New Passenger Cars passing through...

[Modelcar]

....2 - 8 - 2 and other points north from Muncie....witnessed about a half dozen new rail passenger cars all wrapped in plastic and traveling north on flat cars via NS this afternoon. Couldn't determine just what version they were but it looked like [through the plastic], they had center of car, doors. Might have been light rail type cars....just didn't have time to study or could not tell details through the plastic. Cars also were minus their trucks. [8D]

[Anonymous]

Interasting

DOGGY

[Anonymous]

If they are center car doors, they are likely going to a LR system somewhere.

I sincerely doubt Amtrak has anything new shipping in.

[Modelcar]

...Yes, the more I think about it I subscribe to the fact they may indeed have been LR because they may not have been as wide as regular passenger cars.

[CShaveRR]

Was it blue plastic?

NS ships Metra's new bilevel gallery cars to us, about four or five at a time. They come from Japan, but are taken off the boats at Savannah, Georgia, if I remember correctly. The flat cars are 89-foot JTTX cars, specially modified for this move (there are 12-15 of them; we see the same ones over and over). The shells go to Milwaukee for completion, then return on their own wheels to the Chicago area, and we send the empty flats back to NS.

If I remember correctly, these cars will continue to be delivered to Metra into 2005.

Watch for four-digit numbers on the tarps next time...those are the actual road numbers of the coaches underneath. I'm pretty sure these are the cars you're seeing.

[Modelcar]

CS...You have described it perfectly....That is exactly what I saw.....and there was about a half dozen of them.

[louisnash]

Those cars have been going through Northern KY on NS also for the last year or so.. They are normally right behind the locomotives headed to Cincy going north. I have always wondered where their final destination was.

Brian (KY)

[Modelcar]

Brian: Yes, that's where they were in the consist...right at front. And north they were headed. I'd say we're getting a pretty good eyeball on where they are and where they are going. Great...! I'll keep a good eyeball out for more of them here. NS from here heads to Ft. Wayne and then I believe a route heads to Chicago and one to Detroit but we have learned they were headed to Milwaukee for finishing. [8D]

[rrnut282]

Modelcar
Yes I've seen them going by every once in a while on train 196 and always at the head end. I've never cought them leaving East Wayne Yard, so I was in the dark as to destination. Since 196 goes to Detroit, NS must have 196 drop them off in Fort Wayne for a pick-up by a train headed to Chicago. Thanks CShaveRR, I was always curious about them.

[Modelcar]

....Looks like we've pretty well nailed down where they are coming from and what they are and where they are going and why.....Hope I can see more to get a better look again.

[CShaveRR]

The new Metra coaches have numbers in the 6000 series. As I mentioned before, these numbers appear somewhere on the tarps of the shells being transported. If you happen to get a number in the 8000s instead, that's also valid--those are the cab cars.

[dknelson]

If you get to Milwaukee the plant is called SuperSteel and they not only finish off these partly completed passenger cars (which are then sent down to Chicago on their own wheels) but they also do portions of locomotive bodies. There are lots of photo opportunities at the plant from public property. There is going to be a tour of the plant during this spring's NMRA Midwest Regional Convention here in Milwaukee and I hope I am lucky enough to be one of the 50 chosen to go on it -- alas they do not permit cameras in the plant.
Dave Nelson

[Modelcar]

....That would be an interesting visit to that factory. A little too far away for me but I'll keep an eye open for more of the coaches coming through our Muncie area. My visits to that area in the past concerned pre-prduction automotive products.