The November MR has an interesting article by Jeff Wilson entitled "Open Auto Racks" . .. To be sure, Jeff did a great job providing information about the history of open auto rack cars in the 1960's and 1970's. The article has several good photos of various auto racks in that period.
During the 1970's I worked in the marketing department of Grand Trunk Western RR. GTW is owned by Canadian National, and it served numerous General Motors plants in Michigan. (Later, GTW acquired DT&I, and Ford became a major customer too.) I observed vehicles being loaded in Flint, Pontiac, Lansing, and Detroit. Unfortunately, I lost nearly all of my photos, but I did retain pictures I took in Flint, MI. I'll provide a little suplemental information to Jeff's outstanding article. The auto racks must be loaded at origin and unloaded at destination. Ramps were used and vehicles would be driven on or off.
At the destination, the auto racks must be facing the correct direction because vehicles were not backed out of the auto racks. Therefore, extra switching of auto racks might be needed to turn the auto racks. In some instances, the auto racks would be hauled to another town to do that because the destination had no wye.
In my next post in this thread, I will show my Flint photos.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
GTW served the following GM assembly plants: ... Oldsmobile in Lansing, MI; Pontiac in Pontiac, MI; GMC Trucks in Pontiac; Chevrolet trucks in Flint, MI.
In the 1970's, the Chevy plant in Flint produced more truacks annually than any other plant in the world. GTW served that plant. One of my projects as an analyst was to prepare the economic justifcation for GTW to increase the capacity of its loading ramp facility. We added three more loading tracks for a total of six tracks. I took these photos after the expansion. The three newer tracks had a single ramp which moved sideways between the tracks.
First is the GTW yard in Flint.... The Chevy assembly plant is barely visible in the distance to the right. The ramp is beyond a large highway bridge which crosses over GTW tracks.
Below, a switcher is moving parts cars.
New pickup trucks, Blazers, and Suburbans are ready to ship.
Next ..... The loading facility with bi-level racks.
The newer three tracks are in the foreground... The ramp moves between tracks. ... Each of the three older tracks has its own ramp. ... Bi-levels were used for pickup trucks.
Pickup trucks are lined up and ready to load.
Here you can see the truck is secured with chains. GM, Ford, and Chrysler each specified their own design of hooks, and therefore auto racks could not be easily transfered tween the auto companies. Some trucks were shipped without rear bumpers attached as was this one.
A switcher is ready to pull a string of loaded auto racks
Here are loaded racks being pulled towards the yard.
Those are my photos. I wish I saved all of them ... Following photos are from searching the internet.
As a business analyst, I was involved with cost studies for various enclosed auto carriers in the 1970's. GM was activily working with railroads to solve the problem of excessive Loss and Damage claims resulting from vandals and thieves. Vandals threw rocks at new vehicles on moving trains. Thieves would climb onto cars and steal parts from vehicles.
There were several proposed new auto carriers. GM favored special cars such as Verta-Pac and Stac-Pac. Both of those were built and operated for several years. The railroad companies prefered enclosing rack cars.
Below is a Verta-Pac car being loaded. Chevy Vegas were designed so they could be transported in these railcars.
Below are photos of Stac-Pac Cars ... The flat cars were typically owned by Trailer Train, and the containers were owned by the railroads. Containers were swapped between cars, and you could see more than one railroad name on each railcar.
I observed Cadillacs being loaded on Stac-Pacs in Detroit. I wish I kept my photos.
By about 1980, the enclosed tri-level became standard, and these continue to be used today. I recall back then, the mechanical engineers spent much effort to design the end doors.
Destination facilities needed a lot of land, needed to be fenced, and needed adequate lighting. Vehicles would be unloaded from auto racks and loaded onto trucks.
I can shoot some photos of the UPs Port Allen autorack yard next time I make it across the river.
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
As Jeff said, the auto racks were assigned to pools with one pool for each assembly plant. ... That means at least half of the miles traveled is with empty racks. Trains running beween Michigan and Texas (for example ) could have both loaded auto racks and empty auto racks coupled together.
