A while back I came across some information about ATSF’s Autoveyor articulated auto carrier. The stuff I read was just about the 3-part prototype. I tried a quick google search but I couldn’t find out much about them, did any more ever get made, and what happened to them?
[Whoops, sorry about the typo]
You might find more information if you search for “Autoveyor”+“Santa Fe”.
According the Railway Age (http://www.railwayage.com/sep99/detroit.html) it is the articulated autocarriers built by Trinity Industries (BTTX, NS, FEC and maybe others). I have never heard of the Autoveyor before so I do not know if this is it or not.
A recent thread in this forum discussed these cars.
This is the Gunderson Auto-Max. A search by that name should produce more of the information you’re looking for…
Specific to the “3-part prototype” statement, that might be a reference to Southern’s Auto Guard, as described below (from the Rail Whales website):
http://railwhales.railspot.com/a-axles.htm
“The last noteworthy car from this era was Greenville’s fully-enclosed Auto Guard tri-level automobile carrier. The 129-foot car could hold 18 full-size autos. The Auto Guard consisted of three permanently-connected 40-foot units, each riding on two axles. Only two were built, as Southern Railway 599000 and 599001, in September 1973. The cars had a light weight of 84,600 pounds and an indicated load limit of 100,000 pounds. They utilized truck components from hopper car 100, although these were refitted with 6½x12 bearings and 33-inch wheels. The 599001 was retired after an accident when it was only a couple of years old, but the other remained in service for 20 years. Norfolk Southern retired the 599000 in October 1993 and donated it to the Virginia Transportation Museum in Roanoke.”
This was covered somewhat in earlier posts. What is interesting is the use of single axle trucks in conjunction with segmented car units rather than standard articulation as we know it today. This type of quasi-articulation actually results in a greater load factor than current articulations over a common two axle trucks. See also the reference to the Southern 100 four unit hopper, another example of using single axle trucks with short segmented car units. It’s too bad the single axle technology did not get a chance to evolve, given the load factor advantage.
Overmod & futuremodal: I think you’re thinking of different cars. When I did my earlier google searches I had managed to find some pictures, but not much else:
ATSF 700600 was the three-unit articulated car built by Trinity Industries. I saw it a few years ago, sitting on a spur in Downers Grove (Illinois), along with the Wabash National All-Railer cars (ATSF 700610-700614). The assumption is that they were all retired.
(I remember the Southern articulated car, too–it tested on CNW in early 1974.)