Scott Jenks posted two images with the comment: "This is a two sided promotional piece that was published in Modern Railroads Magazine in February, 1961. Article was generic and color photo is all Frisco. From my collection."
Mike Budde: This was the first fleet of auto racks in the US. Frisco 3000 series. SLSF 3000 still exists today at the Museum of Transport in St Louis.
This publicity shot was taken in Valley Park, Missouri. The Frisco train full of 1961 Chrysler products is curving north through the Chrysler wye located alongside MO Rte 141. The photo is taken from the shoulder of RT 66 looking northwest. The train will pass through the wye then curve right to go to Lindenwood Yard or left to continue west along RT 66. (Now Interstate 44). The Fenton, MO Chrysler plant was opened in 1959 and razed in 2006. The wye and the yard trackage still exists for an industrial park nearby.
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| 2 [Unfortunately, it is unreadable even if you save it and view it with an app.] |
This contemporary unloading ramp is in the CSX/L&N Radnor Yard in Nashville, TN.
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| Street View, Jan 2023 |
Some of my railfanning photos. Traditionally, railroads build the rack on a TTX flat car. That is, the railroads own the rack and TTX owns the flatcar. Scroll down in IHB to see some older racks that I caught in a train. When I visited Dolton Junction, two of the trains I saw go by while I was there were vehicle unit trains. And I saw another vehicle unit train when I visited the Blue Island Junction. Between the two trains, I think I caught all of the Class I railroads in North America (including two Mexico railroads). On closer examination, all of the KCS cars were Kansas City Southern de Mexico so I missed KCS itself.
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| Ferromex |
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| Conrail |
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| Southern Pacific |
Three types of CSX logos.
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| Norfolk Southern |
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| Kansas City Southern de Mexico |
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| BNSF |
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| An older Canadian National design |
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| I see TTX will also make the rack as well |
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| The original BNSF logo before the company changed its name to BNSF. |
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| Canadian Pacific Note the rest of these pictures were from the westbound UP that is coming. |
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| Another KCSdM |
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| CP Rail |
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| The westbound had a DPU |
I read that the original reason why covers were put on the sides was that the cars were getting dinged by rocks. I think the rocks were being thrown by kids. Now they are completely covered, including the ends, to keep vandals out. I remember reading the Train's article on vehicle racks that explained that the CD-player was one of the things that disappeared from cars.
This is the loading dock for the Ford Assembly Plant in South Chicago. The Trains article said that they are loaded five cars at a time. But I see they have some cuts with six cars. This is serviced by Norfolk Southern's former NKP route.
This is another new design. Note that it is articulated --- both units share the truck in the middle. This means that it counts as just one car as far as billing is concerned. I have noticed that this design evidently was not popular because I have not seen a lot of them.
The above is the last of modern closed autoracks in these notes. I now focus on the early open autoracks.
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| Matthew Frederick shared CRO's photo CP open-autorack at Agincourt, Ontario. July, 1964. [Most of the CRO comments talked about the need to add covers because of vandals. But a comment worth noting is this photo by Jim Parker. |
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| Jamie Stein shared a David Mackey post [Corvairs. They had an engine in the rear and Ralph Nader declared them "unsafe at any speed."] |
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| William A. Shaffer posted "Auto Racks at Decatur, IL" (Photo by William A. Shaffer) Mark E. Vaughan Later the op department issued instructions to place "spacer cars" between the locomotives and the open auto racks as the diesel exhaust left a hard-to-remove film on the autos on the top level. The N&W hated to pay for damage claims and repairs. Sammy Smith I believe it. When I worked for the KCS, I had a white Impala company station wagon. I had to use the same steam cleaner and chemicals they used to wash locomotives now and then. |
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| Dennis DeBruler shared William A. Shaffer's post. A southbound N&W Freight Train passes Millikin University. Two railroaders are enjoying the view from the rear platform of the Caboose---a scene that is no longer repeated! (Photo by William A. Shaffer) [Having a caboose means the picture is old. But I believe having open autoracks makes it even older. Rail clearance was probably not an issue for open cars.. The reason the upper corners of a covered car are curved is to increase the number of tunnels they can go through. If you look at the notches they are now putting into some tunnels for double-stacks, the curves make a big difference in the east in terms of route choice.] |
