Contact with the overhead wire caused the interior headliner to catch fire
literally burning out the vehicle. New meaning to smoked glass windows.
Cars were totalled. We hand pushed them the length of the train (6 or 7
cars) to get to the ramp then "bombs away" as there were no brakes or power
steering to contend with it was kind of an E ticket ride down the ramp.
Local high school got the cars for auto shop use.
Our loading ramp was a portable powered frame with a ramp that raised and
lowered. You lined it up with the rail cars on the siding and dropped panels
across the gap. Once in a while they would bounce and kick out as a string
of cars went over them and you dropped a wheel into the opening--scary on
deck three!
Because of a threatened strike at Chrysler one weekend we had to empty the
yard of all vehicles so they would not be trapped by strikers. The RR crew
got excited and shoved one car too many on a siding which was interesting as
it followed previous grooves in the pavement so it pulled back
easily--fortunately our loading ramp was aligned with another track. When
all was done there was one automobile with a frozen engine sitting in acres
of paved and gravelled storage lots. Originally the plant was built as a
tank plant so it had a big test track and fields that we used for storage.
Bill Uffelman
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ralph W. Brown, Jr." <cbq682@grics.net>
To: <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, April 26, 2004 10:53 PM
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Auto Rack car
> Bill,
>
> What do you mean by "burned out"? These cars didn't actually catch on
fire, did they? How severe was the damage?
>
> R.W. Brown, Jr.
> Galesburg, IL
> While in college after Vietnam I loaded/unloaded Chrysler cars at the
Newark
> DE plant (my father in law ran the place). Penn Central of course had
> clearance issues and at least one car came in burned out as it had hit
the
> overhead wire. GM plant was a few miles away and they used different tie
> down hook style so it was a pain to change everything out when we got GM
> racks instead of Chrysler.
>
> Lack of side protection panels meant lots of thrown rock and graffiti
> damage--tough neighborhoods enroute to the plant!
>
> Bill Uffelman
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