  The
first reaction of many to these short containers is that they are
used only for small lots of cargo. The true purpose of the 20' container
is to move heavy materials that would max out highway weight limits
long before filling the volume of a 40' container. This is why you
often see a pair of 20's in the lower position of a stack car with
nothing in the upper position, they max out the load limit of the
rail car.   This
is a workhorse of the Intermodal industry. The 20 foot container is
a worldwide player. Due to the ISO (International Standards Organization)
connectors on each and every box, the fittings will work anywhere
in the world. A container sent by ship will work the same in North
and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. It remains
to be seen if it will work in Antarctica, but if there is a port there,
chances are it will subscribe to the ISO, too.
The
deLuxe containers are set to work with all existing scale railcars.
20 foot containers
are limited to the lower wells of well cars, but  are
equally at home on 50, 60, and 89 foot flatcars. On an 89 footer,
there are fixtures available for up to 4 20 footers.
The deLuxe
20's have the appropriate corrugations in the roof and the "fendered
floors" designed to hold our container weights snugly. They are also
released in pairs with two different road
numbers. |
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