Earliest Autorack?

[Specter3]

All of these things are very interesting. I googled the plant and it was his first large scale plant to be followed later by the Rouge River plant. But it had space constraints so no on site storage. But the railroad basically abutted the back of the property. So at this plant I don't see that he would have had space for his own rail system. Rouge plant did when they built it. But not this plant. So it seems like there is a bit of a mystery here.

[Specter3]

If this link transfers ok this could be the location.

http://www.bing.com/maps/#JnE9LmhpZ2hsYW5kJTJicGFyayUyYm1pJTdlc3N0LjAlN2VwZy4xJmJiPTU5LjAyMDIzMjUwNjE3NjklN2UtMTEuODMyMDYxNzY3JTdlMS44MDU5MTE2NzEzNTk2MiU3ZS0xNDkuODIwMzQzMDE3

Look at the northwest corner the buildings between the gravel pile and the satellite dishes. strip off the newer part with the black roof and you have a building adjacent to a railroad line that has the correct profile if you look at the better picture posted halfway through the thread.

[cv_acr]

All of these things are very interesting. I googled the plant and it was his first large scale plant to be followed later by the Rouge River plant. But it had space constraints so no on site storage. But the railroad basically abutted the back of the property. So at this plant I don't see that he would have had space for his own rail system. Rouge plant did when they built it. But not this plant. So it seems like there is a bit of a mystery here.

Even if the plant had an internal rail system, the automobiles are somewhat self-mobile. You wouldn't load them in a boxcar so a switcher can shunt them half a mile to the other side of the plant 4 hours later. Just drive it over to the outbound loading area in less time than it would take to load those cars. (Especially since these end-door boxcars (at least the N.A. designs) only had doors at ONE end.)

[wcfn100]

If you zoom in on the picture Chris linked to , you can make out the buffer on the first car.  IFAIK, US roads didn't have buffers.

Jason

[Chris333]

Maybe they are being unloaded overseas (even though both photos claim to be taken in Illinois)

FWIW GM opened it first plant in Europe in 1923.

[Hyperion]

Maybe they are being unloaded overseas (even though both photos claim to be taken in Illinois)

FWIW GM opened it first plant in Europe in 1923.

Good thing these are Fords then

[Chris333]

Just sayin' 

[Ian MacMillan]

 I'm going to go with European as well.  To me the brickwork pattern on the building does not seem like those of typical US  industrial applications in that era.

[nkalanaga]

Chris:  True, the mainline auto boxes only had doors on one end.  If these were built by Ford, for in-plant use, they could have doors on both ends.  They could have buffers, for that matter, if Henry wanted them.

But I'll still agree with the majority that it looks more like England or Europe, and with the steering wheel on the right, more likely England.

[VonRyan]

IFAIK, US roads didn't have buffers.

Amtrak's catenary maintenance thingy has not only buffers, but coupling hooks as well. (but no three-link or screw-link couplings, oddly enough)

The Boxcar may in fact be a Wagon if the photo is actually of European origin, though the length of the car, which looks to be about 2 automobiles, would point more to the UK since the used very short wheelbases, so it is more likely a Van.


-Cody F.

[nkalanaga]

Cody:  Wagon or Van, very true, and I've gotten some strange looks when referring to the 2-axle European equipment on my Montana narrow gauge that way...