The Evolution Of The Autorack
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- čas přidán 31. 05. 2024
- You've for sure seen trains with these big ass railcars called Autoracks. They help transporting what could be your next new car/truck/suv get from the factory to your local sleazy car salesman, and then to you ! How did we go from 4 vehicles in a boxcar to 20+ in 100+ ft. long articulated covered autoracks? I dunno, probably KCS 1910.
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Intro
1:43 - In De Beninging
4:36 - Vert-a-Pac Autoracks
6:33 - Modern Day Autoracks
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Thanks for watching !
HEY!!!
© Goofy Ahh Railfan Productions
#train - Auta a dopravní prostředky
I worked for a Jeep dealership in Glenwood Springs, Colorado in the 80's. One of my jobs was to check in all the new cars delivered by trucks. Every year we ordered 60-80 Grand Wagoner's for the rental companies and about a dozen would have damage vandals. While the train was stopped in St. Louis MO vandals would sneak onto the railcar take a crowbar and bust the side vent window, enter the Jeeps, take the crowbar and jam it into the top of the dashboard and pop out the radio. You could see the crowbar indention in the dash. After notating the damage we would have to order all new parts (including the dash) and fix the damage. That was one of the coolest jobs I ever had. Thanks for the video.
Coolest jobs? What were you the guy stealing the radios?😂
The basic flat cars are owned by TTX; that's why the TTX reporting marks. However, the racks above the decks are owned by the individual railroads whose logos you see. Car hire is split between the car owner and the rack owner.
I heard a story that in the days of the open air auto racks, of a hobo jumping on a train of them in the middle of winter. He got into one of the new automobiles, started the engine, & was riding in style with the heater on & stereo playing! 😅
A story as old as time
That's true, I knew a a hobo back in the 60s? And he did that a lot and in the 70s.
They also left the title in the glove box
Now that's going first class!
i eat autoracks for breakfest
So that's what racist Gevo foamers eat
What about second breakfast?
Loaded or unloaded?
yum
There's some lore we're missing out on lmaoo
But any railroader who has to deal with these things on a daily basis will know how much of a nightmare are. The overall design and concept is great. But who ever designed the drawbar system and its break pipe system, has a special place in hell set aside just for them. All these years and they seriously can’t come up with a better idea? The drawbars are a pain because they move around so much. Anytime you uncouple, the drawbar swings over to one side and sometimes gets wedged. So when you go to make a double off another track, you have to straighten the drawbar first. And it’s even more of a pain when you’re kicking them in a yard and you have to straighten every single car. And for what ever reason, auto rack break pipes and the air hoses always end up being a kicker car. So something will happen where it causes the train to dump into emergency, and then the air comes back and now I have to walk my whole train, only for there to be nothing wrong with it. The car will just decide it dosent wanna go anywhere and it applies its breaks. It’s like a toddler throwing a tantrum in the car. There’s nothing wrong. It just freaks out all of a sudden. Or the airhoses are too short, and the drawbars are too long, so then it ends up pulling the glad hands apart so now you gotta zip tie them together. And I hate how there is no sill step to be able to cross over between auto racks. So if you’re walking a train entirely made up of auto racks, and you need to get to the other side…well you can’t. You gotta walk all the way around the train, or separate the train completely. Just a pain in my caboose. …and I never understood why auto racks have holes all over them instead of a totally solid side wall. That dosent seem to protect the cars much. Especially from graffiti and spray paint. I feel like paint will get all over the new cars
Just a guess: the holes in the walls probably make the cars less vulnerable to strong wind from the side when running empty.
@@franz-peterkayser722 never thought about that. Especially being so tall and light weight, they might be vulnerable to tipping over in high winds.
It needs holes on the exterior walls to help disperse exhaust fumes and to let fresh air inside to keep temperatures at an acceptable level. Autoracks tend to get really hot inside whenever cars on onboard them, especially in nice weather.
Been a conductor for 21 years and for 21 years I've said the guy who came up with the drawbar on these auto racks needs to be kicked in the nuts.
Great video!
One, in the summer of 1954, my mother, a freshly graduated nurse from Ontario, took a job with a couple of friends to drive across the country and deliver a new car from Oshawa to Vancouver. There she met my dad, a nice Vancouver boy, born and raised. I guess I wouldn't be here if they had autoracks back then.
Two, twenty years later, my family bought a Ford Maverick, built in St. Thomas Ontario. We heard on the news about a train derailment down there somewhere, but didn't really pay much attention. A couple of days later, we got a call from Ford saying that our delivery would be delayed. Huh. I wonder ...... oh, right, got it.
