... would be a great artifact! This is a 1969 Plymouth TV Commercial shot on the PC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFBP063uTgQ

Actually it would. BNSF actually had a large fleet of bi-level autoracks that were kept in reserve for military movements, but I'm not sure of the status of the fleet.

The other major car focused on moving automobiles would be the Vert-a-Pac, but I seriously doubt any of these survive. It would take less automobiles to demonstrate however, a bi- (or tri) level autorack would need a fair number (12? 16?) of cars.

Either version would beg for indoor display--would be ideal for the Henry Ford Museum or CSRM.

Sharpen up your fundraising pencils!

Michael Seitz
Missoula MT

"Sharpen up your fundraising pencils!"--Mike from Montanna

A great display piece, indeed, and perhaps another place where a partnership with old car clubs could be mutually useful. Two potential toughies here, though:

The first, a relatively minor one, an authentic load for one of these cars would be made up entirely of automobiles of one manufacturer, and one model year. All should be stock, too; at recent car shows and cruise-ins that I've had the chance to attend, I've noticed that very few stock autos are there, particularly among the vehicles of the later 1960s; most have been hot-rodded or customized to some degree.

Another thing to consider is how to load this car. The places where these things were used had special loading and unloading ramps. These were usually some sort of portable or even self-propelled device; unless you are talking about a permanent exhibition with no change in consist of the load, you will need one of these things, too.

Not to say this can't be done, just needs the usual ingredients of money and thought.

Like so many things, it can be argued that this should be done, for it is a part of our history that is not quite what it once was, and as far as we know, is underrepresented in our preservation efforts.

Which brings to mind, have any cars like this been preserved at all? The only one I can think of was a car on the late Gettysburg Railroad that was used as a double-decked passenger car; I remember it as being incredibly ugly for the service, and incredibly noisy to ride, too, with metallic creaks and groans that just about drowned out the steam engine. . .

Ho, ho, ho, how many of these things (with automobiles) would you need to adequately represent an automobile shipment with a pair of preserved GP-38s, GP-40s, or SD-35s?

Wow, PC never looked so good! On the ex-NYC West Shore route in New York's Hudson Valley, behind a U25B!!. The bridge is crossing Roundout Creek near Kingston, NY. Hey Barracuda!

Howard P.
MoPar, NY

Didn't the Gettysburg have a couple of these converted to passenger cars? Are they still around?

Rob

One BIlevel (not tri-level, used for vans and trucks and the like), which I believe would have been cut up at the Knox & Kane after that Cornell operation shut down.

Not to worry, the government has lots of these cars stored away at the secret military base for transporting the dissenters to the concentration camps.....

<ducking>

(Sigh) if you were following your conspiracy websites better, you would know it is only the latest generation auto rack cars that are designed with the "use" in mind.

As I said before, I believe BNSF keeps a fleet of former ATSF bi-levels in service for use in large military equipment moves. The bi-levels are used for moving HUMVEE's and similar sized vehicles.

This 2010 post on Trainorders indicates that BNSF had 33 cars extant: http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/r ... ?1,2181964

A representative car of the fleet: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=449122

Not sure if the cars were built semi-enclosed or not.

Michael Seitz
Missoula MT

The open bi-level car from K&K was scrapped before the auction: a similar low-level flat that was already missing it's rack was scrapped after the auction. I don't know about the Gettysburg car, it stayed there after Cornell's left. Are there ANY open-sided racks out there?

Here are a couple of photos I shot on the present day W&LE just south of Finleyville PA in 1973.
The first one Dodge pick up trucks
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=1440198
The second is more Dodge pickups and a van. Plus you can see some Dodge Darts on the following car.
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=1440199

I shot this photo on the Mingo Trestle showing the open auto racks
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=1440197
And this was the power on the head end:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=1440200