC71560-72809 series. Initial units began with February 2005 build dates in lot #9325. The completion of this order will make for 2,810 of this type of car on FEC's roster.

French liner CMA CGM has changed their logo again for the third time in recent years. Their website even is also featuring their new musical identity, who knew!? :)

Newcomer Frontier Liner Service has recently appeared on the US rail system with new 40' and 20' boxes. The FLS website indicates that the company was formed in 1991 to move traffic between the Southeastern ports of the US to the Dominican Republic and Columbia.

Along with a modified version of thier logo appearing on 20 and 40 foot containers, Yang Ming has also purchased 45 foot (ISO L5G1) containers. Being built by CIMC with 2-2 square style doors, these mark the first 45 foot containers to wear the Yang Ming livery. Previously, YM has leased 45 foot boxes from the likes of Waterfront and Florens, with boxes in their service sporting small YM logos. UMLER info shows a scattering of boxes in the YMLU950000 series up to 950368, indicating several hundred are currently in service. The logo change is subtle, with a taller font and variation on the emblem that has a wider gap between the Y and M characters.

BNSF has begun taking delivery of 300 articulated five-unit 40' well cars built by Trinityrail, job #04-2971. These cars will occupy the BNSF238000-238299 series, and cars as high as 238048 have been sighted with a built date of 2/05. The cars mark the first 40 foot well cars received from Trinity and a departure from the recent purchase of Gunderson Maxi-I well cars by BNSF. One particular car, BNSF238031 stands out in that it is believed to be the first railcar to wear the new BNSF logo. All other cars sighted wore the traditional white circle-cross logos. While the cars with the older logo feature a logo on each unit, the new logo is only featured on the A, D, and B units of the car shown above. These cars are very similar in construction to those in the FXE5000 series that appeared in 2003, so are not an entirely new car design for Trinity.

Schneider has begun taking delivery of an unknown number of 53' plate wall trailers built by Great Dane. This marks a departure from the sole-source purchases of Wabash National trailers for their mainstream operations during the past decade. This also marks a return to the plate wall design, as most recent trailers have been of Wabash's Duraplate design. It should be noted that recent deliveries indicate Wabash is still producing their 53' Wabash HD Duraplates for Schneider as well.

Schneider began physical installations of Qualcomm T2 GPS based tracking into it's fleet of trailers during the last part of 2004, shortly after the official press release announcing the program. The visible external installation requires placement a small square access panel on the upper nose of the trailer for the electronic hardware, along with a small external antenna at the roof line of the nose. The installations shown above demonstrate a retrofitted unit, and a trailer built new with the hardware. The fist retrofits lacked replacement of the logo decals, as seen above, but more recent installations have had the affected portions of the logo replaced. The new built trailers have the logo placed lower on the nose, below the access panel limits.

The first of the Stoughton built 53' boxes for Schneider headed west on the Q-CHCSSE1-15 for October 15th, 2004. Six of the units rode in the bottom of the stack (beneath Hunt boxes ironically) at the head of the train, with another unit on a spine, and the eight on a NSFZ chassis. This first group of boxes appear to number 100 units in total, in the SNLU955444-955543 series. No new Schneider chassis to match have been seen to date.

Wabash National has also built 100 demonstrator containers for Schneider, placed within the SNLU954450-954549 series. These units are of Duraplate design, but physically differ from containers built previously by Wabash. As noted in the press release, the containers from both Stoughton and Wabash have an increased interior width. This likely accounts for the wider stacking posts on both and the more numerous, but thinner, external posts seen on the Stoughton’s. The boxes were reportedly to have been assigned to service between Chicago and Seattle for initial testing, but other lanes are possible as the boxes have been sighted in the LA Basin, and out east as well. Also seen in the photo above is one of the most recently delivered Gunderson Maxi-IV 53' well cars for BNSF.

It appears that Gunderson may be considering a well car shortening program like TTX's. The above car was recently shortened from its original 48' to 40'. CRLE5802 began life as GBRX9203, a 48' Husky Stack well car built for container loading only. At this point, it's unknown if additional cars will be shortened in the future, but there are roughly 150 similar cars in the CRLE/NOKL fleet. There are no known plans to shorten Gunderson built 48' stand-alone well cars within the TTX fleet.