That's crazy! I can just imagine the looks on their faces when they were told their new car ended up in a derailment, yikes! Lol
@@TheWinnipegRailfan
That was the second screw up. A few years earlier, we were living in Vancouver, but were moving to Toronto for Dad's new job. Dad bought a car in Vancouver, but asked them to SHIP IT TO TORONTO. A while later, he got called into the Vancouver dealership, was told there there was a problem, and that the delivery would be delayed. As he was leaving the dealership, he spotted the car he had ordered: same model, same exterior colour, same interior colour, same engine, same options, same everything. They had shipped it to Vancouver by mistake instead of Toronto. They put it on an autorack when they weren't supposed to.
Good job finding that 1923 autorack image. It's the only one floating on the internet of them, and is the the only photo of any car in its series before or after the modifications. Never heard the ICC angle on why they were retired, always found things about it being part of a testing period and that the auto makers discontinued it after said test.
As for the part where you explained why open autoracks got enclosed, it was 100% the auto makers. They started refusing to load open racks and even colabed with W&K, Portec, and Paragon to have partially and fully enclosed racks developed.
Also, the Stack-Pac was a different car than the Verta-Pac car. The Stack-Pac was designed for large Oldsmobile and Cadillac cars that regular autoracks had issues in loading in regular autoracks.
The Chessie Rail-Pac car you who'd was also deliberately delivered without a roof. Until the late 80s and early 90s, many of the east coast routes still had clearance issues that fully enclosed cars couldn't enter. It wasn't until the intermodal revolution really took hold that the east coast got the hight needed for them in most places. At that point, TTX converted all its remaining partially enclosed racks to fully enclosed.
As an added note, fully open autoracks were still in service until at least 2010 (all under BNSF ex ATSF cars) for military service. Latest photo I have found was shot in 2010, and was loaded with Humvees.
I work as a supervisor on a dedicated automotive yard in Illinois and recently a new design came up, they are called Multimax. These have bi-levels with variable decks that can be adjusted at location without the need to homeshop them. Really cool design.
My savior, the GRUNK!
I love stupid slapstick meme humour. "...to your driveway!" *queue man getting run over in his driveway* ....and thats a sub. 😂👌
You point out that the cars would be wrecked if an open autorack derailed. But the same is true for a closed autorack. The sides and roof are only there to protect from vandalism and the weather; on the inside, the cars are still just sitting on a floor. They're restrained to stop them moving around during ordinary train operation (especially the jarring as slack gets taken up) but not enough to keep them in place in any kind of nontrivial derailment.
Open air autoracks are still very common all over continental Europe. Usually either two 2-axle cars short-coupled or a 3-axle car with the third axle under the joint in the middle. On freight trains it's not as common for them to have bogies because those take more space vertically. Cars are loaded on 2 levels. For new cars there are now covered autoracks as well (often long short-coupled units that allow loading from one car to the next) and for passenger trains the autoracks do have bogies to allow higher speeds.
I drive over the yard for the Wentzville GM plant, so I see these things almost daily. I think I saw an old SD40 shunting them once
The Pyrocynical joke was enough to earn you a new sub lmao.
Cool Facts: That low clearance bridges are acted like beasts. Mf acted like dogs to peel off the Autorack’s roofs and started to biting these cars. Bridges when you see freight trains they be like:
“I’m very hungry, give me cars.” 😋
I am here from india who loves American trains 😅
What a great video. I was informative, my kind of humor, and no mistakes that I could see. Good stuff.
Interesting. In Europe the open air design (albeit 2 stories instead of 3) is still pretty much standard, both for car sleeper trains and new car transportation from factories. The only real exception I can think of is the enclosed train from the UK to France through the channel tunnel that you can board with your car.
Pretty sure new cars in the UK are transported in enclosed wagons these days.
that intro was funny as heck
Any auto carried in rail transit that is involved in a major derailment or damage to the vehicle in the freight car is totally scrapped-not even taken apart for the parts. Because of warranty/safety issues.
First railfan video I watched after finishing all of my finals! I feel this is kind of counterintuitive for rail as a whole: delivering new vehicles from a competitor industry (cars) instead of promoting more public transit usage (trains). This also reminds me of a video I saw of the amtrak auto train where a car alarm was somehow set off while inside the autorack, so I wonder how many times that must've happened due to a bump on a freight train.
It's a good job for the railway, it's the cheapest way for the car manufacturer to move hundreds of cars long distances, and cars and trains don't really compete. There's a very small overlap on the Venn diagram.
Congrats on finishing! (ayo pause)
Honestly I'd say its more so semi trucks that are competitors, which honestly now thay you said that, that'd be an interesting video topic!
Awesome video! Autoracks have to be one of my favorite types of rolling stock lol.
There used to be a place on Novi Michigan that built/modified train cars years ago called Paragon Steel
Autoracks are da best
Just think: Over the years, I caught a glimpse of such new models like the Delorean Alpha, Lucid Air, Porsche Taycan, Rolls Royce Cullinan, Maserati Grecale, GMC Hummer EV, Volkswagen ID. Buzz, and Hyundai Santa Cruz! It’s all thanks to the Convenient transport of these vehicles via Autorack rail cars.
