• A prototype box car for miscellaneous automobile parts has been put in service by the N&W in a joint experiment with Ford Motor Co. The capacity of the 60-foot, 100-ton car has been increased from 6,000 cubic feet to 7,108 cubic feet by raising its height from 15 feet, 2 inches, to 17 feet. The increased capacity will enable rail loads to be increased from 55,000 pounds to 75,000 pounds.
• An advanced locomotive and train simulator designed exclusively for the training of locomotive engineers is to be built by the Canadian National at its locomotive engineer training center in Gimii, Manitoba. In addition to simulating actual operating environments with a high degree of realism, it also will provide instantaneous and continuous displays of force levels that occur at all points in the theoretical train being operated. It is expected to be in full operation no later than 1975.
• Penn Central is arranging to acquire by lease 114 new diesel-electric freight locomotives from the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors Corp. The units will be used to retire 120 diesels which will have passed the point of economical repair.
• An $18 million expenditure for 1,000 jumbo covered hopper cars to augment Burlington Northern's grain-carrying fleet was approved by the railway's board of directors. The purchase will boost the railroad's capital outlay for equipment in 1973 to $89.6 million, and total planned capital expenditures for the year to $153 million.
• Cash-poor railroads facing freight car fleet problems are being offered help by the U.S. Railway Equipment Co., a subsidiary of Evans Products. Under the program, railroads experiencing difficulty in providing cars and forced to retire a large number of cars each year may sell the obsolescent cars to U.S. Railway. The company will rebuild the units and lease them back to the original owner.
Source: The "Signs of the times" department in the March/April issue of Progressive Railroading