As business analyist, I wondered if there could be ways of reducing empty miles. I remember asking my boss about that, and we decided to try working with connecting railroads to develop two way hauls. We worked with the parent company, Canadian National, to try the idea. We established a two-way rate between Lansing, MI and Oshawa, Ontario. GM had an assembly plant in each of hose cities. GM gladly shipped at the reduced rate.
After that, my career path took me out of marketing and into finance at GTW, and I was therefore involved with different stuff. A few years later, I worked at other companies instead of railroads. Thus, first hand knowledge of auto racks became unavailable to me.
However, I am aware the entire rail industry pooled the auto racks after I left the railroad. At first, the Association of American Railroads managed the pool . Later, Trailer Train managed the pool. Auto racks are not assigned to single plants. Empty auto racks are dispatched to closer assembly plants, and utilization is improved.
Many thanks to those who took the time to read this thread. .... If I think of more to add, I will.
Garry, I have always wondered how many vehicles were damaged in the loading and unloading process by drivers, any idea? Through work, I would often be down at the docks watching these guys driving new cars off the ships from Asia and into rail cars at breakneck speed and often wondered how often they hit things.
On occasion, we would receive and /or send special vehicles for different government agencies in car carriers. Sometimes we would just go get them where they were unloading them along with the rest of the cars, however, there were times when we had the railcar pulled to a remote usually deserted place like a no longer used lumber yard across the City for a more private unveiling. We would bring our own ramps.
I remember checking to make sure the seal was intact upon arrival and would sometimes attach a cable seal with a big honkin seal press if shipping, just to make sure nobody had entered. Did they ever put seals on Railcars when shipping just regular auto's?
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Thanks for posting the photo's and text Garry. The Vert-a-pac photo is one of the most widely circulated. I have around six of the ExactRail Vert-a-pac cars as D&RGW did haul those from around 1968 (don't remember the start date) thru 1977, which I think is the last year the Vega's were shipped and then the flat cars were de-racked.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
NWP SWP , Brent, and Rio Grande .... Thanks for commenting.
Brent ... I recall there were accidents occuring when vehicles were loaded and unloaded, but don't know any statistics about that. .... Drivers of vehicles would drive through the railcars very fast at times. ... I recall one instance loading at an assembly plant in the open auto rack era. The driver of a new GM car started too soon. The railroad crew had not completed switching. They spotted two or three auto racks at the ramp, but the next block of auto racks was separated by about 20' to 30'. The driver was unable to stop in time when he saw the gap, and the new GM car crashed between the auto racks onto the track .
I can't recall much about sealing the end doors. I know that was an issue being addressed by mechanical engineers when they were designing the end doors.
...
There were other experimental enclosed railcars in the early to mid 1970's that I did not mention. I remember Southern Railway had an articulated enclosed tri-level car at the time.
Also, I recall an experimental enclosed flat car tested to haul GMC motor homes from the GMC assembly plant in Pontiac. ( Who rememebrs the GMC motor homes ?) ... The car on the outside looked like an enclosed tri-level or an enclosed bi-level. However, inside it only had the flat car deck. The test load I observed was a motor home shipped round trip to Iowa and back. Upon return, the motor home was inspected for damage. Some bolts unscrewed in transit from a panel in the rear of the motor home and fell onto the flat car deck. .... I'm not sure why, but no more such railcars were built. The experimental railcar was owned by Rock Island Railroad which hauled a lot of GM traffic in its day.
Thank you very much HD CB&Q for starting this subject. A Thank you to the others that post infomation here about Autoracks.
PC101 ... Thanks for commenting.
Another railcar for hauling vehicles is the saddleback car.
I recall GTW hauled large numbers of new truck tractors from the GMC assembly plant in Pontiac. They were shipped on saddle back cars which were 89' flat cars equipped for this service.
I searched the internet for what looked like a saddleback car with GMC trucks in Pontiac, and I did not find one.... The picture below, however, does show a loaded saddleback car.
This drawing showing saddleback loading could be useful:
Note that the racks for the front wheels can fold up and out of the way.