I love the Grunk
I live in Detroit and regularly railfan around Milwaukee Junction for CN, NS and Amtrak. We have tons of the new style auto racks and chassis carriers going in and out of the auto plants. Great video. Thanks for sharing.
Absolutely! There are two Ford plants here in Louisville a Toyota plant in Georgetown, Ky.. I'm used to seeing long autorack trains in my area!
30 pintos all in one auto rack was a plan destined to fail lol 😂 basically these cars were rollin bombs lol 😂
Hi The Winnipeg Railfan & it's is Randy and i like yours video is cool & Thanks The Winnipeg Railfan & Friends Randy
The main stay of autos and also I saw those autoracks
The modern auto carrier double or triple level versions uses 28, or 33 inch wheel sets with either 70 or 75-ton trucks. They can't handle standard 36 inch wheels because of their height restrictions and anything at 100 ton trucks would be pointless since the total weight is far less.
good comment
Great Video. Thanks! 👍🙏
CP yard in Toronto named Agincourt. You See lot Autoracks .
I worked at Thrall Car railcar plant that specialized in auto rack production,I still see the cars in use today.
An important point you missed is that according to the TTX website, for modern multi level cars "Typically, the railroads own the rack structure and TTX provides the underlying flatcar." That is the reason you have the railroad logo on the top structure but the TTX reporting mark on the flatcar below.
Correct
Yup. Also, if you look closely, you'll see a railroad number on the rack body, too.
I remember the roofless autoracks still being fairly common in the 80s. And I might have skipped rocks off a few windshields. Sorry.
LOL yeah honestly, I was a dumb kid, I probably would've too
One thing i noticed about these sheet metal monoliths is if they are a long rake, that also bring up the end of the train, they "clank" as the end of the train approaches. Its even apparent at the end of this video
I was once filming cpkc on a auto rack train I’ll I heard was boom crash pow sounded like some stuff breaking
sort of unrelated but you made me remember a conspiracy theorist that said the chains in these types of wagons was ment to hold goverment prisoners and the wagon itself was secretly a prisoner transport wagon. obviusly the chains are to keep vehicles from moving inside the autoracks, this was 10 years ago and i still remember it.
Thank you Winnipeg railfan for making me remember back to secondary school!
Oh yeah! I kinda remember there being conspiracies about these being useful for certain camps in the early 2010s...
Now we use wabtec chocks
My favorite Railcar ever
Tank cars are offended.
@@GreenRC24fr
Ha! Autotrain reference. Love it
Shoving back autorack and bulkhead long drawbar through crossovers asking greef. Car going on the ground in the yard. Cars damaged in derailment given to auto mechanic course at high schools etc.
0:55, ahh yes, nothing like taking that brand new ride that had a safe trip on a train and slamming it into the other family car to get it broke in!💀
Also, autoracks are cool, but there's one you left out, the "Multi-Max" autorack. Its the newest one one rails and it has the ability to go from a bi-level to a tri-level car depending on what its hauling, its a pretty cool car!
Awesome videos! I learned a lot about auto racks! Thanks!
Thanks for checking it out man!
Great Video 👍
We made thousands of them at Thrall Car in Chicago heights Illinois
In Europe we still use this open air types without any protection 😅
In de beninging
Ah yes car cars
i love autoracks
I like the open air auto racks before they N&W made 400000, but i have to say i love the articulated modern autoracks
TWR i need the history of autopart boxcar (yes thise are real)
I would watch Jaw Tooth and wonder what these cars were. (wait…there’s morrre!)
Now if they could apply some type of coating that would cause the paint from vandals to bead up and be easily washed off; indeed, wish a such a product could be applied to all rail cars.
you forgot one part, for a while (atleast on L&N before taking order of open air autoracks) they’d get TOFC flatcars and get car hauler semi trailers and load two trailers onto the flatcars
Ahh, I see. Thank you for the info!
@@TheWinnipegRailfan there’s a picture somewhere of an L&N train and the first few cars in the consist are as mentioned
6:35 Fireworks from the tragically hip nice
Great song, great band !!
@@TheWinnipegRailfan W music taste
@originaljokegaming2948 w profile pic, PH&D is cool
Not necessarily. The MoP, used to spot auto racks at a ramp, converted from an old flat car, in the old Midland Valley yard in the west side of downtown Wichita. It was used by two dealers, and the USPS. They did the unloading and called the MoP when they finished.
I see so many of them here in Southern Ontario where all the car plants are, it's almost boring now.
