Hello all,

I saw this post on trainorders.com where a poster states that the
original auto-carriers have been sold to a scrap dealer in Texas:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,934896,nodelay=1

This seems plausible, given Amtrak's recent efforts at scrapping or
selling anything that might be considered surplus. If true, however,
it also marks a major loss for preserving the history of both American
passenger trains and the freight car design.

The Auto Train concept and the corporation were widely viewed as an
alternative free-market solution to the passenger train question in
the early-mid 1970's, and the service continues to be one of the more
innovative passenger train operations in the US. Likewise, many of
these cars were built for Canadian National in 1957 (where they were
used in freight service) - and could also be preserved there as well.

The listing for the Walthers model of this car states that they were
important in shaping the design of later hi-cube box cars and
tri-level auto racks -- is this true?

With all this said, does anyone see a way to preserve at least one of
these cars somewhere?

Tom Cornillie