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| Dennis DeBruler shared Illinois Central Railroad Scrapbook's post A couple days I posted a mystery photo of an IC auto racks/auto parts train rounding a curve on March 21, 1970, and asked where it was taken. Several folks correctly replied "Thebes, IL". Unfortunately there is no prize for giving the correct answer. The train in question was a test train for General Motors. Auto parts and fully assembled cars from GM plants in Michigan were shipped by PC, Grand Trunk, and C&O and delivered to IC's Markham Yard in Homewood, IL. At Markham Yard the cars were assembled into a single train and dispatched south over the IC to East St. Louis. The train was handed over to the Cotton Belt and then to the SP for final delivery to GM plants and dealerships on the West Coast. An unknown IC company photographer caught the train as it charged around the curve leading to the Mississippi River bridge at Thebes, IL. The photographer also caught a going away shot of the train, included here. BTW, many fans are familiar with the MoPac's and Cotton Belt's "Joint Line" operations across the Thebes bridge, and that in recent years MoPac owned 60% of the bridge, and Cotton Belt owned 40%. The Thebes Bridge was built by the Southern Illinois & Missouri Bridge Company. When the company was formed, the SI&MBCo. was owned equally by the Cotton Belt, Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railway, the MIssouri Pacific Railway, the St. Louis & Iron Mountain Southern Railway, and the Illinois Central. IC reached Thebes via a branchline from Carbondale, IL. Traffic never reached expectations and by the early 1930s (the exact date is unknown to me) the southernmost part of the branch had been abandoned. IC sold its interest in the SI&MBCo. to Missouri Pacific, which also took over the St.LIM&S Railway, and thus became majority owner of the Thebes bridge. Eventually the C&EI abandoned its line into Thebes and sold its interest in the bridge to the Cotton Belt. Of course, today Union Pacific owns both the MoPac and Cotton Belt. |
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| Tod Riebow posted A car load of classic Corvettes. |
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| Jeremy Plant posted Pre-Chessie on the B&O at Harpers Ferry: open auto racks, GP30 and F7. The good old days, from summer 1968. |
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| Mark Llanuza posted Its Nov 1975 westbound with brand new auto's passes through Griffith Ind with three E-units. Randy Crismore It's amazing how back in the day...very little vandalism occurred as compared to today. |
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| Wayne Hudak commented on Mark's posting Oh, there was vandalism back in the day. The reason auto racks were eventually covered was due to a lot of vandalism and theft from autos. When the auto rack cars had no sides you could see none of the cars had hubcaps. Due to constant theft they were eventually shipped in the trunk of each car. Here's an example below. photo 3-17-77. |
Wayne Hudak Thanks for the update. I often wondered about the keys.
Joseph Tuch Santucci Wayne Hudak for a time they put them in the ash trays. Then the put them all into an envelope and hid them in or on one of the cars. In the 80’s they stared send the keys separately. Today they have the airbags disconnected. Those are hooked up at the dealerships.
Don Murray posted four photos with the comment: "I do not know where this is, They look like 1971 Chevy trucks."
Dennis DeBruler shared with the comment: "A testament to the strength of a good chaining job."
Mike Budde
I wonder if these were coming from Janesville. Someone on another group said this location was Alma, IL on the IC, from the name on the water tower. As others have mentioned, what an excellent job those guys did tying these trucks down to the train cars. |
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| Dustin Newton posted The new 73 Plymouths are here Steven Marcyk When autos came in more colors then shades of silver and white. |
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| Jeffrey Wincek posted Railroading when it was cool. Don McLean Been there and did that.We never had radios and all signals were given by hand and the guy on top of the cars relayed them to the engineman.There used to be two men in the cab of the locomotive.The second man was called the fireman.I guess a draw back to steam when he would keep the fire going to keep the steam up.They used coal and then went to buncer "c" oil.Then came the diesel and the fireman was eventually fased out.He was kept on as a more or less safety feature. When Walkie Talkies came into play and the signals were relayed directly to the engineman ,the man on the roof of the cars and the fireman were no longer necessary.We used kerosene lanterns at night. JR Sampson About 1960-61 from the looks of the cars on the autorack. Don McLean It was in the early sixties that the radios came into operation.They made a brakeman's job a lot safer and a bit easier.It put three men on the ground. JR Sampson Don McLean I was passing signals from cartops and over in the farmers field still in the late 70s. Kenny Backes they'd fire your ass if they ever caught you passing signals from on top a box car even when I hired out in the 70's. Michael