Watching a few go by; graffiti on some of them.
What keeps the graffiti from getting to the $$$$ inside?
Why “screen-looking sides”? Why not something solid?
Is it because it makes it more areodynamic? Lighter weight?
Cars need to breathe?
OK “whys” people - it is all yours.
Thank you.
The cars have some gas in them so they may be driven onto the carrier. I suppose ventilation would keep any leaking fumes from building up. Also letting light in should make it easier to see during loading/unloading.
SJ, the sides (and roofs) were put on auto-rack cars to prevent vandalism. I well remember being able to see the new cars in their entirety when I first hired out. We railroaders would have a good preview of next year’s model, back in the days when that was significant.
I honestly haven’t heard anything about instances of damage to autos in racks from the paint applied to the outside. If it’s rolled or brushed on, no problem, most likely. Spray paint may dissipate before a significant amount gets to the car, and the distributors probably have ways of caring for the cars’ finish when they arrive. In most cases, I suspect, the cars that are subject to tagging are empty.
Not only exhaust fumes, but fumes from other dangerous things (batteries, for example) might build up inside solid walls. People still talk about the carload of batteries that blew up in Proviso around 1972…that box car looked like a collapsed bulkhead flat! (They quit shipping “wet” batteries after that, but a finished car would have had a battery that was ready to go, I presume).
Not that it makes much difference, but the screens are lighter than they would be if they were solid galvanized steel (I believe that’s still the material of choice here). I don’t think that’s significant in reducing the tare weight of a car that handles only about 30 tons of payload anyway, but it might make the cars easier to repair.
And yes, it’s still nice to be able to see through the car and determine whether or not it’s loaded. More than once, my cohorts and I caught
Can you load a lot more cars in auto racks now, than in say, 1965, when cars were a lot bigger?
I think that in the 1960s, a load of autos was 12 cars (four per level), and 15 for smaller models.
Nowadays, the number is 15 and 18, respectively. Besides the shrinking car size, the auto rack cars were increased from 85 feet to over 89.
Weight.
Trainloads of pipe from the Cal Northern would not have a buffer car which would protect the engine f.rom a shifting load of pipe. The train was usually about fifty 89 feet long flats with 2 stacks of pipe piled about 8 high going over the mountain, the Sierra
Train make-up required for a head-end first five cars to be of no less than 50 tons. "levels, empty auto-racks fit; no other mttys come to mind that do.
Estimate the additional weight if the perforated sheets were solid and consider that after the 'level is emptied it it has tog back empty to get another load…that’s a lot of non revenue fuel drinking miles
The fully enclosed tri- and bi-level auto-racks let us train and engine crew avoid being “livery” men for a multitude of Knights of the Road.
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To add to the paint damage response, most new cars come with a plastic /foam protective cover, in panels/sheets applied to the hood, nose, front and rear quarter panels and doors.
They “stick” to the cars like a shrink wrap, sorta like those peel off labels.
Volkswagen actually covers almost the entire car, the sheet in front of the windshield has a flap that allows drives to lo unload the cars from the ships and drive them into the auto carriers.
If you didn’t k now better, when you drive by the loading area, with 2 or 3 hundred Beetles and other makes parked in rows upon row, you would wonder why they are all painted white!
Volvo goes one further, they have covers on the wheels, and tape on all the seams.
The side panels have the holes for the reasons stated weight saving and allows ventilation, but if you look at the new AutoMax articulated cars, the sides are more solid panels, with small square “windows” on holes to allow ventilation.
The weight savings are already there because these cars are lighter, and articulated, the ends of two cars share a truck. So no real need to make the side panles that much lighter, plus it protects the contents better.
Thank you all. This answers my questions. In fact, the reason for the questions - I saw, evidently, one of the new auto racks that are pretty solid on the sides except for some little windows every so often. Then the old ones mixed in and I had my collection of questions.
I know the “mist” from the spray usually will not be a problem to get off the clear coat once a car reaches thier destination. Spray paint usually can’t adhere to smooth surface. However it does cost you time and moeny if you have to remove it.
As far as loading goes here are just a few observations I’ve made from working a car lot.
8 Ford F-150s Bi-Level
15 Honda Accords Tri-Level
10-12 Jeep Wrangles Bi-Level
8-10 Trailblazer/Envoy Bi-Level
15 VW Jettas Tri-Level
5 Dodge Avengers, 2 Caravans, and 1 Challenger Multi-Level
Depending on the type of Rack and the vehicle needs to fill it you can have all sorts of combinations.
Speaking from experience, the ground pounders (conductor/brakeman) need to see which way the vehicles are facing in order to spot the cars according to the customers unloading requirements.
Do the keys just get left in the ignition?
Adrianspeeder
Definitely not. If I remember correctly, I read some years back that the ignition keys are all stashed in one auto, and the keys for that auto are kept in a secure location elsewhere. Somebody else may know more about this.
That used to be the way, when the racks were open and they didn’t want transients sleeping in the autos. With enclosed racks, it’s a bit safer to leave the keys in the car to which they belong (not necessarily in the ignition).
One time at work, there was a car that had had its tiedowns compromised in some way. My counterpart in Tower C slowed the rack down in his group retarder, and this auto went right over the end of the top deck and landed on its top in front of the auto rack! Poor guy: “Hey, I-I’ve got a car on the ground! Not a car on the ground, but a car on the ground! I-I-I…”
At any rate, we all went don to have a look at this brand-new pancake. One of the guys reached in, and cranked the engine (it wouldn’t start). But that suggested that the key was in the ignition of this particular vehicle.
Ahhh yes. Tring to figgured out the vehicle orintation inside the rack in no fun. The ones with the gap between the screens are usually easy to spot direction but if they have the plate between them they can be a nightamare to spot on a rolling train.
Coming off the ship and being parked in the staging area for loading into the auto racks, the keys are left in the ignition.
It is a secure area in the docks, fenced and patrolled with controlled access.
The guys who drive them off the ship, and later into the auto racks work on a per car moved basis….so watching these things come down the ramp out of the ship is a little like a Nascar race for parking spots…they have to start parking at the farthest side of the staging area, and run back to the ramp, up into the ship and get in line for the next one…these guys can fill a two acre lot in no time.
I asked one of the guys that supervises the loading onto the racks, he said most cars have a default setting on the door lock/security systems and the keys are left in the glove box or center console, the lock code and alarm are programed at the particular dealer where the cars are delivered or just prior to sale.
Loaded auto racks are rarely left where access to them is easy or unsupervised, even then, you could only get to the cars on the lower rack and at the end of the car, plus, how do you get it out of the auto rack without a ramp, so….
Being nosey, when I bought my new car, I asked the salesman, he showed me how Dodge does it, there is a USB plug in the dash under the steering column, they plug a “laptop” into that, and code the car, on the side of the laptop is a slot where the key fob chip goes, the program sets the car and fob at the same time, then programs a second chip for the extra keys, the code is sent to Chrysler’s server/data storage, the chip, which is very small, pops into the fob, they close the fob and it’s done, took less than two minutes to code the car and both keys.