I found this photograph of what is probably a 737 fuselage being shipped on flatcars. However, this photograph was taken in the Tehachapi mountains in 1980. Does anyone know anything about this?
I think it had something to do with Amtrak building a train that looked like a jet to increase their funding! I have no real idea though. probably just needed to move it somewhere and the UP said “We can handle it”
It would have been ATSF or SP. I wonder if it was a one time movement or if there were more.
I don’t think you modify cars that extensively for a one-of-a-kind move.
Boeing builds the 737 fusalage at the Wichata, KS and ships them on special flat cars to Renton, WA for assembly. Other Boeing wing/tail parts for various models are also shipped via rail in special covered cars to the assembly plant.
Since Boeing did not start building the 737 fusalage in Wichata untill about 1983, I suspect your 1980 photo may be a special movement to repair a damaged 737(seems sort of ‘out if the way’ for a normal Wichata-Renton move).
Jim
It certainly would have cost the shipper a considerable amount of money to ship the aircraft and modify the flatcar, especially if it was a one time shipment. Perhaps the shipper found that to be the best option. As many websites as I have found about the current shipments of the 737s on flatcars, I am surprised I cannot find anything about this.
There are aerospace industries in the Los Angeles area. There was probably significantly more back in 1980. Perhaps another possibility is that it is going to Edwards AFB for some type of testing. If they were going to do some type of test on the fuselage, I would not be surprise to find out it would be cheaper to do this than to build wings, stabilizers, and buy engines in order to fly it.
McDonnell Douglas assembled DC and MD series passenger airliners at Long Beach until Boeing took over McD in the late 1990s.
On another note, here’s a 
recent photo of what looks like a highway version of a depressed flat car hauling the fuselage of flight 1549 on a NJ freeway.
True, and that was my first thought until I looked at the photo. The contours are more reminicent of the 737 than they are of a DC9. The wing root doesn’t look right either. It looks like a first generation 737 (-100 or -200). Of course the tarp may be hiding features that would change my opinion, like the bottom of the vertical stabilizer.
A recent episode of EXTREME TRAINS on the History Channel included some brief footage of a UP Autorack train with a 737 fuselage riding flats on the front end, directly behind the power.
The Tehachapi location makes me wonder if the shipment might have originated at Mojave, which has one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) out-of-service commercial aircraft storage facilities anywhere.
Why the fuselage was sectioned and loaded on freight cars rather than having the entire aircraft inspected, refueled and flown is something only the owning organization could answer. I thought it might have been related to the 737 cabin blowout over Hawaii, but that happened in 1987.
Chuck