Why are there no two-axle freight cars in North America?

Over the years, I've seen quite a few photos and movie clips of North American freight trains. The most striking difference, compared to European operations (other than the dimensions, of course) is the total abscence of two-axle freightcars in North America. It seems to be 100% bogie freightcars (in Europe, the majority of freight cars is still two-axle).
Why are there virtually no two-axle freightcars in North America? Stability issues with AAR-style couplers? You'd think that at least for shortlines and branch lines, two-axle freightcars would still have some use, especially as they'd have quite useful capacity, given the 30-35 ton axle load.

Use the "search" feature. We've already done this one........

There are a few yellow TTX trailer train cars like that, but rare. Much rarer still there are cabooses like that too.

GOLDEN-ARM wrote:Use the "search" feature. We've already done this one........

I just tried that myself and couldn't find it. what did you guys call it when you did this thread? I tried 4 wheel car, 2 axle car, truckless car. I can't seem to find this thread

On another message forum, there are some posters who answer questions with "Use the search box. We already answered this question." I urge those tempted to give that harsh reply to find the link and post it, so they will be helpful. Otherwise, this forum has few problems with rudeness. In the past, I encountered problems with the search box, but I think the function may have improved.
Joe McMahon

Since I like the look of 2 axle freight cars, especially the old school Vans & 3 board opens from the 1950-1960 BR era, I'll try to help.
First, one previous thread on this topic
Second, from what I seen (albiet mostly British & German), the majority of rolling stock is now 4 axle (well, 2-bogie), much like NA custom (the truck & brake designs are different, but same 2 trucks near each end concept). Especially in the UK, seems lots of the 2 axle stock still in use is in 'Engineering' service (more or less MOW service). Some of the later ('70s/'80s) 2-axle PO Vans were rather impressive, although I don't know how many are still in revenue service (whenever I read a British railroading magazine, or look at a website, and see images of modern wagons in service, almost always the article states "This service has/is/will soon end" - after seeing hundreds of these notices, I wonder if there's any freight service left in Britian).

I saw at least 2 in this vid at horseshoe curve here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRJKM-xX ... re=related

slashmaster wrote:I saw at least 2 in this vid at horseshoe curve here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRJKM-xX ... re=related

If you are referring to the second train (intermodal), allowing for the so-so resolution, the car under the XTra trailer @2:39 looks like a 2-axle 4runners mentioned in passing in a post above by...you!
That would be this: Conrail Trailer on 4 runner. Again, I think that's what you're talking about, although there are several similar looking spline cars (multiple unit, the middle cars sharing one standard 2-axle truck) also in that video.
However, I'm pretty sure the OP wanted this (Diagrammes of BR airbraked modern-era stock).

slashmaster wrote:There are a few yellow TTX trailer train cars like that, but rare. Much rarer still there are cabooses like that too.

The Yellow TTX Front Runners are all but retired now. The difference between North America and most of Europe is in load capacity and so forth. When European Railways began much earlier than North American Railways the cars were built with 2 axles as the loads were not as heavy to transport at the time. I would figure that the lighter you build a car the heaveyer a load you could put in it with most modern cars being built of steel today in Europe today this might be the reason why 2 axle 30ft or 40ft cars still work for them today. European railroads are keeped in much better shape than railways in North America. North American railways started out with 2 axles cars then went to 4 axle cars as the railroads expanded and the loads increased. European railways do not have as many tight curves which works well for a 2 axle car as the trucks are cast or welded to the frame of the car leaving the axles to be free rolling with in the truck frame its self. There are a few 4 Axle Cars to be found in Western Europe but most notably the highest number of them are in Eastern Europe where 4 Axle Cars are more often to be seen due to the longer distance(s) traveled and even heaveyer transports of goods and passengers a 4 axle, 6 Axle and some times 8 axles cars work well for such an environment such as in Siberia where the ground is mostly frozen 365 days a year and the weight of the car needs to be spread out over brittle rail.

scharnhorst wrote:There are a few 4 Axle Cars to be found in Western Europe but most notably the highest number of them are in Eastern Europe.

Are you sure about this - I have been visiting various European rail websites (such as Wagons on the Web - cool shots of many European freight wagons, although the owner likes to feature a lot of NA rolling stock too...to him they're foreign), and lots of youtube clips, and the overwhelming majority of UK, German, Swiss, & French rolling stock I see is now bogie (4 axle) rolling stock - Yes, unlike North America you do see some 2 axle wagons in action, but it's like a 10:1 ratio 4axle to 2.
I don't see a lot of images of Southern Mediterranean stock, though - perhaps that's what you mean?

