Spotted this in Knoxville Tuesday, What is its purpose?
Found a posting on Railroad dot net asking a similar question back in 2008. That poster related that it was shown in a promotional video for carrying tanks and other military vehicles. That upper portion on one end is apparently a ramp that can be lowered to aid in loading and unloading.
When you don’t have an end-dock, call for HERC! ATSF had a different version of this for its M/W production gang rail & tired circus ramp train on/off-loading still in use on BNSF. (Designed by the late great Albuquerque CWE shops)
I’d go along with the mudchicken, especially since the picture shows that the car is lettered and numbered for M/W service. I’ve seen lighter varieties of this type of car when M/W trains, including camp cars, are based near 47th Street where Metra’s Southwest Service joins the NS main to Chicago Union Station.
It’s basically a portable, heavy duty ramp used primarily for on/offloading heavy equipment; Caterpillar-type equipment mainly. (bulldozers, heavy dump trucks, etc) It’s marked for MofW service to ensure that it doesn’t venture away from home rails. In some cases, when it’s known that no end dock at the destination exists, the car will actually accompany the train that the CAT equipment is being transported on.
HERC = “Heavy Equipment Ramp Car”, apparently.
See a brief article quoted from Railway Age (no date or citation given, though) about it being used to load and unload heavy military equipment, at:
http://forums.railfan.net/forums.cgi?board=NS;action=display;num=1183497645
- Paul North.