MTH Rail King Union Pacific Husky Stack Car # 48 UP 548082 On April 26, 1956, a revolution in shipping began when the first container ship, a converted oil tanker named Ideal X, left Port Newark, NJ headed for Houston. The brainchild of truck-driver-turned-shipping-magnate Malcolm Purcell McLean, containerization was a giant step forward in shipping efficiency, security and cost. Two decades later, McLean and the Southern Pacific Railroad pioneered the double-stack intermodal car, designed with the help of ACF Industries. The idea was slow to catch on, but in 1984 the SP and American President Lines ran the first coast-to-coast all-double-stack train. In the ensuing years, double-stacks, also known as husky stacks, have become one of the most common cars on American rails, delivering containers loaded at all points of the globe to destinations across our continent.
