Auto Rack

Prototype Information

The first production fully enclosed racks were delivered in late 1974 and early 1975. The Whitehead & Kales tri-level design, renamed Safe-Pak, was delivered to ATSF, CP, CRR, FEC, NW, SCL, SSW, UP, and WP, all of them riding on railroad-owned flats. Portec’s RailPac design, developed in cooperation with Chrysler, was placed into service by ATSF, C&O, C&NW, D&RGW, GTW, N&W, RF&P, SLSF, SP, UP and several other roads, with most riding on leased Trailer Train flats. These two designs were refined during the late 1970s and by 1980 fully enclosed tri-levels accounted for roughly a third of the in-service fleet, however fully enclosed bi-levels lagged far behind.

Roofs were not added to all autoracks until the mid-1980s, as it took time for railroads with low overhead clearance routes to modify their bridge and tunnel clearances to accept them. Consequently, some roofless and even open tri-levels and bi-levels remained in service into the mid-to-late 1980s.

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autorack

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