Schmidt Kenny Backes We did in the yards on the Milwaukee Road. Did it till they outlawed the running boards. Arthur Houston RR when roof walks were in use were the most dangerous place in the world to work. Casualties would go past a 1000 a year. Richard Long Never had the opportunity of riding on top of the cars. But was able to enjoy dropping cars and kicking cars plus getting on and off moving equipment. Don McLean Before the radios when we came out of a siding we had to line the switch back and run to catch the caboose.If the engineman underestimated his train the conductor had to put it into emergency or you got left behind. Started of working with no CTC.Ran on train orders only.You had to know your Rule book then. Tom Lyman "Going High" we did it well into the 70's in all kind of weather snow, rain, daylight, dark, walked from car to car as needed. Andrew Van Wagnen My dad said that some times the only time feet hit the ground was beans, coffee and going home. Tim Jantzen Those were not 'the good ol days' Most of you are too young to remember railroad men couldn't even get life insurance. Falling off the roofs were common and so were fatalities. It might look cool to run across the roof but it's anything but. The tail end crew breathed in asbestos and who knows what else. Hours were awful and so was the pay. Enjoy what you got because a lot of people died before safety even became a word. Before the 80's most conductors died before they even collected their first retirement check because of cancer and hoggers were deaf. Kenny Backes truer words havent been spoken on here....good ole asbestos brake shoes. Ralph Herman Hired out mid 60s retired in 08 we passed signals from the top of cars. There was running boards on the top eventually were removed , most boxcars had high hand brakes than . Robert Carlyle Lewis In the days before portable radios this was a common way to pass signals when working on curves. Someone would be on the ladder next to the locomotive and pass the signals to the engineer. You just didn’t want to ride the end of the last car since slack and/or a hard joint could knock you off. Wayne Ladd Back when brakemen were actually brakemen! Michael Schmidt I hated fixing the running boards. I loved it when we started cutting them off all the box cars for safety and repair reasons.. Dave Stelly I have walked a mile on the top of grain hopper cars. Easy. Yes it was moving about 20. |
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| Ricardo Paoletti posted 1962 [The ad claims Bethlehem rolled the first kelly/bessemer steel rails in 1867. I've read that the first rails were rolled in Chicago with steel made in Detroit. So that conflict goes on the "to be researched" list. The comments indicated that there was trouble with vandalism since the early days. They started covering them in the 1960s and it was standard practice by the 1970s.] John J. Blair shared |
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| Vintage pictures of auto dealerships, auto shows, & auto transports posted 1969 MERCURY & FORD Mike Breski shared Pfohl Martin: I'd say the photo was taken from an E or F unit. |
Today, double-stack container cars are the highest normal clearance cars on the railroads. But when they were developed, the triple-level autorack was the highest. This video is a reminder that not all routes support the higher clearances.
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| Screenshot (source) [Did the engineer backup and try again with more power?] Some dispatchers getting fired! And the crew. The crew will always be the scapegoats. They know the height restrictions on their line and know the height of each car in their consist. Three layers of redundancy. The dispatcher had to override the system to be able to put them on that subdivision so that’s gonna hurt! There is something I am curious about. In the beginning there is one roof that is already crumpled before the train hits the overpass. Thoughts? Ron Author the majority of this video is the second shove move. There must have been an initial shove move that did that damage and it went undetected. I’m pretty sure this happened in Memphis on the Cn I work for them and on this territory . There is a bulletin saying to take nothing but your indrusty cars into Valero and they didn’t get the memo. Been there, seen that......they ripped the tops off of racks several times in Cicero at the BRC Bridge several times....... [Some of the tracks are deep enough, some are not. If the dispatcher puts the train on the wrong track, there is trouble.] |
Loaded racks at the Newark DE Chrysler plant when I got out of the USMC in June 1970. FIL ran Derek we took cars from the end of the assembly line and put them in the storage yard for trucks an trains. Extra 10 cents per hour loading the trains. UAW was striking in early September so on Labor Day weekend we loaded out every car we could and trucks haul the rest to off site storage. At end of Monday there was one car left - inbound it broke a tie down and bounced hitting the overhead on Pennsylvania main setting the interior on fire. RR crew misunderstood and shoved one car too many into a loading track and ran one truck onto the asphalt. Slow pull forward fixed it. We had racks that were assigned to GM plant in the mix so had to reverse the tie downs because GM used a different hook shape from Chrysler. Hot drty work especially on the rusty top deck in 90*+ with very high humidity. Good old days!
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