RAILWAY TRAINS FOR COMBINATION RAILWAY AND PASSENGER AUTOMOBILE TRANSPORTATION, AND CARS THEREFOR

• US 3,557,712 A
• Filed: 05/08/1968
• Issued: 01/26/1971
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/1968
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Milenkovic Veljko
• Original Assignee: Milenkovic Veljko
• Inventors: MILENKOVIC VELJKO
• Application Number:
  US04/727,601
• Time in Patent Office: 993 Days
• US Class Current: 410/4
• CPC Class Codes: B61D 3/10 Articulated vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B61D 3/181 with special accommodation for the motor vehicle driver or passengers B61D1/06 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B61F 3/12 specially modified for carrying adjacent vehicle bodies of articulated trains

Abstract

There is disclosed a railway train for use in the railway transportation of both passenger automobiles and the passengers thereof comprising a front car and at least one automobile carrier and a rear car; the automobile carrier has a frame supported well above the tracks and carrying therebeneath a floor for supporting automobiles arranged laterally thereof, a lounge space being provided above the automobile storage space with stairways interconnecting the automobile storage space and the lounge space; the front car and the rear car also are provided with an automobile storage space in the lower portions thereof and a passenger lounge space in the upper portions thereof.

Claims

1. A railway car for the railway transportation of both passenger automobiles and the passengers thereof;

said car comprising an elongated frame supported adjacent to the opposite ends thereof upon running gears and positioned well above the associated railway track, first plurality of longitudinally spaced-apart depending hanger posts arranged along one side of said frame and extending downwardly therefrom, a second plurality of longitudinally spaced-apart depending hanger posts arranged along the other side of said frame and depending downwardly therefrom, a substantially horizontal lower floor carried by the lower ends of said posts and spaced a short distance above the associated railway track and longitudinally confined between said running gears, a plurality of coordinate laterally aligned pairs of confronting doorways provided on the opposite sides of said lower floor, whereby a passenger automobile may be driven onto and off of said lower floor through either of the two laterally aligned confronting doorways and whereby a passenger automobile on said lower floor extends laterally thereof, a plurality of doors respectively associated with said doorways and mounted upon said frame and selectively movable between open and closed positions with respect to said doorways, an upper floor carried by said frame and overlying said lower floor and cooperating therewith to provide an automobile storage space, a roof and sidewalls carried by said frame and cooperating with said upper floor to define an elongated enclosure to provide a passenger lounge space, and a stairway mounted on said frame and providing communication between said automobile storage space and said lounge space.

2. The railway car set forth in claim 1, wherein said lower floor extends laterally outwardly beyond said hanger posts and has a lateral dimension equal substantially to that of the automobiles to be carried thereon.

3. The railway car set forth in claim 1, wherein the dimensions of said lower floor accommodate the simultaneous support thereupon of a substantial number of passenger automobiles extending laterally thereof and disposed in side-by-side relation with each other.

4. The railway car set forth in claim 1, and further comprising wheel guides mounted on said floor and forming trackways for automobiles thereon, the storage positions of said automobiles providing alternately relatively narrow laterally extending spaces therebetween preventing the doors of the adjacent automobile from being opened and relative wide laterally extending spaces therebetween providing passenger walkways and permitting the doors of the adjacent automobiles to be fully opened, one of said stairways being mounted in each of said passenger walkways adjacent to one of said hanger posts and away from the adjacent doors of the associated automobiles, each of said stairways providing communication between the associated passenger walkway in said automobile storage space and said passenger lounge space.

5. The railway car set forth in claim 4, wherein the portions of said upper floor overlying said passenger walkways are deformed upwardly to provide additional headroom for passengers in said passenger walkways.

6. The railway car set forth in claim 1, and further comprising a passenger door in At least one of said sidewalls providing communication between said passenger lounge space and the exterior of said railway car.

7. A railway train for the transportation of passenger automobiles, said railway train comprising a front car and at least one automobile carrier and a rear car connected in tandem relationship;

first and second support trucks each extending well above the associated railway track;

said front car including an aerodynamically shaped body mounted on rail wheels at the front ends thereof and having a coupler at the rear end thereof pivotally mounted on said first support truck;

