PFMSIG Programs

Welcome to the Programs Page. From here you can find links to all the different inter-road freight and passenger services offered by the members of the Association of Freelance Model Railroads.

QuickSilver -
In 1998, Georgia Road Transportation and the Georgia Midland System kicked-off their new, branded, subsidiary intermodal service known as QuickSilver Intermodal, targeting regional and nationwide intermodal services centering in the Deep South. With a renewed effort to capture medium and short-haul traffic in 2001, QuickSilver Intermodal added roadrailer service to it growing fleet of ToFC and CoFC operations. Known as Optima Service, the new QuickSilver service employed Wabash National RoadRailer equipment in a freely mixed pool of intermodal railroad operations with the aim of capturing from the highway the LTL and parcel business of such companies as FedEx, Roadway, ABF, USPS and UPS between regional hubs and sort centers. Unlike similar services such as Norfolk Southern's Triple Crown Services, QuickSilver Optima utilized a hub and spoke system similar to those employed in the parcel industry to deliver trailers at determined intervals on accelerated schedules by adding RoadRailers to standard scheduled T/CoFC and doublestack intermodal operations.

RoadBox -
RailBox, a familiar site on the railroads was a nationwide boxcar owner/leaser and fulfillment agency. As Norfolk Southern's TripleCrown Services (TCS) continued to push their services, it became apparent to the other railroads that RoadRailer technoloy, benefiting only certain customers, could never compete with the investment in standard T/CoFC operations. In order to compete with the major intermodal terminals of the Class 1 and larger Class 2 railroads, smaller railroads banded together to create a joint intermodal service. Enlisting the assistance of TrailerTrain's (TTX) subsidiary RailBox, they new RoadRailer pooling service was branded as RoadBox and the trailers painted in resemblance to the well-known yellow boxcars.

WasteRunner -
WasteRunner was created as a national brand for the movement of municipal waste from the cities that generate it to the facilities that dispose or incinerate it. By containerizing the trash, transportation by truck, barge or railroad was made both possible as well as economical. Initially moving as scattered cars in general freight, the program rapidly expanded to the point of generating unit trains.

Golden West Service -
With Southern Pacific becoming a fallen flag under the Union Pacific umbrella, so did the company's Golden West Service partnership with Greenbrier/Gunderson. In 1997, CalSoGroup, already successfully operating the Hueneme Terminal RailLine, began looking for ways to expand their revenue base, and the timing couldn't have been better. Already in negotiations with UP and the County over operations of its newly acquired right-of-way, the investment firm gained the intellectual rights to and equipment of the former Golden West fleet.

GW Lease:

Traditional railcar management and leasing utilizing the current Golden West equipment. As the reporting marks were contracted through Greenbrier, member roads present at the buyout were given the opportunity to continue representation by leasing equipment back from CalSoGroup. As this turned the tables on base revenue for the roads at the time, most opted out. When this happened, equipment was stenciled for the primary lessee, Hueneme Terminal (HTML), and the sales team began soliciting carriers wanting to manage costs through pooling equipment resources. Aside from the core CalSoGroup railroads; early lessees include Chinook Lines and Santa Maria Valley RR.

Golden West MultiModal:

Attempting to gain market share in the booming intermodal business, CalSoGroup expands in 2000 with new options for TOFC/COFC traffic, as well as beginning to manage a fleet of over-the-road trailers, domestic containers, and chassis.

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