my advise is not to use the rail, with extra cost of crane and local transport on both origin and destination I can't see it being cost effective. The additional cost of the cradle and blocking of the boat on the rail car will be another additional cost. I feel your boat will be handled better (as others have said)on the truck then rail. Also while it may not be a big deal truck will be faster then rail. Also the truck driver will check his load (your boat) regularly as opposed to once your boat is on the rail car it will not be checked until you unload it. If you could fit in a container there would be a lot of additional cost to removing and replacing keel and mast would most likely have be cut and then spliced back together at destination.You may want to check with Catalina in Calif (or a local Catalina dealer)and see who they use as a transporter and maybe they can use your boat as a back haul and save you a few dollars.
