I got one for the forums: Am I correct that the car in this picture is a form of an auto car? I saw it and a few other like it on the BNSF mainline earlier this afternoon. Any clarification would be welcomed.
That is exactly what they are - unless you want the one under the overpass identified? [8)]
Yes, it’s a Greenbrier Companies Auto-Max car, capable of transporting autos on either two or three levels.
Please believe this. We’d hate to have to shoot you for photographing the FEMA prison cars! [(-D][(-D][(-D]
I’m sure that if you Googled either one of these you’d get enough entries to make it interesting.
One variety of that particular car is called the “Auto Max.” I’d say they’re all Auto Max’s, but I’ve seen some not marked as such, and since I’m not a student of RR cars, I don’t know if more than one manufacturer is making them. They’re capable of handling several types of automobiles, up to and including SUV’s.
A train of those going by you whilst standing on the station platform is like a moving wall.
And what amazes me is that people actually believe they are. Ah, well, what’s another good conspiracy theory. Amusing to say the least. [zzz]
I believe that is all one car also with a diaphragm and a drawbar permanently coupling what normally would be two cars.
Both halves of the car are identified by the same car number.
PT Cruiser, thank you very much Chrysler for discontinuing them.
There were a few of the cars that did say “Auto Max” on them. I just couldn’t get my cell phone out quick enough to get them photographed.
While I wasn’t standing that close to them, as could be seen by the photo, I can appreciate the statement. The only reason I even stopped to watch was because it wasn’t a coal train. This kind of unit train is one I would watch all day. Most of the time all we get on this line is unit coal trains. Every once in awhile, you might get a unit hopper train. Even rarer is a mixed freight.
Drats!!!
I was hoping we could get through one discussion about Autoracks without bringing up the “Fema Shackle Boxcars” Moon-bat-ery!
Why FEMA?? My father-in-law was transported on a prison train from Philadelphia to Missoula, MT. in 1941. He was the 1st officer on the Italian civilian freighter Belvedere that was seized by the Americans many months before the US declared war on Italy. He wrote of passenger cars with bars on the windows and many guards. For what it’s worth, the US seized 105 ships from 11 countries on June 6, 1941, long before the US entered the war. At least two of the seized Italian ships were passenger liners – the Saturnia and the Vulcania. The Belvedere was renamed Audacious and was eventually sunk.
How was your grandfather treated? Was he kept in a POW camp? Was he then given the privilege of staying in the USA and bcoming a USA citizan? What did he do during WWII, after Pearl Harbor?
It seems to many people that Roosevelt did prepare us for war and that he regarded the defense of Great Britiain in particular as a USA responsibility beginning in late 1939. Thus “Lend Lease,” (My very best friend and second cousin Jonti Wilkes went down with the Athena in September 1939 from a U-boat attack, both of us age 7-1/2, a shock that had lasting effects on my life.) You have to know that despite Fascism in Iraly, France was counting on Italy as an ally, and there were joint menouvers and defense planning sessions up through 1938 involving France, Brtain, and Italy. So when Italy joined Germany in attacking France after Germany invaded Poland, USA newspapers pictured Italy as performing a “stab-in-the back.” Of course many Italian Americans fought in the Armed Services during WWII, even fighting against Italians in North Africa, Sicaly, and Southern Italy.
I have visited Italy and Germany a number of times and had zero difficulty makiing friends. On a German dining car the steward told me he learned English in a POW camp in the USA. He said “I try to treat everyone well, because I was treated well in America.” He pointed out what was Kosher on the menue. I hope your grandfather was treate well…
If Greenbrier makes 'em, they’re Auto-Max ™ cars. I have seen some that are stencilled “Bi-Max”, which I presume have had interiors modified as bi-levels. They must be for taller trucks, as the trilevel Auto-Max cars were capable of hauling vans and SUVs on two of the three levels. (And deck height is capable of adjustment, which evidently is an involved procedure.)
Someone (Greenbier?) has some single-levels running around, too. For moving larger trucks. It was in the company newsletter a year or so ago.
What I should have said is that if they look like tall cars with small “windows” in them, they’re Greenbrier Auto-Max cars. I know that there are some single-level cars out there; didn’t know that they were Greenbrier. I suspect, though, that they look more like conventional auto racks; no need for them to be as tall as the Auto-Max cars.
Point to remember: these two-unit auto racks are comprised of units that are shorter than the 89-90-foot length of a conventional auto rack. And, as such, the clearance diagrams permit them to be wider. It may be only by a matter of an inch or so on a side, but it’s critical in some clearances. We had one RCO who thought he had enough room to ride the side of the racks into the spot, until he encountered one of these. He was banged up pretty badly, and it took him many months to get back to work.
The Uni-level cars–TTUX 891001-891200–are also shorter than a conventional rack, by perhaps eight or nine feet in overall length.
Now these autoracks have doors that pop out further and have fold down steps, and all sorts of stuff. All kinds of new notices about them. Basically: don’t ride next to them.