Intermodal well car
A well car carries containers in a tub between the trucks, often stacked two high.
A tub for containers
A well car has a depressed well between the trucks so a container can sit lower than it would on a flat deck. Most of the cars you see are articulated: several wells sharing trucks, one car number for the set or a unit number on each well, depending on how the set is marked. Read the reporting mark on the car, and don't confuse it with the mark on the container.
Double-stack is two containers, one on top of the other, locked together. That stack is tall. Plate H, about 20 feet 2 inches above the rail, is the outline those loads are built around. A single container in a well is lower. The well is the car either way.
Containers have their own marks
The container is a separate piece of equipment. Its mark often ends in U. A trailer ends in Z and rides on a flat, not down in a well. The well car's own mark is the car you look up on this site. The container's mark is the box.
The type letter for a stack car is S. Older intermodal flats that carry trailers or containers on deck are P, or Q for a low-profile car. If you can see a tub, you are looking at a well.
Common questions
- Which mark do I look up, the container or the car?
- Look up the well car if you want the car. The container's mark, often ending in U, belongs to the box. They are different pieces of equipment.
- What is double-stack?
- Two containers, one locked on top of the other, sitting in or over the well. The pair needs a high-clearance route.