Re: Quiz: "Preferred 45"? The fake BOB2 has problems with factual answers, so real BOB2 will give you a real answer.
Author: BOB2
Date: 10-15-2024 - 22:29
Preferred (I believe the company name-IIRC) "45" was "way back", when 45-foot TOFC trailers was still a big thing, because you could put more stuff in it, than earlier 40-foot TOFC trailers could. Early piggyback cars were shorter, too.
Then the RR's got 89-foot pig flats, and you could put two 45's on a car, with plenty of clearance including the couplers.
It's all because, back then, Congress had once again increased the truck lengths and weights on our roads and freeways. So, railroads adapted, too.
Then came today's 53-foot TOFC trailers, and boxes, and so you have a photo that documents the world of trucks getting larger and heavier on our roads and railroads in the US over the last 50 years.