Does anyone know if there are armored railcars in service or being built these days? When I say armored railcar, I basically mean a railcar-equivalent of a Brinks armored car. Something with bullet-proof glass, ballistic shielding, etc, to carry personnel escorting high-value assets. I ask the question because I work for a company that's considering using an armored railcar to escort valuable shipments, but we couldn't find anything to use. Do we have to build and design our own?

Thanks.

The closest you're likely to find is the Ferdinand Magellan, a Pullman that was heavily armored for use by FDR during World War Two. It survives today at the Gold Coast RR Museum in Miami, Florida. It was last used for "armored" service during a Reagan campaign train in 1984.

If there is another "armored car" rail vehicle out there, it's not in service in North America. At least that anyone is willing to admit.

Some years ago, probably in the last century, I attended an RPCA conference where a retired or near retirement Amtrak engineering offical did a seminar on passenger truck rebuild requirements. After the seminar, I asked him whether Amtrak placed any restrictions on older passenger cars built before the buff requirements were raised to 800,000 lbs from the 400,000 lbs that prevailed before Budd arbitrarily doubled it for marketing purposes. (The 400,000 lb number came from Post Office Department specifications for steel RPOs.) He was unaware of any restrictions, but did mention that at least one heavyweight had been reinforced for use by guards on spent nuclear fuel shipments. I do not recall if he said anything about armor.

The upshot is that, if you are looking for an armored railroad car, I'd suggest talking to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or whoever they use to provide sucurity for spent fuel shipments. (It might be federal law enforcement, military, or suppose even contractors these days.) Of course, this is all third or forth hand information, the car may not exist, the car may not be armored, and even if it exists and is armored, it may be unavailable.

I will speculate that if one has to create an armored car from an existing passenger car, it would proably be easier to start with a heavyweight as the sheathing and body framing are not structural. (Heavywights have been described as a "box on a bridge".) The sheathing is already thicker and heavier than on a lightweight and could be replaced with the same thickness of armor plate without overloadig the trucks. One could then put kevlar armor in the walls. Would there be any point to lightweight "Chobham" armor? Or slat armor for RPGs? (Clearance issures? Or extremely narrow carbody?) Start with a threat assessment. (Instead of a Mission Statement;-)


Andrew Adams

We're working on the restoration of a 1940 Brookville railcar built for the Army, but the armoring is probably not you have in mind... 20gauge automobile sheet metal in the front, but far less on the sides... :-)

This was used entirely within the Raritan (NJ) Arsenal, so it didn't need protection from attack. However, since it carried ordinance around, the specifications did require non-sparking (ie: wood or aluminum) trim.