Vert-A-Pac vertical car transport

[Cotty]

Spotted this, thought it was interesting and wanted to share.

In the 1960's General Motors was trying to get the freight cost down on Vegas to keep them a budget friendly car. At the time, a new Vega had a price tag around $2,000. Engineers from GM and Southern Pacific Railroad came up with the Vert-A-Pac. This allowed 30 cars to be shipped per boxcar instead of 18. Lowering freight costs by up to 40%. GM engineers also designed specific oil baffles to keep oil from spilling along with specially designed carburetors, batteries and added plastic spacers between the powertrain and the chassis to prevent damage.

[Xenoous]

Hmmm, that's pretty interesting! Went to a certain video sharing site to watch how they did it! Here one such video:

[swisstoni]

I wonder if such a system, or similar, still exists.

[Cotty]

Xenoous said:

Hmmm, that's pretty interesting! Went to a certain video sharing site to watch how they did it! Here one such video:

Cool, looks like there are a couple of videos like that.

[Turbobanana]

swisstoni said:

I wonder if such a system, or similar, still exists.

It might, but not in the UK where wagons of that height would foul overhead structures (bridges, tunnels, wiring etc).

[No ideas for a name]

Cotty said:

You can also see Stac-Pacs in that photo... a bit more conventional, and for biger cars as I understand it.

[nismocat]

Xenoous said:

Hmmm, that's pretty interesting! Went to a certain video sharing site to watch how they did it! Here one such video:

Is it taboo to mention Youtube or something?