container easily and quickly.
The chassis is moved by a truck
tractor that operates dependably on either rough country roads or
smooth city streets. The chassis is equipped with piggyback adapter
equipment so that it can be driven on or off the piggyback rail car.
From front to rear, it is engineered and built for container service.
c. Piggyback rail car. Designed exclusively for container and
piggyback service, the piggyback rail car is equipped with a shock
absorber that absorbs 75 percent of the shock the car receives.
A
center guide automatically alines containers and trailers so that
loading and unloading is a smooth, continuous, hands-off operation.
An automatic tiedown hitch, operated from the truck tractor which is
backed onto the rail car, secures trailers and containers to the
shock-absorbing mechanism. Because the load is carried lower than on
ordinary rail cars, this piggyback car provides railroad clearance
for the largest trailers now normally in use. Provision is also made
for possible future changes in the width of the trailers because
there are no side rails to interfere.
Mixed loads of containers and conventional trailers can be
hauled on the piggyback rail car.
Without modification, it can
transport containers, chassis--with or without containers, tank
containers,
tank
trailers,
semitrailers,
furniture
vans,
and
automobile carriers.
The car is fully compatible with ordinary
flatcars in both main-line and yard service.
At present, the
Military Traffic Management Command (MTMC) leases a limited quantity
of this equipment when needed for use in domestic interchange.
The
equipment is not now a part of the Army's foreign service fleet.
2.23.
SUMMARY
The foreign service fleet contains special freight cars, such
as the 80-ton and the depressed-center flatcars, for carrying very
large and very heavy ordnance and engineer equipment.
Included in
the fleet are ice-cooled, fiberglass-insulated refrigerator cars to
carry perishable items, and the cranes and snow-handling equipment to
speed up various jobs and keep railroads operational.
The only passenger equipment included in the fleet is the
foreign service ambulance train which consists of three types of cars:
a ward, a medical personnel, and a kitchen-dining-storage car.
A
prototype of each of these three cars has been designed and built for
standard- to broad-gage rails; they are now in storage. The ward car
contains facilities for patient care and comfort including an air-
conditioning system. Sleeping quarters, dressing rooms, and toilet
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