Ed
Heartland Division CB&Q Also, I recall an experimental enclosed flat car tested to haul GMC motor homes from the GMC assembly plant in Pontiac. ( Who rememebrs the GMC motor homes ?) ... The car on the outside looked like an enclosed tri-level or an enclosed bi-level. However, inside it only had the flat car deck. The test load I observed was a motor home shipped round trip to Iowa and back. Upon return, the motor home was inspected for damage. Some bolts unscrewed in transit from a panel in the rear of the motor home and fell onto the flat car deck. .... I'm not sure why, but no more such railcars were built. The experimental railcar was owned by Rock Island Railroad which hauled a lot of GM traffic in its day.
Some years ago, Winnebago tested using a modified enclosed auto rack for hauling motor homes out of it's plant at Forest City, Iowa. This test was either late CNW or early UP ownership of the branch that served Forest City and the plant. Originally it was a Rock Island branch line. Which may explain why they were interested in developing an enclosed car for motor homes.
Somewhere in my books and articles about the Milwaukee Road there is an item about open auto racks. An employee reminisced about a notice posted to check the top deck of vehicle loads destined to the west coast via the MILW, to make sure the radio antennas were fully telescoped down. He said that some vehicles were arriving with their radios fried and at first they weren't sure why. Then someone figured out what was happening. It seems that some antennas were left fully extended and had made contact with the catenary out in the electricfied zones.
Jeff
Ed ... Thank you for posting the diagram of the saddleback car.
Jeff ... Thank you for the interesting information about shipping Winnebago motor homes. I think the Rock Island car being tested for GMC motor homes may have been also tested for Winnebago.
.....
Below are copies of photos I just scannned in old GTW annual reports that I found with my collection of stuff.
In the mid-1980's, the Oldsmobile assembly plant in Lansing, MI had ramps directly connected to the building. Automobiles would be driven off the assembly line and directly onto the railcars. The ramps were adjacent to the GTW main line. The arrangement kept rain and snow off of the new Oldsmobiles.
Terminology .... The railroad refered to auto racks as bi-levels or tri-levels... If refering to both, they were called multi-levels.
BATMAN I have always wondered how many vehicles were damaged in the loading and unloading process by drivers, any idea?
Actually very little. I know most of the auto manufacturers are very picky about how the autos are transported, Toyota in particular. They investigate any damage and trace it back to the root cause.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Great pictures and text Garry, thanks!
Mike.
My You Tube
Dave1905 is correct. Damage while unloading is infrequent.
During my involvement with auto traffic on UP, both UP and the AAR audited auto ramps carefully to insure not only loading/unloading but also securement (chocks, straps, chains depending on era and equipment type), parking (auto ramps park on the lines to insure a standard spacing), employee cleanliness (ramp employees are required to wear clean jumpers which are sometimes changed mid-shift to insure vehicle interiors are not dirtied and exteriors are not scratched by buttons, zippers or buckles etc.), and railcar cleanliness (no rust or debris inside rail cars.) And more. Parking areas had to be in good repair and debris free. Fences well maintained. Plus security audits. These were very extensive audits.
UP had a really good management system for meeting customer expectations. Our competitors did too.
Can someone verify the existance of a law, rule, or other directive requiring automobiles on racks that were involved in derailments be destroyed, even though the damage to the automobile was minor. I remember a conversation with some SP employees about a pileup in Arizona or New Mexico, where bulldozers were used to crush the automobiles at the derailment site to prevent their possible use by anyone.
NHTX bulldozers were used to crush the automobiles
Russell
NHTX Can someone verify the existance of a law, rule, or other directive requiring automobiles on racks that were involved in derailments be destroyed, even though the damage to the automobile was minor. I remember a conversation with some SP employees about a pileup in Arizona or New Mexico, where bulldozers were used to crush the automobiles at the derailment site to prevent their possible use by anyone.
i recall that rule was in effect in the 1970’s and 1980’s , and it was the auto companies that set the rule. I recall seeing a group of new autos set aside in an auto loading and unloading facility on the CN near Toronto. I was told they came off of auto racks damaged in a derailment. They were to be shipped back to the auto companies where they would be scrapped. I have not heard about bulldozers being used as you said, but that would not surprise me.
