A sight the FRA would flinch at today

[amtrakowitz]

Subway (FTA) cars traveling on the general railway network, being delivered to their new home. This pic shows R9s traveling behind a Pacific-type steamer.

Would be more convenient than traveling by road and in single-car formation, as the new R160s were delivered over the past couple of years. Even PATH's retired PA-1 through PA-3 fleet traveled by truck westward.

[SouthernRailway]

It makes sense to me for railcars to be transported by railroad to their destination. Since there aren't any passengers in them, crash safety standards shouldn't matter.

My view is that a private railroad should be able to haul what it wants to if it uses its own equipment on its own track; civil liability for mishaps would generally keep it from bad deeds. Then again, I forget that we now live under the age of Big Government.

[DutchRailnut]

The FRA will normaly have no problem hauling any equipment, as long as general airbrake requirements are met.
this however gets harder and harder as proprietairy brake setups preclude use of general brakepipe setup of 90 Lbs

[amm in ny]

The FRA will normaly have no problem hauling any equipment, as long as general airbrake requirements are met.
this however gets harder and harder as proprietairy brake setups preclude use of general brakepipe setup of 90 Lbs

Aren't there procedures for transporting equipment with non-functioning brakes? If so, I assume they could be used for new-fangled stock, even if their brakes weren't operated by standard air brake lines. (The way things are going, I half expect to see cars with brakes controlled by "friending" and "unfriending" them on facebook. end{snark} )

Also: would I be correct in assuming that the buffer (?) collision (?) strength requirements don't apply to passenger equipment that is merely being transported (i.e., w/o passengers) over railroads with freight trains?

[litz]

Correct ... a passenger car being transported without passengers is not subject to passenger train rules.

It's in effect similar to a locomotive "dead in tow" ...

Railroads will usually have passenger car rules that still apply ,though, since you can't run one over a hump, and they usually have much gentler handling rules applied.

This is presuming the car has compatible brakes to the freight train, and can be operated as part of the functional braking system for said train.

Nonfunctional/incompatible brakes are another story ... as an example, you simply can't tow 20 cars with nonfunctional brakes ... there would have to either be some manner to use the brakes on the cars, or use bypass lines + sufficient buffer cars that you can manage safe braking power.

It's not just the weight of the cars involved, it's buffer forces too as they bounce back and forth within the slack.

[MACTRAXX]

Everyone: I looked at this picture and I remember seeing pictures elsewhere of new NYC Subway equipment being delivered in that manner at least into the 1960s...

The gondola car behind the locomotive was a special car that uses a NYC Subway coupler on one end to allow movements in this manner...
This car had a specific name as well that I do not recall...

Back in the day I believe most if not all MU movements were by rail...Trucking or flat car moving have dated as far back as the 70s...

Thinking of deliveries of modern MU equipment I found it interesting that when the LIRR and MNCR got their M7 fleet delivered is that the LIRR M7 fleet
was on flat cars but MNCR's were not...The currently being delivered M8s are shipped in regular freight trains as pictured in the MNCR section...

Was there a change in FRA policy to change their policy of moving MU cars?

MACTRAXX

[DutchRailnut]

in those days even subway cars used standard Westinghouse air brakes, these days they do NOT.

[Milwaukee_F40C]

Rapid transit cars used to be built and outfitted more like railroad passenger cars and were harder to damage in freight railroad transportation than they are today. I think railroads don't really want the hassle of handling today's non AAR/FRA transit equipment with all the restrictions, special train movements, and waivers that would be needed to move the cars on their own wheels; or the liability of damaging or wearing out the delicate "high tech" equipment either on its own wheels or on a flat car. Freight train forces and speeds probably exceed the limits for most modern cars to move on their own wheels in tow. Putting a subway car on a flat car is not more or less straight forward than using a truck, and the flat car is probably a harsher environment anyway. Railroads simply do not have incentive to be competitive in transporting huge fleets of transit cars.