TTX is taking delivery of 500 new NSC built 57' spine cars in the TTRX552000-552499 series (class NAF30A). Like the original delivery of TTRX cars, there is a shortage of hitch components, so these cars are being delivered with one hitch per unit and are being labeled as "1-28'/1-57'" until additional hitches can be sourced. This new series of cars also feature body mounted brakes, a departure from the use of truck mounted brakes (TMB) on all previous AP spine cars. The move from TMB was reportedly a result of changes in the AAR braking ratio requirements. The cars also feature Barber S-2 trucks and Koni Yaw dampers, all previous TTRX cars have had swing motion trucks.

Both JB Hunt and Schneider have added second hand trailers to assigned rail service with new reporting marks. Both companies appear to be sourcing the trailers from GE Capital which include TIPZ and REAZ marks, as well as various OTR vans coming off lease with GEC. The Schneider vans (SNLZ) seen have been predominately 48', while the Hunt vans (QMTZ) have been 53' in length. Of the units shown above, the SNLZ614016 unit is an ex-KCS (via REAZ) van, while the QMTZ unit was previously in service for Covenant Transport.

Marking the first 53' articulated well cars built by NSC, TTX is taking delivery of three hundred 3-unit cars. These class NWG33 cars will fill the DTTX721000-721299 series.

With more and more trucking firms using intermodal options of late, it appears that CR England is set to launch a fleet of dedicated intermodal reefer vans. These units were photographed in Elmhurst, IL, presumably having just received their Carrier nose mounted units or some other pre-trip installation. The trailers are 53' Wabash National built units and display a unique Intermodal paint scheme with a decal on the rear doors that designate the units for rail use only. It appears that the units have GPS receivers mounted above the reefer units for load monitoring/tracking. England currently uses the OmniTRACS two-way satellite system in all of it's tractors.

In contrast to the recent programs to shorten well cars, TTX has begun production lines at three shop facilities to lengthen all-purpose 48' spine cars to 53'. The initial program will concentrate on Trinity built cars that are owned by TTX, but may be expanded in the future. Recent upturns in TOFC traffic has all railroads looking for trailer capable equipment, since most of the new trailers on the rail are 53' in length, this program will increase the utility of current cars. As seen in the photo above, most of the work is towards the rear of the tire platform on each unit, with end units receiving additional work around the end platforms and draftgear. In conjunction with these rebuilds, TTX also has plans to acquire additional new built 53 and 57 foot spines within the year.

New containers from recent UK based start up Hatsu Marine and Italian Lloyd Triestino have begun wearing the EMCU markings Evergreen Marine. While the parental links to Evergreen of Hatsu are obvious, Triestrino has been a strong partner with Evergreen around the world and within the US since the early 90's. A variety equipment in both 20' to 40' has been seen in the colors of both lines, as well as Evergreen.

Similar to the yellow flats built in 2001, FEC received a group of units from Trentonworks in October and November of 2003. Built as Lot 9319, the new cars are found in FEC 37200-37305 series and are solid black in color.

The East Carbon Development Company (AWXX) also rosters these Trenton built COFC cars hauling waste from the east coast.

Hot off the CCD from my trip west... These cars appear to be a hybrid of both the Thrall and Trinity designs with subtle features from both builders. To my eye however, they most strongly resemble the previous Trinty cars due to the angle at the ends of the tubs. These cars will be DTTX 729000-729133 series, class RWG33A, and are coming out of the Cartersville, GA plant. Both cars seen this weekend were showing 11/03 built dates. Kudos for this update go out to The Coffee Depot in Riverside, CA for their FREE Wifi access!

The program of shortening Thrall 48' well cars to 40' has now been expanded to include non-articulated units from the DTTX54000 (stand alone) and the DTTX25000 (drawbarred) series. The rebuilt cars are being released into the 747000 and 745000 series and are both classified as TWF10M by TTX. The 747000 series cars are coming from the original single units, with the previous 54XXX swapped for 747XXX as the last three digits remain the same once shortened. The 745000 series are coming from the drawbarred units and being placed into the new series sequentially.