About 15 years ago, we had a derailment involving a hand full of auto racks. Some were on their side, while one only had one truck derailed. All of those involved, including the one with only one truck derailed had their loads scrapped. (The one hired to do the scrapping was a salvage company on the opposite side of the tracks from where the derailment happened.)
The reason given was that the auto company didn't want any trouble with liability down the road from the involved vehicles or even parts salvaged from the vehicles involved. Even those that vehicles that probably didn't sustain any damage. They don't want to take the chance. The auto racks were loaded with Cadillac Escalades.
The derailment happened on double track, one train derailing into the side of another passing on the other track. Other cars involved were loaded with tomato paste or sauces. The smell from the tomato sauces lasted for about a week after they reopened the tracks.
jeffhergert The smell from the tomato sauces lasted for about a week after they reopened the tracks. Jeff
A smell I used to be treated to every fall when I was down wind of the Hunt-Wesson tomato plant on the north side of Davis California. It was served by the Southern Pacific at the time and mostly tank cars as I recall and switched by a GP9
Seems to me that autoracks would need a lot of real estate to load and unload by hand so to speak. Wondering what such a facility would be like a series of stub end sidings?
Joe Staten Island West
Auto loading and unloading requires cars to be spotted with the vehicles facing the unloading area.
Bilevels are spotted next to other bilevels, tri's with tri's so the decks match.
We used to drive through no more than five cars.
Shorter stub tracks seemed to work OK, although be able to access both ends of cuts saved the switch crew from having to turn cars to unload. When you load, you just drive them in forward from the ramp.
Many UP facilities had "portable" ramps. The ramp was mounted on a frame with a motor to drive around the cars. Some ramps used fixed docks, but they had disadvantages. The portable ramps were very flexiible.
Having said all this, you can look at google maps for Westfield TX, which hosts a large UP destination ramp. There are 5 through tracks to unload on. Each can host 3 cuts of 5 cars. If business is heavy, you can shove a few more between the lead and the unloading pavement. The area around the tracks is paved, the main unloading points have concrete like grade crossings. All for flexibility and damage prevention. You have to have enough room at the end of the cars for the portable ramp and the vehicle being unloaded to turn into the parking area. There are 3 long support tracks outside the actual unloading ramp.
It's quite an adventure to drive through 5 multilevels on the third deck to get to the ramp, which are narrow and steep. All you see is sky out the front windshield until the car gets on the ramp. If the ramp is wet, it can feel like a controlled fall heading down.
The vehicles in the railcars are a tight fit. Skinny people are best suited to climbing up into the railcars, moving through tightly packed vehicles, then squeezing into the vehicle to drive them off. Repeat until all the cars are unloaded!
If you google map Reisor LA, you can spot the old GM load out. Stub tracks with fixed ramps. There's a small UP unload just east. It's much smaller than Westfield and has 5 stub tracks, each holding 2 cuts of 5 cars with room at the ends for unloading.
Good luck!
Heartland Division CB&QPickup trucks are lined up and ready to load.
.
I love those pictures with all those brand new two-toned trucks.
I miss two toned paint jobs.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
One last thing.
When you park your new vehicles out in the parking lot, wheels go on the line, not between. It optimizes space between vehicles and as a result, minimizes damage.
I always wonder why shopping malls, etc. didn't adopt that practice. Makes too much sense I suppose.
Ok so mapped the UP facilities in Westfield TX and think I undestand now. The autoracks are lined up in groups and must be loaded end to end with the cars driven from the ramp through all the auto racks to the end of rge last one then repeat until all the racks are filled.
I have one other question where can I source HO scale ramps for loading the auto racks? Seems like they would need to be adjustable to reach all the levels.
joe323 I have one other question where can I source HO scale ramps for loading the auto racks? Seems like they would need to be adjustable to reach all the levels.
Might be too modern but I ordered the A - Line kit anyway. Still better than a piece of cardboard