said automobile carrier including an elongated frame having a first coupler at the forward end thereof pivotally mounted upon said first support truck and having a second coupler at the rear end thereof pivotally mounted upon said second support truck, a first plurality of longitudinally spaced-apart depending hanger posts arranged along one side of said frame and depending downwardly therefrom, a second plurality of longitudinally spaced-apart depending hanger posts arranged along the other side of said frame and depending downwardly therefrom, a substantially horizontal floor carried by the lower ends of said posts and spaced a short distance above the associated railway track and being longitudinally confined between said first and second support trucks, a plurality of coordinated laterally aligned pairs of confronting doorways provided on the opposite sides of said floor whereby a passenger automobile may be driven onto and off of said floor through either of the laterally aligned confronting doorways and whereby an automobile on said floor extends laterally thereof, a plurality of doors respectively associated with said doorways and mounted upon said frame and selectively movable between open and closed positions with respect to said doorways, and a roof and sidewalls carried by said frame and cooperating with said floor and said doors to form an elongated enclosure about said frame, said rear car including an aerodynamically shaped body having a coupler at the forward end thereof pivotally mounted upon said second support truck and said rear car mounted at the rear end thereof upon rail wheels.

8. The railway train set forth in claim 7, wherein the ends of said cars adjacent to said support trucks are pivotally connected to each other and to the adjacent support truck.

9. The railway train set forth in claim 7, wherein each of said support trucks is pivotally connected to the adjacent one of said cars. 10. The railway train set forth in claim 7, wherein each of said support trucks has associated therewith a vertically extending pivot pin receivable in a complementary opening in the upper end of said truck, the couplers on said cars and said automobile carrier each having an opening extending vertically therethrough, the openings in each of the couplers on said automobile carrier being vertically alignable with the opening in the coupler of the adjacent car and with the opening in the adjacent support truck for receiving the associated pivot pin therethrough, whereby each end of said automobile carrier is pivotally coupled to the adjacent car and to the adjacent support truck.

11. The railway train set forth in claim 7, wherein each of said support trucks is of double-axle construction and has a pair of openings centrally disposed in the upper end thereof, the couplers on said cars and said automobile carrier each including a pivot pin depending therefrom and engageable in an adjacent one of the openings in the associated support truck, whereby each of said cars and said automobile carrier is pivotally coupled to the associated support truck.

12. A railway train for the railway transportation of both passenger automobiles and the passengers thereof, said railway train comprising a front car and at least one automobile carrier and a rear car connected in tandem relation;

said front car including an aerodynamically shaped body, rail wheels mounting the front of said body on the associated railway track and a first support truck mounting the rear of said body on an associated railway track;

said automobile carrier including an elongated frame mounted at the forward end thereof upon said first support truck on an associated railway track, a second support truck mounting the rear end of said frame on an associated railway track, a first plurality of longitudinally spaced-apart depending hanger posts arranged along one side of said frame and extending downwardly therefrom, a second plurality of longitudinally spaced-apart depending hanger posts arranged along the other side of said frame and depending downwardly therefrom, a substantially horizontal lower floor carried by the lower ends of said posts and spaced a short distance above the associated railway track and longitudinally confined between said first and second support trucks, a plurality of coordinate laterally aligned pairs of confronting doorways being provided on the opposite sides of said lower floor, whereby a passenger automobile may be driven onto and off of said lower floor through either of the two laterally aligned confronting doorways and whereby a passenger automobile on said lower floor extends laterally thereof, a plurality of doors respectively associated with said doorways and mounted upon said frame and selectively movable between open and closed positions with respect to said doorways, an upper floor carried by said frame and overlying said floor and cooperating therewith to provide an automobile storage space, a roof and sidewalls carried by said frame and cooperating with said upper floor to define an elongated enclosure to provide a passenger lounge space, the opposite ends of said passenger lounge space being open for communication with the passenger lounge spaces in adjacent cars, and a stairway mounted on said frame and providing communication between said automobile storage space and said passenger lounge space;

said rear car including an aerodynamically shaped body mounted at the forward end thereof upon said second support truck, and rail wheels mounting the rear end of said rear car upon an associated railway track.

13. A front railway car for the railway transportation of both passenger automobiles and the passengers thereof;

said car comprising an enclosed body, said body including two longitudinally extending truss structures interconnected at spaced-apart points therealong to maintain said truss structures in general parallelism, each of said truss structures being supported adjacent to the opposite ends thereof upon running gears and positioned well above the associated railway track, a lower deck suspended from said truss structures and spaced a short distance above the associated railway track, an upper deck supported by said truss structures and disposed above said lower deck for dividing said body into an automobile storage space in the lower portion thereof and a passenger lounge in the upper portion thereof, coordinate laterally aligned pairs of confronting doorways provided on the opposite sides of said body, whereby a passenger automobile may be driven into and out of said automobile storage space through either one of the two laterally aligned confronting doorways and whereby an automobile in said lower portion extends laterally thereof, a plurality of doors respectively associated with said doorways and mounted upon said body and selectively movable between open and closed positions with respect to said doorways, a stairway interconnecting said automobile storage space in the lower portion and said passenger lounge space in the upper portion, and a source of motive power mounted in said body and connected to at least one of said running gears and propelling said front railway car.

