JoeBlow Before unibody cars became standard in the 1970s, a lot of auto manufacturers would manufacture the finished body (passenger cabin) at one plant and then transport them to another plant to marry them up to the chassis/powertrain via train or truck. The Cadillac Detroit Assembly plant was a good example. What were the frequency of deliveries by train and truck? Was there a distance cutoff (25, 50 miles, etc.) that made railroad more viable? Finally, did the cutoff change over time due to things like larger trucks and freeways?
Not positive on the correct answer but I do know that frames are transported often. It actually makes more sense to transport the sturdy not pretty stuff around rather than the other way. Also individual panels and other stampings are shipped but these are easier to package and handle.
Oh BTW unibody tech dates back to the early 30's at least. The Chrysler Airflow was one.
Modeling the Cleveland and Pittsburgh during the PennCentral era starting on the Cleveland lakefront and ending in Mingo junction
Joe,
Not sure about the Detroit plant. The Buick complex in flint received continuously.
The Fisher Body plants #1 and #2, yes the original ones, were on the south side of Flint and Buick was on the North. They used special dropped floor trailers to haul the bodies through downtown Flint. The bodies were on special wheeled racks that were then loaded in reverse sequence and driven to Buick. The had wreckers with spare tractors staged ready to go rescue any break down as all trucks had to arrive in proper sequence. At Buick the bodies were pull off and sent to the third floor to start their journey down to the first floor to mate up with the proper frame, drivetrain and front 'clip', the fenders, grill, hood.
Bob
See link@http://www.fisherco.com/heritage/
Fisher( later Fisher Body Co) started out building wagons around the turn of the 20th Century in Norwalk, Oh. They byuld the bodies for autos assembled by other manufacturers: FTL "...In 1916 the Company became the Fisher Body Corporation. Its capacity was now 370,000 bodies per year and its customers included Abbot, Buick, Cadillac, Chalmers, Chandler, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Churchfield, Elmore, EMF, Ford, Herreshoff, Hudson, Krit, Oldsmobile, Packard, Regal, and Studebaker..." In the 1920's (or so) they were purchased by General Motors, and made bodies for their autos (Body by Fisher) was the insigna on GM's cars.
A lot of the auto and truck frames were made in Milwaukee, WI at the A.O. Smith plant and I believe they still make frames for a few vehicles. I do remember as a kid the Milwaukee Road trains loaded with frames headed South to Chicago and sometimes North to the Twin Cities. Some of the Milwaukee Road frame trains would be up to 40% frames and the rest assorted high cube extra long box cars and auto rack cars. The Milwaukee Road would ship daily out of Milwaukee, I believe on three seperate trains but I have no clue as to the destinations.
The frames were loaded or stacked about 15-20 feet high on a TTX flatcar, 5-6 frame stacks per car and the frames were always painted a gloss black in color.
CMStPnP JoeBlow Before unibody cars became standard in the 1970s, a lot of auto manufacturers would manufacture the finished body (passenger cabin) at one plant and then transport them to another plant to marry them up to the chassis/powertrain via train or truck. The Cadillac Detroit Assembly plant was a good example. A lot of the auto and truck frames were made in Milwaukee, WI at the A.O. Smith plant and I believe they still make frames for a few vehicles. I do remember as a kid the Milwaukee Road trains loaded with frames headed South to Chicago and sometimes North to the Twin Cities. Some of the Milwaukee Road frame trains would be up to 40% frames and the rest assorted high cube extra long box cars and auto rack cars. The Milwaukee Road would ship daily out of Milwaukee, I believe on three seperate trains but I have no clue as to the destinations. The frames were loaded or stacked about 15-20 feet high on a TTX flatcar, 5-6 frame stacks per car and the frames were always painted a gloss black in color.
JoeBlow Before unibody cars became standard in the 1970s, a lot of auto manufacturers would manufacture the finished body (passenger cabin) at one plant and then transport them to another plant to marry them up to the chassis/powertrain via train or truck. The Cadillac Detroit Assembly plant was a good example.
Back in the day, GM had assembly plants at Baltimore and Wilmington, DE. Chessie System train 396 originated at Flint with autoparts for both plants. In the days of the caboose, 396 had a caboose between the Wilmington Parts that were the head end of the train and the Baltimore parts that werer behind the mid-train caboose. When the train arrived Bayview Yard in Baltimore, a yard crew made a cut behind the mid-train caboose and the Wilmington part of the train departed to Wilmington. The Yard crew would then couple up to the Baltimore portion of the train and haul it down to Penn Mary Yard (where GM was located) switching out ordered cars and taking the balance to Grays Yard to be switch for following days orders.