I was a kid when they were the bi-level Auto-Racks in the 1970s I would see Penn Central, Norfolk and Western,Seaboard, Etc. And my dad almost bought a Vega. But he bought a Mitsubishi Lancer AKA Dodge Colt in 1974. And as a pro wrestling fan you have the Hart dungeon from Winnipeg like Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho. And the original Winnipeg Jets of the World Hockey League. Awesome video I hope when you do come to the United States. There is a town in Massachusetts called Palmer. There's the remnants of the old New York Central that is owned by the mass Central the New England Central that crosses the CSX at a diamond
At CPKFC, we will
Nahhhh not the Andrew Gray comment 💀🤣🤣
I know someone who once had a job unloading these cars. In summary; it's a great job for short people.
I'd love to see video of the loading/unloading process.
I could try and get some shots of the unloading ramp here in the city some time
Interesting, well done
Yo w vid it was funny lmao, and the thumbnail is PEAK graphic design. 🗿
Thx! Yeah the thumbnail was kinda slapped together this time lmfaoo
Nice videos it's giving me more ideas for one of my channel's commentary series
I recommend something on intermodal trains, like how they went from trailer on flats to double stack well cars
@@TheWinnipegRailfan I will look into that
But I gotta finish my video about the Milwaukee road super domes
i am the 900th to liked person, very entertaining and informative
Ttgx- bilevel Ettx- trilevel TTUX- Unilevel BTTX- articulated Bi. TOAX- articulated modified bi to name a few.
Ford built a precursor to the GMVertipack back in the 20's for the Model A.
Bias Canadian confirmed.
4:11 dubya
I used to think DTTX was a railcar company owned by rapper DTTX from Lighter Shade of Brown
DTTX is double-stack container cars anyway. Not sure why he thought they're autoracks; their autoracks are various other reporting marks -- mostly TTGX and ETTX.
i have seen an og GRUNKW autorack on a train in Los Angeles
commented friday may 10th 2024 7:42 - 7:44 am PDT (pacific daylight time)
I never saw a train before
I'm watching bubble guppies rn bro
G R A N D
Vehicle train.
I load these big ugly things at work! Oldest one ive ever seen was from 1946!!
Either you're mistaken or that was decades ago. The FRA doesn't allow cars to be interchanged between railroads if they're more than 50 years old, and they must be rebuilt at 40.
@@beeble2003 i physically loaded it, signed the paperwork, and put the seal on it. The Build date was 1946, it was Obviously Rebuilt in the 1970s. They almost always have both dates . Ill be glad to share pictures, that was about 8 weeks ago.
@@beeble2003 The FRA. Has all kinds of special rules that they themselves hardly adhere to!
Interesting video
Also what’s the song at 1:02?
It's 'Special Interest' by Todd Rundgren's Utopia
As a conductor, I HATE switrching autoracks with a passion. Cannot stand the long drawheads
NOW WE NEED THE EVOLUTION OF NS 4104💀
*AUTORACKS*
Shaquille o Neal
Why does CZcams keep unsubscribing me from people.
I’ve always curious on how this thing was invented anyway
Only when chasing trains?
zoooom
I'm currently day drinking :)
@@TheWinnipegRailfan bro same
The one that see trains, but never knew about this railcars : 🤔😐
i have a 1978 ford pinto
That's awesome!
@@TheWinnipegRailfan yep it has the original v6 engine and paint too
And you are still alive? Remarkable. I am a died-in-the-wool Ford guy, but I just couldn't make myself buy the Pinto. So, my first car was a bottom-of-the-line 1979 Chevette Scooter instead. It worked out really well. It always got 30 mpg. It didn't matter if it sat idling in the driveway all day, or if it was heading down the highway at 75 mph: 30 mpg.
@@rayopeongo it needs to be restored right now and my dad had one when he was in high school
@@jeffreymonroe4776 At least it is still around. My Chevette is long gone. Good luck with the restoration!
the
Are you going to make an Autotrain video?
Not sure, it'd be an interesting topic tho! A friend of mine might tho, he's WAY more knowledgeable about the AT
Yes, I wonder who...
0:36
American railroad terminology is confusing and other stories
What’s a train
Big fluffy rabbit according to urban dictionary
@@TheWinnipegRailfan that’s what I’ve thought they were
OwO
UwO
@@TheWinnipegRailfan furry
Guilty 😇
5:55 why use that image
Bro just absolutely hates anime LMAO
@@TheWinnipegRailfan only most modern anime artstyles, they're like the corporate artstyles use by companies recently
Ohh OK I gotcha, lol
Classics are better tbh yeah
@@TheWinnipegRailfan that's why I like lupin the 3rd because it's artstyle is actually good
Those Gunderson Auto Max cars look like they could be used as rolling fortresses or prisons.
Conspiracy zealots have already gone there. I had to (politely) discourage one from trying to 'educate' me in the comments of one of my videos featuring them.
Sorry but the attempts at humor are too distracting
I'm a little teapot short and stout, here is my handle, here is my spout