I have been slowly working on getting a stack train in operation. I have some power (ATSF GP60M + GP60B Athearn RTR) and some containers but I have been waiting for better well cars for the containers. The old Athearns have no weight as described earlier and I never could find a good answer on the other makes. But, Athearn and Atlas both have new stuff in the pipeline that sounds very interesting. The other issue I have is on some of the high prices for containers, why not sell 12 packs of containers at a volume based discount?
... Intermodal is also not very interesting to operate. There are no set outs and pick ups along the way, it goes from point A to point B as fast as possible.
As for train sets, I don't think you'll ever see an intermodal train set. It would be one car! ...
Generally, A to B ASAP, but my train watching around Chicago and the Midwest points to lots of operational variability with containers that could keep things interesting. I have seen "Super Stackers" on the Santa Fe with 4 engines up front and 2 DPU's on the rear running major stack trains, but on the other hand I have also watched CP in Bensenville run a single SOO GP38-2, one well car with two containers, and a SOO caboose. Sounds almost like a train set, but you would probably want to add several more well cars. Seen them run semi trailers in well cars. K-Line stack train on the UP in all (almost) dark red containers. And don't forget the younger railfans can easily play with the containers and trucks: be your own container crane!
Iowa Interstate (IAIS) now runs a little bit of everything on their daily runs each way between Council Bluffs, Iowa (Omaha) and Blue Island (Chicago), including stacks along with hoppers, tank cars, and whatever they have going. I noticed an IAIS "intermodal facility" east of Iowa City that was
real basic, I don't remember if it was just dirt and gravel roadway. But it was small, off a single track mainline, with a relatively small amount of containers and a crane. My favorite was the ex-Chicago Central (IC) "intermodal yard" in Rockford. They just had it in a gravel lot across from the old IC Freight House, one truck was there the day I drove by, again
real basic. And of course there are the mega container yards around Chicago and elsewhere.
Kids today will see lots pigs and stacks, so I would expect that to be an option in the model train world. I agree that the pricing of $100 for five car unit trains is alot, but I don't plan to buy list, can't afford too.