I took this photograph of a non-railroad owned boxcar tacked onto the rear of a train that shall remain unidentified. (for obvious reasons)
http://anb740.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=51972
For the worriers among us, the date and location noted on the photograph are incorrect on purpose, and the car number is untraceable.
anb740
When my grandfather worked in the Milwaukee Rd police department, they worked with the “powers that be” when cars like this came through. Their movements were obviously kept quiet, even in the 1970’s.
Not this car in particular, obviously. “Cars like this” is a reference to the whole genre of “special” cars.
For us non-railfan junkies, whats the significance, is this a weapons carrier or something along those lines, (nuke?) Whats the hush-hush, if the “powers that be” were stupid enough to leave it in plain sight on a siding, whats the harm in photoing it as a legitimate railfan photo? Oh…National Security? Patriot Act? …see my comment above above “Stupid enough to…”
That would make an interesting model. I wonder which company made that car (or cars) for them. It obviously looks quite sturdy.
Dave
Los Angeles, CA
-Rail Radio Online-Home of the “TrainTenna” RR Monitoring Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/railradioonline
could be anything in there…my grandfather’s beat, they would have a lot of ammunition and such from the plant in the northern metro, hazardous waste, pretty much anything the DOD wanted to put into a boxcar like that…it really could be the general’s furniture for all we know…but then again, we don’t.
Cars that had cargo that was “special” were marked on paper, if I recall (from his recollections) , so railroad detectives knew if they were in the yard, (and to watch them closer.)
These cars were actually designed to transport Trident Rocket booster sections from the West Coast to the East Coast. The placard # denotes a Class A explosive…the worst kind available. In other words, you do NOT want this thing to derail! For more info, check out this PDF document to learn more on the details of our fair govt’s declassified secrets. (I’m surprised there wasn’t a mysterious black helicopter following this thing! LOL)
http://www.plrc.org/docs/000612.pdf
anb740
I won’t even ask where you found links like that…(-:
Hey, that car’s interesting because it has full-height end doors. Remember the thread about the ‘exhibition car’ – this is the sort of end doors I was describing for the scenery cars.
Note also the substantial framing in the car sides, .
I don’t see evidence of the usual security provided with nuclear material (and, although the door at the left end of the car in the picture is for ‘man access’, it’s unlikely that a plug mechanism would be used with people inside!) It appears that there’s a flat tank, presumably for fuel (judging by what appears to be a filler). It would have been ‘nice’ to see the ‘hazmat’ placards up close, and to see what the underframe carries on the other side of the car… compressor etc. for controlled-environment, I’d guess. The trucks are interesting.
My guess would be missile or booster components, NOT explosives. Nukes invariably travel in two or more physically separate vehicles (which don’t look like this car anyway)
In case anyone’s interested in these cars and their handling in general:
www.army.mil/usapa/epubs/pdf/r56_3.pdf
Wow! nice picture.
stay safe
Joe
The fuel tank underneath is for the refrigeration unit to keep the car’s contents cool. It’s also supposed to have an alarm for intrusion and thicker walls for obvious protection against derailments.
Is this one of those boxcars with shackles?
just HAD to bring that back up, didn’t you! [:D]
How did you take this photo? Were you not being watched? Why the end of a train? I would think it would be safer in the middle somewhere. Harder to find.
Nice photo.
Truth be known, this was the second attempt to catch it…on the first attempt, I merely saw it, and chased it to the next vantage point to actually photograph it. (I’m sure the train crew was getting a bit worried! LOL) These things used to run with an old caboose trailing loaded with MP’s and other officials. The reasoning behind putting it on the rear of the train was supposedly to minimize any effects a head-on collision or other head-of-train derailment might have…don’t guess they’re smart enough to figure on a rear-end collision!
anb740
PS-no one was watching…what’s that…oh, here comes the FBI knocking on the door! [:D]
I suppose they don’t want that one being kicked around in the yard. [:O]
Ya know, I couldn’t find a single, discernable “Do not hump” sign anywhere on the car. However, anyone who has common sense should think twice about bumping a car like this around! [banghead]
That car is very well armored too. I recall a article about this design. No worries.
Nice picture. I see DODX cars around here but they don’t look like this one.
He just beat me to it…
Maybe it was empty and just heading home.