Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Office of General Manager, Freight Rates.

The office of General Manager, Freight Rates, was created in the Freight Sales and Services (Traffic) Department on November 1, 1955, as part of the general reorganization to improve the customer-orientation of the department. Russell W. Talbot, whose previous position was Assistant to the General Traffic Manager, was named the first General Manager, Freight Rates. He was promoted to Assistant Vice President, Marketing on November 1, 1965, and succeeded by J. D. Finley, who served until the Penn Central Merger.

Although Talbot had general supervision of freight rates, one of the most important developments of his tenure was the development of trailer-on-flat-car (TOFC) and container-on-flat-car (COFC) service, commonly called "piggyback" and carried out on the PRR under the name of "TrucTrain." Talbot's staff included an officer variously titled Manager, TrucTrain Service or Manager, TrucTrain Sales.

The PRR began offering a limited Plan II piggyback service between New York (Kearny, N.J.) and Chicago on July 12, 1954. It utilized single trailers carried on regular flat cars in its fast "LCL" (less-than-carload-lot) freight trains and was expanded to Cincinnati and St. Louis later that year. President James M. Symes and Vice President in Charge of Operations James P. Newell were the driving force behind the adoption of piggyback service.

Soon after, they were approached by piggyback pioneer Eugene F. Ryan, who had founded the Rail-Trailer Company and agreed to operate a Plan I service over the PRR. Ryan's staff made most of the hardware improvements to cars and trailers needed to make piggyback competitive, financed the construction of the first fleet of special, double-trailer cars, and secured the cooperation of the Teamsters Union. Plan I service with special cars and dedicated trains began on March 3, 1955. Plans III and IV service began on July 5, 1958.

The Rail-Trailer Company began the PRR's first container-on-flat-car (COFC) service on January 16, 1956, using "Mobilvan" containers manufactured by the Clark Equipment Company. COFC eliminates the extra weight and wind resistance of carrying the highway running gear on the flat car, and eventually became the industry standard, permitting truly intermodal handling of standardized containers. The PRR also pioneered in the use of special overhead gantry cranes for loading and unloading trailers and containers, which also became the industry standard.

Responsibility for TrucTrain was divided between the Operating Department, where Newell and his newly-appointed Manager, TrucTrain Service Howard C. Kohout were enthusiastic, and the Traffic Department, where Vice President in Charge of Traffic Fred Carpi believed that piggyback simply repackaged traditional box car freight instead of drawing new business. This tradition-minded resistance did not begin to abate until after the Penn Central merger and numerous personnel changes.

From the description of Records, 1954-1967. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 123466701