Well, I can mostly speak for Norway (and to some degree Sweden).
Here in Norway, the vast majority of freight, is containers. These are carried on three types of cars, of which the two most common are 1) two-axle spine-type cars (can carry up to one 45-foot container, or two shorter containers, or two swap-bodies) and 2) six-axle articulated cars (can carry the same loads as listed previously on each wagon half, or a combination. Many of these also are equipped with special pockets to enable them to carry semitrailers). The third type is bogie flatcars that have had their stakes removed and are equipped to carry up to three 20-foot containers. The last type seems to be mostly used on trains to Sweden and/or Continental Europe. A typical domestic container train might have perhaps 7-8 six-axle cars, maybe 15 two-axle and perhaps a couple of bogie cars.
The other major type of freightcars here, are unit lumber trains. These mostly have two types of cars, ordinary two-axle stake cars, and a four-axle type which are basically two of the two-axle cars permanently coupled together. Also, in some cases ordinary bogie flatcars with stakes are used (like in North America).
Other than that, there are various types of other unit trains, mostly for transporting automobiles (new cars from importers to dealers), which mostly have two- or three-piece articulated cars (each car is two-axle). The last type of unit trains, are trains carrying paper rolls, which have ordinary two-axle sliding-wall freightcars of the type used all over Europe (I think they're called Hbillns or something like that).

USRailFan wrote:Other than that, there are various types of other unit trains, mostly for transporting automobiles (new cars from importers to dealers), which mostly have two- or three-piece articulated cars (each car is two-axle). The last type of unit trains, are trains carrying paper rolls, which have ordinary two-axle sliding-wall freightcars of the type used all over Europe (I think they're called Hbillns or something like that).

I have seen a fair amount of the 2 axle vehicle transporters (in images and video clips) - they seem to haul 6 vehicles per freight-car, which at even 4t per vehicle (probably less, unless they're carrying panel-trucks/vans) is only 24t, or a 12t/axle loading - OK, that makes sense (I also am surprized that those vehicle transporters are opened sided and the vehicles carried exposed to view - when US bi/tri-level vehicle-transport service began in ernest during the 1960s, the freight cars were also open, but the vehicles carried, being exposed, were subjected to vandalism and theft of parts like tires, mirrors, headlights etc, such that by the late-1960s screens were applied to the sides, and then later-on came the fully enclosed tri-level vehicle carriers so common on NA railroads.
And I did also see 2-axle sliding side vans, but bogie style was definitely more common - and I am not mistaking them for the telescoping-3-hooded steel carrier wagons.
I was under the impression that large ore-carrying unit trains (with 4axle-bogie wagons) were fairly common in Scandinavia - am I mistaken?

Sir Ray wrote:I was under the impression that large ore-carrying unit trains (with 4axle-bogie wagons) were fairly common in Scandinavia - am I mistaken?

Fairly common... Well, they make up the vast majority of trains on the Kiruna - Narvik and Kiruna - Luleå lines in Northern Sweden/Norway... Other than that there aren't really many ore trains... But yeah, the cars used there, are open hoppers cars with bogies - kind of similar to the older-style coal hoppers used in the USA (before the Bethgon-type cars took over everything), but shorter (and actually heavier, 120 tons full load (30 tons axle load)).

Sir Ray wrote:

scharnhorst wrote:There are a few 4 Axle Cars to be found in Western Europe but most notably the highest number of them are in Eastern Europe.

Are you sure about this - I have been visiting various European rail websites (such as Wagons on the Web - cool shots of many European freight wagons, although the owner likes to feature a lot of NA rolling stock too...to him they're foreign), and lots of youtube clips, and the overwhelming majority of UK, German, Swiss, & French rolling stock I see is now bogie (4 axle) rolling stock - Yes, unlike North America you do see some 2 axle wagons in action, but it's like a 10:1 ratio 4axle to 2.
I don't see a lot of images of Southern Mediterranean stock, though - perhaps that's what you mean?

The rolling stock in the larger countrys with better economys would have been upgraded to 4 axle trucks by now. I have come across cars from Iran and and outher Middle Eastern Countrys in some of the Railroad Yards in and around Southern Russia as well as in Ukraine that were 2 axle trucked cars these cars were mostley 26 feet long composit side gons and or wagon top wooden boxcars with adjustable axles so they could be directley interchanged to Russia's 5ft guage rail network.

In Russia I saw this car in a freight train. In general it is problems with two axle cars and central couplers and no side buffers.
Such cars a prone to derailments if not special devices are fitted.http://www.ba-bautzen.de/wirtschaftssen ... etz2_e.htm


An iranian car with russian automatic SA3-couplers, russian bogies with standard guage wheel-sets

I have come across cars from Iran and and outher Middle Eastern Countrys in some of the Railroad Yards in and around Southern Russia as well as in Ukraine that were 2 axle trucked cars these cars were mostley 26 feet long composit side gons and or wagon top wooden boxcars with adjustable axles so they could be directley interchanged to Russia's 5ft guage rail network.

Do you have photos of iranian cars in Russia?