I seem to remember that NYC ran some container trains in the late fifties or so. At least I remember reading about it in one of my Grandfathers old trade journals once. It was touted as the wave of the future.

It was pretty nifty though, how the boxes (looked just like truck trailers) were backed up onto a spine car, then the truck tractor rotated to turn the rest of the box onto the spine, leaving the highway bogies behind. No fancy ramps or cranes were needed, just a wide roadway next to a track. Almost any team track would have worked. Off-loading was just the opposite.

They pictured whole trainloads of these, although that may have been only a publicity shot. Can't remember why that didn't fly for long - or so it seems! Maybe somebody does remember.

OPB