If I wasn't modeling the Pennsy, I'd be modeling modern intermodal...
TTX was founded in 1955 by the Norfolk & Western Railway, Pennsylvania Railroad and Rail-Trailer Corporation. Pennsylvania Railroad employees - 6,000 in total - entered possible names in a drawing for the new company, and the name "Trailer Train" won. TrailerTrain's original goals were to standardize TOFC railcar practices, foster the growth of transportation, provide its members with the best available equipment at the lowest cost, and keep its members abreast of new developments. In 1991, the company changed its company name from TrailerTrain to TTX.
TTX operates under pooling authority granted by the Surface Transportation Board. The flatcar pool was first approved in 1974 and then reauthorized in 1989, 1994, 2004 and most recently on October 1, 2014 for a 15-year term.
TTX's railcar fleet consists mainly of flatcars, autoracks, boxcars and gondolas. Half of the fleet is dedicated to flatcars and intermodal wells, with a quarter dedicated to auto racks for hauling finished vehicles. The remaining quarter of the pool includes boxcars, gondolas and specialized flatcars to carry a wide variety of general merchandise commodities. TTX provides standardized car types and re-purposes idle assets to serve a dynamic marketplace.
Paint Schemes
- 1956: Mineral Red with "Trailer Train" spelled out with the "TT" logo in the middle.
- 1970: Yellow with "Trailer Train" spelled out and "TT" logo separate.
- 1991: Yellow with "TTX" logo and no words.
- 2008: Yellow with new Tuscan Red "TTX" logo.
TTX Reporting Marks
TTX Car Classification Systems
TTX Double Stack Container Cars
TTX Trailer and Container Flatcars
TTX Spine and Skeleton Cars
Auto-Racks, Special Equipped Flatcars, Box Cars, and Gondolas are not discussed herein.
Further Reading
Panza, James; Dawson, Richard; and Sellberg, Ronald, The TTX Story, Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society, 2018.
Wilson, Jeff, Piggyback & Container Traffic, Kalmbach Books, 2017.