396 would pick up A.O. Smith frame cars at Willard for both plants. With clearances in Baltimore, the frames were restricted to a maximum of 17'5" high to get through the Howard Street Tunnel. Occasionally frames for Roseland, GA would get misrouted toward Baltimore, with disasterous results as the Roseland frames could be loaded to 20' high.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
The now gone GM assembly plant in Baltimore which operated from 1935 until 2005 built GM vehicles from parts all made elsewhere.
Frames, engines, driveline components, everything came in, mostly by train, to a large indoor recieving area. High level platforms and bridge plates allowed fork trucks to unload palletized parts from box cars, again, all inside the the plant.
Bodies were welded up and finished there, but the panels for those bodies came as stampings from other plants.
Frames came ready for suspension parts to be installed.
During the late 70's and 80's the plant built GM "A" body cars - Chevrolet Malibu, Monte Carlo, Pontiac Grand Pix, LeMans (later renamed with other Pontiac nameplates).
After that it was the sole plant that built the Astro/Safari mini van from 1985 until 2005.
I had the oppertunity to watch both "A" body production and minivan production at the plant and was involved its refitting for the vans.
Most of the parts came from as far away as Detroit and Ohio, and farther.
Joe, a side note or two about auto design.
GM was slow to adopt the complete unibody idea.
Chrysler was the first major domestic company to imbrace the unibody, going to full unibodies early in the 60's.
The first GM unibodies were the compact cars in the early 60's - NOVA, CORVAIR, OLDS F85, TEMPEST, SKYLARK, then later the CAMARO/FIREBIRD - really just a sporty NOVA.
Other GM cars remained body on frame but used a system where the body added strength to a "lightweight", "perimeter" frame. This lasted until the first front wheel drive models, but the last of the big "B" body rear wheel drive cars were still body on frame to the end in 1996 with the last Buick Roadmasters and Chevy Caprice.
Like GM, Ford started with the small cars, FALCON, and its sporty sister MUSTANG in the 60's, and slowly intergrated unibody construction next into mid sized cars. But all those Crown Vics the police are still driving - they have seperate frames just like the last of big GM cars.......the first "full sized" Ford car with a unibody was the Volvo based 2005 "500" which was later rebadged "Taurus" in 2008.
It was quite a site to watch the completed Malibu bodies come down from upstairs, through a big whole in the floor above to meet their chassis on the final line. Occassionaly a body or two was know to come loose and "fall" to its "death" rather than meed its chassis gently.......
The Astro vans were the only unibody product built in the Baltimore plant.
In the "70's", at least with domestic cars, unibodies were anything but "standard" likely only accounting for 1/3 to 1/2 of domestic production. Not until more front wheel drive models in the 80's did the Ford and GM more fully imbrace the unibody.
Sheldon
Having grown up about 3 blocks from Ford's Chicago assembly plant (switched by NKP/N&W), I observed a lot about auto parts traffic. Before they were shipped on flatcars, frames were shipped in modified gondolas. The frames were loaded standing on one end, with a framework in one end of the gondola which allowed the frames to lean about 10 degrees from vertical.
Parts deliveries seemed to be almost daily, either on a switch run from Calumet Yard or from BRC on trackage rights on CWI.
CSSHEGEWISCHThe frames were loaded standing on one end, with a framework in one end of the gondola which allowed the frames to lean about 10 degrees from vertical.
Having lived along the C&O line between Plymouth and Saginaw/Flint (former PM, now CSX Saginaw line), I saw a lot of auto parts trains. Of course, the boxcars contained who-knows-what, but the gons with the frames were unmistakable.
We visited the Oldmobile plant in Lansing Michigan in the 1950's. They stamped their body parts right there.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
BaltACDBack in the day, GM had assembly plants at Baltimore and Wilmington, DE. Chessie System train 396 originated at Flint with autoparts for both plants. In the days of the caboose, 396 had a caboose between the Wilmington Parts that were the head end of the train and the Baltimore parts that werer behind the mid-train caboose. When the train arrived Bayview Yard in Baltimore, a yard crew made a cut behind the mid-train caboose and the Wilmington part of the train departed to Wilmington. The Yard crew would then couple up to the Baltimore portion of the train and haul it down to Penn Mary Yard (where GM was located) switching out ordered cars and taking the balance to Grays Yard to be switch for following days orders. 396 would pick up A.O. Smith frame cars at Willard for both plants. With clearances in Baltimore, the frames were restricted to a maximum of 17'5" high to get through the Howard Street Tunnel. Occasionally frames for Roseland, GA would get misrouted toward Baltimore, with disasterous results as the Roseland frames could be loaded to 20' high.
Off topic but GM Executives hated the Wilmington, DEL plant because of the poor quality and the worker "could care less" attitude. The Chevy Lumina and Corsica were made there and both were defect ridden cars. They tried other models as well. Seems like nobody really cared about quality too much at that specific plant. Theft was also pretty high there.
CMStPnP Seems like nobody really cared about quality too much at that specific plant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LuMqpJtQzE&t=2m45s
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