Info from a source at TTX clarified that all units being shortened should be referred to as modified units, not rebuilds. While all work being done is in accordance to AAR Rule 88, the full scope of a complete rebuild is not being undertaken at this time, so the units are officially being reported as modified.

Recent boxcar deliveries from NSC to TTX have shown a new style of exterior posts that are tapered in width from top to bottom. As well as being tapered along their length, these posts were also noted to be shallower in depth. The photo above is a broadside view of a car side from a recent TBOX delievery in which the taper of the post are evident, particularly along the right side of the photo against the straight edge of the image. The new deliveries of 50' FBOX cars also appear to have the new style of exterior posts. The resason for this design change is likely for weight redction, but possibly done so at the expense of increased manufacturing costs.

Among the recently rebuilt Cryo-Trans fleet of mechanical reefers can be found SOO288000-288032. Though CTI was unable to elaborate on the agreement with CP (owner of the SOO markings), these are the first CTI cars to wear markings other than CRYX, and are in service hauling frozen goods from Canada to desinations across the US. The cars have been rebuilt from their original carbon dioxide cooled designs to feature a Thermo King end mounted diesel refrigeration units. According to the CTI website, the cost of CO2 has risen to the point that it was no long economically feasible to continue operating their fleet in such a manner and are rebuilding their larger capacity cars with mechanical refrigeration. In addition to rebuilds in the CRYX3000 series, CTI also has also acquired new built mechanical reefers from Gunderson Railcar which can be found in the CRYX4000 series.

UPS has begun applying a large color logo to the companies trailer fleet. Earlier in 2003, UPS rebranded itself and unveiled a new logo that is meant to better reflect the global logistics company that it has become. Thus, the old package and string logo is being been removed, and is being replaced with the new bold shield. Along with it's fleet of trailers, UPS is also placing the new logo on it's fleet of tractors. Though the application of the decals to the trucks has been fairly quick, only a handful of trailers have been seen with the logo to date. Previous markings on the trailers were limited to "United Parcel Service" lettering, with a very limited few sporting the actual box and string logo. Most of the trailers used in rail service lacked even the basic lettering and only sported the trailer number on the familiar gray paint.

You can find photos of UPS trucks with both the old and new logo on Hank's website.

TTX converts 48' Gunderson wells to 40' 11/6/03

Late this 2002, TTX began a program to reduce the length of Thrall built articulated well cars from 48 to 40 feet (see below). As was speculated, this program expanded in the late summer of 2003 to include the fleet of Gunderson built 48' well cars as well. The two units of DTTX742233 shown above is an example of the completed cars now in service. Units scattered through the DTTX742000 series up to 742743 have been sighted within September and October of 2003.

This length reduction is in response to the increasing amounts of international container traffic that moves in 40 and 20 foot long containers. In recent years, TTX has purchased several thousand 53' wells to handle the domestic container traffic that is largely 48 and 53 foot containers. With the larger wells that can handle the growing fleets of 53' containers, more equipment was needed to efficiently handle the international traffic. With a good deal of 48' equipment already in the fleet, TTX saw an opportunity to increase efficiency without the need invest capital in new equipment, thus the reduction of the 48' wells to 40' was conceived. The efficiencies realized in the program are via the resulting reductions in train lengths while handling the shorter containers. Reduced train lengths are always beneficial to train operations along the mainline, but are more valuable in crowded yards and intermodal facilities. Increased traffic and limited space within the facilities means that space cannot be wasted on railcars that are larger than needed. For example, with a reduction of the each well by 8', an 8,000' train with the shorter cars would allow 15 additional wells in the same train length.

For additional photos of the cars, including interior details of the splices, check out Dave Casdorph's Intermodal Transport web site that features an article in the Vol2 No1 issue of his intermodal publication

Thrall wells shortened to 40' 11/6/03

To accompany the above item regarding the Gunderson wells cars, here are some photos of the shortened TTX Thrall cars. These photos were previously posted to the Modelintermodal Group shared files area.

A completed car:

A before and after:

A detail of the weld seam:

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