The Pacific Motor Trucking Page
Welcome to the Pacific Motor Trucking (PMT) Page! The SP was well known for its fleet of local delivery trucks and early trailer-on-flat-car trailers in serveral subisidiaries. These subsidiaries were the PMT (Pacific Motor Transport) of the SP Pacific Lines, the SWT (South West Transport) of the Cotton Belt and SPT (Southern Pacific Transport) of the T&NO. The purpose of these pages is to catalog the various trailers operated and leased through these trucking companies for use in SP's trailer-on-flat-car piggyback operations. The pages will be organized by trailer length and by trailer initial. The trailers carried PMT, SWT or SPT initials until the mid 1960's when a "Z" was added to the initial and the trailers were renumbered into a 6-digit numbering scheme as follow:
100000 Dollies & Flexi-Van bogies 200000 Dry Vans 300000 Flat Racks 400000 Open Top Vans 500000 Reefer Vans 600000 Bulk Haul Trailers 700000 Insulated Vans 800000 Flatbeds with Removable Sides or Racks 900000 Loader-Equipped Vans
The second digit indicated length: 0 for 40ft and over (mostly reefers with nose units back then) but later 7 and 9 was also used to denote 40s as well, 1 for 30ft and over but under 32ft, 2 for 32ft to under 35ft, 5 for 35ft to under 38ft (later used for 45ft x 96in wides, with 3 for 45ft x 102in wides), 6 for 20ft to under 30ft, and 8 for 38ft to under 40ft.
The main focus of these pages will be on the trailers themselves, not the corporate history of the SP common carrier trucking subsidiaries, however, for reference, a timeline and overview is provided as well. Roster information is based on Southern Pacific's PMT and SPT and Cotton Belt's SWT trailer listings in the ORERs and OIERs from 1962 through 1982 as well as various other sources.