Many aspects of railroading were changing in 1960. Would passenger trains soon follow steam locomotives into oblivion?
This post looks at 'intermodal' ads placed in two editions of Trains magazine as it was publishing an overview of piggyback (trailer on flatcar - TOFC) services in May and June of that year.
The railroads had been worried about the development of public roads in the 1920s. Even then, some executives foresaw the impact on their passenger business of nascent passenger aviation.
In the late 1950s, with the US interstate highway network ostensibly developed as a 'defense project' to facilitate a four-lane-wide evacuation of cities in the anticipation of Soviet nuclear bomber attacks ... semi-trailer trucks were given a 'free' transportation network to divert more and more rate-regulated railroad carlot freight business. Looking for an 'angle' to get some business back, many of the US railroads were trying to roll out piggyback. Considering today's operations - 60 years later - you may be surprised to see what is being carried in two of the ads (SP and Milwaukee Road) ... and by the small size of some of the road equipment used.
Looking at the ads as cultural 'artifacts', remember, this was the era of the creative workers who were decades later dubbed 'Madmen' - advertising wizards. To some truckers, Rocket Rail Express probably sounded quite attractive.
The advertisement segment ends with other rail rockets - conceived by certifiable madmen.
A neat map of steam/diesel era Winnipeg from the October 1960 Trains completes this posting.
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You're going to get us all KILLED! ...
... just as some amateur astronomers immediately spot and add new military satellites to their databases ...
... the loaded missile cars would never have escaped amateur trackside spotters.
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Winnipeg from October 1960
