| Posted by mmi16 on April 9, 2016 | |
Note that the engine is handling NYC Flexi-van cars and vans.
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| Posted by Kibu on April 9, 2016 | |
Wow! Those cars are RARE! In the 50's, Freuhauf partnered with the New York Central to produce the "Flexivan" system. Basically they were the precursors to modern containers. The system worked by having a driver back the trailer up to the car onto a special turntable platform on the car itself (Early ones were in the center of the car, later ones (such as these) had them on the ends. Skids on the turntable would lift the trailer up, while the truck wheels under it would be disconnected and moved out of the way. The trailer would then be swung around and locked into place as we see here. Ultimately NYC bought over seven thousand vans and 859 Flexi Van flatcars equipping the railroad to run 50 daily high speed Flexi-Van trains dubbed Super Van trains. Unfortunately few other railroads embraced the concept and the Flexi-Van became a NYC-only offering. The need to interchange intermodal traffic became overwhelming and in 1964 NYC bought into the Trailer Train consortium to assure a supply if more familiar trailer on flatcar piggyback. Ultimately, by the mid 70's (Roughly 75) the Flexi Van service had fallen out of favor with railroads, due to trailer lengths growing, and the difficulty of loading and unloading the van trailers. Most of the Flexi Vans were simply cut up, while a few found their trailers permanently locked in place and used in mail service.
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