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PC: Regarding the Verti Pak cars.



Guys I asked a friend of mine who worked at PRR/PC/CR in the automotive area . Here is his comment :
I'm 99% sure the answer is no, but I just emailed Elly Wefel with the question a few minutes ago.  He'll know for sure.  The way I remember it, the Vertapacs were intended to haul Vegas from Lordstown to the west coast, where clearances weren't an issue.  I remember seeing one of those beasts being loaded at Lordstown, and also saw them in PC freights at Marion, Ohio in the early 70s.  They were intended to carry 30 Vegas upright like sides of beef, but when GM gave up on the disastrous aluminum block for Vega engines and went back to cast iron, the Vegas got heavier and the Vertapacs could now only carry 26 of them without overloading the cars!  Since you could get 18 of them on a standard tri-level, the VP's lost their economic advantage.  They were obvious high maintenance cars to begin with.
 
 Elly Wefel confirmed what I said before - VertaPacs were never loaded to eastern auto ramps.  They were strictly for west coast traffic routed PC-Chicago-RI or MILW to the SP.  I think they were out of service before Conrail, replaced by conventional tri-levels.
 
  there is your answer ----------------   Ken McCorry 

 

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