Intermodal Virtual Ops 1B

Greetings and welcome to the very first virtual Intermodal Ops between five different layouts. John B. started the series on the West Coast with Intermodal Virtual Ops 1A. Here's a shot from his post.

Since each participating layout has equipment from different eras and locations, we decided to "freelance" our different postings. Mine is from the early to mid 1980's. Before the Double Stack trains and with an exchange between the Burlington Northern and Conrail.

Nothing says 1980's railroading like a SD-40-2. This Burlington Northern SD-40-2 is seen racing across the High Plains, between Denver and Omaha. It departed Rennick Intermodal Yard in Denver with a planned exchange with Conrail in Chicago.

BN SD-45 #6422 is working its final years with the Burlington Northern. Being a 1960's era gas guzzler and maintenance issues with the 20 cylinder 645 prime mover. The Burlington Northern was anxious to send them to a early retirement.

In contrast, Burlington Northern GP-38-2 #2264 was quite low maintenance and easy on the gas.

Starting out our Intermodal segment, some "spine cars" set up for COFC. These cars and containers were made by Concor in the late 1980's.

Some interesting TOFC cars made by Front Range Products in the 1980's. They were modified 50 foot flatcars for Intermodal Service. Those are Front Range 45 foot trailers as well.

Another set of Concor "spine cars" with Athearn and Front Range Trailers. I lost the decals to this set at some point. I'll have to track some new ones down and weather them according to John B's information in Intermodal Virtual Ops 1A.

This group of cars represents my earliest attempts to bring TOFC service to my layouts. With my limited space and tighter track radius, there was no way I could run 89 foot Trailer Train TOFC flatcars. My solution was shall we say interesting. Using 40 and 50 foot flatcars, with Athearn, Concor and Front Range Trailers. I may have to revisit these cars someday.

Bringing up the rear is an Athearn Wide Vision Caboose. I bought this at a Swap Meet in 1978. We've seen a lot of miles together. Thank you for reading! Stay tuned for additional posts on this Virtual Intermodal Ops.