![]() While the side screens or panels worked to protect window glass, the ends of the autoracks were still open, allowing easy access for thieves or transients to climb aboard and damage the new vehicles. Railroads and car builders would add metal screens or fiberglass panels to the sides of the autoracks, to shield the new vehicles from wayward missiles. Even train-hopping transients would prove to be a problem, since riding in a new automobile would be much more comfortable than a dirty boxcar or gondola. Thieves would take a toll as well, breaking into new automobiles to steal high-value components like stereos or hubcaps. While initially successful, by the late 1960s the new vehicles shipped via racks on would prove to be too tempting a target for vandals, who used the windows on new vehicles for target practice using rocks or other, higher-velocity projectiles. As automobiles are relatively light, long flats of up to 89’ in length would be developed and adapted to use multi-level (for a total of two or three decks) racks, simply known as “autoracks”, hauling up to over a dozen new autos. As time went on, flatcars equipped with multi-level open-air racks for handling autos would be developed. Double-door boxcars were some of the first designs used for shipment of autos the cars would simply be driven aboard, with the larger opening of the double-doors helping to facilitate this. Shipping via rail offered automakers a fast, cost-effective method of moving new autos from manufacturing centers to distribution centers, or in the early days, to dealers themselves. Since the development of the automobile, automakers and the railroads have worked together to develop better and more efficient methods for transporting new vehicles. Weighted to Industry standards for reliable operation. ![]()
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