The loss of traffic that had always been theirs forced railroad executives to do

some serious thinking about what their companies could still do best. The
obvious answer was to concentrate on their strength—the ability to carry heavy
loads over long distances at relatively low cost. One potential type of load
grabbed their attention: trucks. Driving a truck from California to New York
could require one hundred man-hours behind the wheel in the days before coast-
to-coast expressways, plus time for meals and rest. Sending the truck trailer by
train for the long-distance part of its journey could cut these labor costs while
preserving trucks' greatest advantage, the ability to pick up and deliver at any
location. Railroads had offered a service like this as early as 1885, when Long
Island Railroad "farmers' trains" transported produce wagons to ferry landings
opposite New York City; four wagons rode on each specially designed freight
car, while the farmers and their horses traveled in separate cars. An updated
version appeared in the early 1950s, as railroads began to chain truck trailers to
flatcars. They called it "piggyback."