The success of the project could be seen in the eyes of La Mesa RV’s, Jerry Browning, recon manager, when he looked into the cockpit of the Allegro Bus motorhome and saw the odometer reading of only 15 miles. Normally, he noted, when motorhomes arrive in Phoenix, Arizona, from Tiffin Motor Homes’ factory in Red Bay, Alabama, there’s over 1,700 miles.

Obviously viewing a thing of beauty, Browning added "And just look at it, it’s in perfect condition – not a rock ding anywhere."

Browning’s enthusiasm reflected the attitude of everyone who had just unloaded the first RV delivered by rail in more than 20 years on a sunny morning in early January at the Inter-Rail Transport (IRT) yard in downtown Phoenix.

The delivery by rail of two Tiffin motorhomes that day was the culmination of a project that had started months earlier as an intellectual partnership between Union Pacific Railroad, Norfolk Southern, Redmont Railroad, and JLG Enterprises (JLG), a California-based RV export company; TTX Company (TTX), a rail car company headquartered in Chicago.

But for Larry Gaugenmaier, president of JLG, it was even more important. He’s been dreaming of developing a rail shipping program for RVs for more than 20 years and on this day, it appears that his dream has the potential of becoming a reality.

Dressed in his railroader’s overalls in honor of the occasion, Larry told RV News, "I tried it 20 years ago with open flat cars, but it didn’t work – there was graffiti all over the RVs by the time they arrived at the destination."