14. A rear railway car for the railway transportation of both passenger automobiles and the passengers thereof;

said car comprising an enclosed body, said body including two longitudinally extending truss structures interconnected at spacEd-apart points therealong to maintain said truss structures in general parallelism, each of said truss structures being supported adjacent to the opposite ends thereof upon running gears and positioned well above the associated railway track, a lower deck suspended from said truss structures and spaced a short distance above the associated railway track, an upper deck supported by said truss structures and disposed above said lower deck for dividing said body into an automobile storage space in the lower portion thereof and a passenger lounge in the upper portion thereof, coordinate laterally aligned pairs of confronting doorways provided on the opposite sides of said body, whereby a passenger automobile may be driven into and out of said automobile storage space through either one of the two laterally aligned confronting doorways and whereby an automobile in said lower portion extends laterally thereof, a plurality of doors respectively associated with said doorways and mounted upon said body and selectively movable between open and closed positions with respect to said doorways, and a stairway interconnecting said automobile storage space in the lower portion and said passenger lounge space in the upper portion.

15. A railway car for the railway transportation of passengers automobiles said car comprising an elongated frame, said frame including two longitudinally extending truss structures interconnected at spaced-apart points therealong to maintain said truss structures in general parallelism, each of said truss structures being supported adjacent to the opposite ends thereof upon running gears and positioned well above the associated railway track, a first plurality of longitudinally spaced-apart depending hanger posts arranged along one of said truss structures and extending downwardly therefrom, a second plurality of longitudinally spaced-apart depending hanger posts arranged along the other of the truss structures and extending downwardly therefrom, a substantially horizontal floor carried by the lower ends of said posts and spaced a short distance above the associated railway track and having the ends thereof longitudinally confined between said running gears, a plurality of coordinated laterally aligned confronting doorways provided on the opposite sides of said floor, whereby a passenger automobile may be driven onto and off of said floor through either one of the laterally aligned confronting doorways and whereby an automobile on said floor extends laterally thereof, a plurality of doors respectively associated with said doorways and mounted upon said frame and selectively movable between open and closed positions with respect to said doorways, and a roof and sidewalls carried by said frame and cooperating with said floor and said doors to form an elongated enclosure about said frame.

16. The railway car set forth in claim 15, wherein each of said truss structures includes a longitudinally extending upper beam, a longitudinally extending inner lower beam disposed vertically beneath said upper beam substantially parallel thereto, a longitudinally extending outer lower beam disposed outboard of said inner lower beam substantially parallel thereto, a plurality of vertically arranged and longitudinally spaced-apart inner members interconnecting said upper beam and said inner lower beam, a plurality of horizontally arranged and longitudinally spaced-apart bottom members interconnecting said inner lower beam and said outer lower beam, and a plurality of longitudinally spaced-apart outer members interconnecting said upper beam and said outer lower beam, whereby the transverse cross section of each of said truss structures is substantially triangular in outline.

17. The railway car set forth in claim 16, wherein said first hanger posts depend from the inner lower beam of one of said truss structures and said second hanger posts depend from the outer lower beam of the other of said truss structures.

18. The railway car set forth in claim 16, wherein one of said trusS structures further comprises an intermediate lower beam disposed between said inner and outer lower beams substantially parallel thereto, and a plurality of intermediate longitudinally spaced-apart members interconnecting said upper beam and said intermediate lower beam, said lower members including a plurality of first lower members interconnecting said inner lower beam and said intermediate lower beam and a plurality of second lower members interconnecting said intermediate lower beam and said outer lower beam.

19. The railway car set forth in claim 15, and further comprising a plurality of automobile trackways on said floor corresponding in number to the number of said pairs of doorways and disposed in lateral alignment therewith.

20. The railway car set forth in claim 15, wherein there are at least three of said doorways on each side thereof.

21. The railway car set forth in claim 15, wherein each of said doors is pivoted adjacent to the upper end thereof and swings outwardly and upwardly away from the associated doorway.

22. The railway car set forth in claim 15, and further comprising passenger walkways respectively disposed between adjacent pairs of automobiles on said floor, whereby the doors of the automobiles adjacent to said passenger walkways may be opened to permit access to and egress from the automobiles.

23. The railway car set forth in claim 15, wherein the dimensions of said floor accommodate the simultaneous support thereupon of a substantial number of passenger automobiles extending laterally thereof and disposed in side-by-side relation with each other.