Auto Ramp and Pig Ramp

 I got the idea for the auto ramp from Chuck Hitchcock, but I’m not sure I operate mine the way he operated his. On AIR 1 I had an industry I called the auto ramp. The idea was based on Chuck’s model, and a railfan visit I made to the Ford Distribution Center, or a mixing plant, in Wentsville, MO.

This idea almost made me want to model contemporary railroading instead of 1952 because it allows modelers to switch auto racks instead of simply run them across the layout. Auto racks of finished automobiles come in, are spotted, unloaded, then the racks are respotted and reloaded, and moved to their final destinations with automobiles bound for that destination. It’s important to keep Bi-level and Tri-level auto racks segregated, and spot them for loading as needed.

My 1952 version does the same thing but with automobile boxcars. These cars arrive and are spotted at the auto ramp’s dock,  where unloading is simulated between sessions. When I modeled the dock, there are lots of Classic Metal’s car models spotted around the dock. The idea is that local car dealers order specific cars for their showrooms or customers. Enough cars come from the factory to fill these orders, all these cars get delivered to the Littlerock auto ramp where the boxcars are unloaded then some are reloaded and these boxcars get moved to their final destinations with the correct makes and models to fill the dealerships orders.

I built a small fleet of wooden outside braced 50’ auto boxcars with end doors for this traffic. These along with boxcars from many other roads get spotted at the auto ramp. Since beginning this operation I have learned that new automobile transportation in boxcars severely declined in the late 1940’s and while auto parts traffic was dominated by 50’ cars, what little new, finished car transport traffic there still was usually traveled in 40’ cars. No matter, I’ve been collecting more 40’ automobile boxcars, and the Atlantic Inland was always a cutting edge railroad, right?

On AIR 1 the schedule had one train dedicated to automobile traffic, #98 the “Ford Fast”, it was the other half to #97 the “Florida Perishable”. The pair handled expedited perishable traffic from Florida to the Midwest and expedited auto parts traffic from Detroit to auto plants in the Southeast.

On AIR 2 this pair will continue, the only modification will be they will fill tonnage in both directions with expedited LCL traffic.

The Auto Ramp will live on on AIR 2 as well.

Part of the Auto Ramp on AIR 1 was a piggy back loading track. It was the center track of the three track auto ramp track layout, which died into the loading dock. Truck trailers were loaded on flatcars “circus style”, and there was a note in the time table that loaded piggyback flats had to be spotted at this dock with the kingpin facing the dock. Cars facing the wrong direction were supposed to be turned on the turntable then re-spotted.

This rule SEEMED to be fun, but to be honest was a real nuisance to the switch crew, so I rarely, IF EVER, routed a car there that ended up facing in the wrong direction.

On AIR 2 I plan to have a piggyback loading ramp but it will be separate from the auto ramp and will feature one major procedural twist. Taking an idea I borrowed from John Parker and his BN Fall River layout and Doug Geiger‘s Granite Mountain lines layout, I am going to provide truck trailers that are way billed, the switch crew will have to read the numbers on the trailers and physically (0-5-0) these trailers onto flat cars, then classify these flats into blocks ready for connections with appropriate trains.

When you sign up for the Fall River Intermodal job on John Parker’s layout, they give you a magnifying glass, ouch.

I have already painted and lettered a fleet of 20’ and 32’ truck trailers for AIRX with different numbers along with many different trailers from other railroads and trucking companies. This operation is a little bit anachronistic for a 1952 layout, but not totally implausible since I am not introducing “Truck Train”  or TTX service, only a few TOFC loads for several different trains. Single TOFC loads were fairly common in 1952.

I’m interested in your thoughts about the Auto Ramp concept. I’d also like to hear how you established procedures for TOFC operations on your layout and what you think of my ideas.