Autorack
An autorack is a vehicular flat with a rack of decks, usually enclosed, for finished vehicles.
Decks inside a rack
An autorack starts as a flatcar and adds a rack: two levels or three, with a roof and perforated or solid side screens. Vehicles drive on and off at the ramps. The holes in the side screens are there so you can see that the car is loaded, and so the wind has somewhere to go. They are not boxcar doors.
The type letter is V, for a vehicular flat. The car is tall. Plate F, 17 feet above the rail, is the usual outline, which is why autoracks stay on routes that can take them. A bi-level and a tri-level are the same idea at two heights. The tri-level is for shorter vehicles. You can count the decks from the end.
What the lettering is for
The reporting mark on an autorack is often a railroad or a private pool that moves finished vehicles. It still does not tell you the destination. The cars inside are the load. The rack is the freight car.
Don't climb the rack to see the vehicles. The side screens and the reporting mark are readable from the ground.
Common questions
- Why do autoracks have holes in the sides?
- The screens let you see the load and let air through. The vehicles are new and the screens keep them on the car. The holes are not a ladder.
- What plate is an autorack?
- Usually Plate F, about 17 feet above the rail. That height is why they run on cleared routes.