Autorack
But as the automobile industry grew in size, railroads found that they needed to modify the boxcars for more efficient loading.
In 1923, the Grand Trunk Western Railroad experimented with modifying a group of 61-foot-long (18.59 m) wood-frame flat cars to increase their capacity by adding collapsible frames to allow for double-deck operation.
By 1960 several U.S. railroads were handling new automobiles in this way, including the CB&Q, C&NW, CRIP, D&H, D&RGW, ERIE/EL, GN, KCS, L&N, MILW, MKT, MP/TP, NP, SL-SF, SP, SSW, WAB and UP.
[4] Satisfied that the basic concept was sound, the railroad contracted with Pullman-Standard to design and construct a full-size tri-level prototype.
[6] Santa Fe's first production auto racks were 85-foot (25.91 m) trilevel Auto-Veyor units supplied by Dana-Spicer and Whitehead & Kales later in the year, both mounted on General American-built G85 cars.
The Southern Pacific actually took delivery of the first Whitehead & Kales Auto-Pack tri-level racks in April, mounting them on General American-built Clejan and G85 cars.
Curiously, in 1961 a German-built three-unit, articulated bilevel autorack was imported into the United States to demonstrate the German design to U.S. railroads.
Railroads known to have done so include ATSF, CN, CP, CR, CRR, D&RGW, FEC, GN, GTW, KCS, L&N, Monon, MP, N&W, RI, SCL, SLSF, SOO, Southern, SP, SSW, UP, WM, and WP.
During the early 1960s, specially built auto carriers rapidly took over rail transportation of newly completed automobiles in North America.
A major problem left to solve was that the new autorack cars did not provide any protection from theft, vandalism, or severe weather.
In 1973 the first fully enclosed racks with continuous side panels, end doors, and roofs were developed to address this problem.
Whitehead & Kales, Ford, N&W and DT&I jointly developed a Snap-Pak prototype enclosed tri-level car, NW 400000.
The Whitehead & Kales tri-level design, renamed Safe-Pak,[15] was delivered to ATSF, CP, CRR, FEC, NW, SCL, SSW, UP, and WP, all of them riding on railroad-owned flats.
Portec's RailPac design, developed in cooperation with Chrysler, was placed into service by ATSF, C&O, C&NW, D&RGW, GTW, N&W, RF&P, SLSF, SP, UP and several other roads, with most riding on leased Trailer Train flats.
Several firms simply exited the field, including AC&F, Evans, Dana, and Darby, while others were acquired by other builders.
Currently autoracks are produced by TrinityRail, Greenbrier, Johnstown America, National Steel Car, and the Union Pacific Railroad.
Known as Vert-A-Pac, the rail cars would hold 30 Vegas in a vertical, nose-down position, versus 18 in normal tri-level autoracks.
Each Vega was fitted with four removable, cast-steel sockets inserted into the undercarriage that locked into the hooks on the bottom-hinged doors that made up the car side.
[18][19] Chevrolet conducted vibration and low-speed crash tests to make sure nose-down Vegas would not shift or be damaged in railcar collisions.
1 cylinder, batteries had filler caps located high up on the rear edge of the case to prevent acid spilling, the carburetor float bowl had a special tube that drained gasoline into the vapor canister during shipment, and the windshield washer bottle stood at a 45-degree angle.
Besides Southern Pacific, the Baltimore & Ohio, Burlington Northern, Denver & Rio Grande Western, Florida East Coast, Frisco, Illinois Central Gulf, Louisville & Nashville, Milwaukee Road, Missouri Pacific, Penn Central (under Merchants Despatch Transportation), Rock Island, Seaboard Coast Line, and Southern Railway operated Vert-A-Pacs.
It was designed to carry 12 high-end Oldsmobile, Buick, and Cadillac models in four removable fully enclosed tri-level containers per 89-foot (27 m) flat car.
Besides SP and its Cotton Belt subsidiary (SSW), Stac-Pac flat cars were contributed to the pool by the Santa Fe and Trailer Train, with the containers being supplied by ATSF, BN, D&RGW, FEC, MILW, PC (MDT), RI, Southern Railway, SP, Cotton Belt Route, Union Pacific, and by General Motors itself.
For greater flexibility and to improve car utilization, single-unit autoracks are being built that allow the number of loading levels, or decks, to be easily changed between bilevel (two) and trilevel (three), depending on which is in demand at the time.
Using the enclosed tri-level autoracks, they are able to provide lower costs as well as greater protection from in-transit damage (such as that which may occur due to weather and traffic conditions on unenclosed truck semi-trailers).
The enclosed rail cars prevented the autos from getting damaged from falling or thrown rocks, bullets and other forms of vandalism.
[35][36] A rail transport service where passengers can take their automobile along with them on their journey is known as an "Auto Train" in North America and as a "Motorail" in Australia and Europe.
The Auto Train offered an alternative to motorists who would otherwise have to drive their automobiles the 855-mile (1,376 km) distance along the East Coast of the United States.
Amtrak, a federally chartered corporation which operates most intercity passenger trains in the United States, continued to use Auto-Train's autoracks as an important portion of its service.
The autoracks normally run on the rear of Auto Train consists, which stretch over a three quarters of a mile, and are a familiar sight on CSX tracks on the east coast.
