Mack Rail – The Rail Cars

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Mack Trucks Inc., America’s oldest commercial vehicle manufacturer, is also the oldest rail motor car manufacturer in the United States.

The company sold its first “rail car” to the Uintah Railway Company of Colorado in 1903. Construction began at Mack Trucks’ Brooklyn plant on Atlantic Avenue and was completed in Allentown’s No.1 Division.

Mack delivered its second rail car to another Colorado operator, the Silverton Northern Railroad, on August 22, 1905 where it provided passenger service between Eureka and Silverton.

The company designed and produced rail cars (also referred to as rail buses), self-propelled railway passenger cars and locomotives.

Always leading America forward with cutting edge technology, Mack Trucks was a pioneer in the United States of the concept now commonly known as "light rail".

From the versatile Model AB rail bus to the highly advanced Model FCD, Mack Trucks met the needs of both rural communities and cities worldwide with affordable, efficient and versatile public transport.

Gasoline, gas-electric and diesel-electric “rolling stock” was produced at the company’s plants in Allentown, Pennsylvania and Plainfield, New Jersey.

Forty railroads and twenty-three industrial companies in the continental United States, Hawaii, Canada, Bolivia, Columbia, Cuba, Honduras, Korea and Spain have operated rolling stock produced by Mack Trucks.

Mack rolling stock remains in operation to the present day. One of four Mack FCD rail buses purchased by Sperry Rail Service continues to operate in year 2015, some 61 years after being built, performing ultrasonic rail testing for microscopic fissures on the New York City subway system and elsewhere.

The Allentown plant produced the first two and one-half ton 25-45 horsepower Model AB omnibus type passenger rail bus in late 1920 for the Chesapeake Western Railway in 1920.

In 1921, Mack assembled the first five ton 64 horsepower Model AC omnibus type passenger rail bus for The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.

Both the AB and AC models were fitted with a double axle four flanged wheel pony truck at the front, and a single axle two flanged wheel railway truck at the rear.

Between 1920 and 1925, contemporary railroad and street railway car builders including Philadelphia-based J.G. Brill Company, Worcester, Massachusetts-based Osgood-Bradley Car Company and Paris, Illinois-based McGuire-Cummings Manufacturing Company all fabricated bodies for Mack rail buses.

In 1923, Mack Trucks expanded its rail bus range with the introduction of the 60-80 horsepower Model ACX, which featured a four wheel rear truck and longer chassis to accommodate longer bodies.

Mack Trucks – A “Light Rail” Pioneer

From 1903 thru the 1950s, Mack engineers helped pioneered the concept of “light rail” in North America and around the world.

As we strive today to improve air quality and reduce energy consumption for a more sustainable future, a forward-thinking Mack Trucks was already addressing these issues head-on almost one hundred years ago.

Mack’s culminating achievement, the advanced Model FCD light rail bus, represented cutting edge light rail technology ahead of its time (such was the norm at Mack Trucks, the iconic American manufacturer that created future trends rather than follow existing ones). Fast, efficient and comfortable, the Mack FCD provided an ever-growing number of commuters with high-performance public transport between suburban areas and city centers. At a time when urban planners and transport companies are looking once more to light rail as a flexible, environmentally friendly and highly economical means of public transport, the fundamentals of Mack’s FCD light rail bus are as valid today as they were 65 years ago.

Like its light rail vehicle producing successors Alstom, Bombardier and Siemens, the rolling stock unit of Mack Trucks consistently offered innovative and environmentally-friendly technologies for efficient and cost-effective public rail transport, providing operators with high levels of capacity and operational flexibility for both urban and regional requirements.

Related reading:

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/33469-mack-rail-the-rail-cars/?p=216270

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/33544-mack-rail-global-sales/?hl=acx

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/33657-mack-rail-the-locomotives/?p=218642

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/33763-mack-rail-sperry-rail-service-the-oldest-operator-of-mack-rail-buses/?hl=fcd

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/39495-update-sperry-rails-mack-fcd-rail-bus/?hl=fcd

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/33179-mack-trucks-sales-marketing/?hl=fcd#entry214970

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/34219-mack-trucks-the-facilities/?hl=plainfield#entry226401

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Mack Rail – Meeting mobility needs with innovative and environmentally-friendly solutions

Where the usual train is composed of separate pulling and trailing units, great weight of the pulling unit (which carries no useful load) is necessary to secure traction, and corresponding robust construction is essential in each part in order that it may withstand the shocks of coupling.

In the Mack Rail Car, all of the useful load contributes directly to the traction for both driving and braking, permitting a corresponding reduction in the dead weight. This advantage, in addition to a total absence of coupler impact, plus the use of anti-friction ball and roller bearings, alloy wheels and aluminum and pressed steel sections assures heavy duty characteristics with the economy of light weight.

The rail car is not a motor truck. Nevertheless, in its construction are employed many principles of engineering and mechanical parts which are the result of highway transport development.

The Mack Rail Car consists of a chassis upon which a body is mounted. The chassis is entirely self-contained and capable of operation without the body.

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Where the rail car belongs

Many railroad lines have lost so much of their passenger traffic to inter-urban trolleys and highway vehicles that their remaining patrons can be carried in much smaller units than the conventional locomotive and two-car train.

Therefore short-line officials are brought face to face with the fact that with rapidly mounting cost of service and decreasing numbers of passengers, it is now, in the majority of cases, no longer a question of showing a profit but rather of how much the operating losses can be reduced. They have accomplished wonders in the way of cutting expenses to the bone, but are nevertheless waging a losing battle with steam equipment, because the cost of operating even the lightest two-car train is greater than the revenue from the few passengers carried. Gasoline propelled rail cars have shown that they can handle light passenger traffic satisfactorily and at much less expense than is possible with steam equipment.

Mack Rail Cars are capable of providing clean, comfortable, safe and reasonably rapid passenger service, and can be operated for approximately one-quarter of the expense of steam equipment. They offer an opportunity of eliminating present operating losses with a possibility of actually turning them into a profit. In addition to their marked ability to operate economically, Mack Rail Cars are instantly popular as a strictly modern conveyance designed for a specific purpose.

Single gasoline-propelled rail cars, in addition to being a practical answer for such situations, are also ideal for operating in new undeveloped sections that must await the time when traffic will warrant the installation of heavier equipment.

Because the capacity is limited to the requirements of a special type of passenger traffic, they can be built lighter than equipment designed for heavy, long-distance loads. This lightness, coupled with the fact that the speed does not exceed 10 miles per hour, permits the use of moderate power, and moderate power means moderate costs.

Where the traffic is too heavy to be carried on one car, it is frequently practical to run two cars, and at that time give the public the advantage of a more attractive schedule, at an operating cost that does not exceed half that of a single steam train.

The International Motor Company manufactures Mack Rail Cars of two capacities, models AB and AC.

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[kscarbel2]

The Organization behind the Product

When the internal combustion engine was rapidly developing from an experiment into a practical power plant, the Mack Brothers applied it for the first time in America to commercial highway transportation. The manufacturers of the present-day Mack are the oldest builders of motor trucks in America.

For some time prior to the production of the first Mack, Adolph Saurer, of Arbon, Switzerland, had been making motor trucks in Europe. The Saurer has long been recognized as the finest of European motor trucks and is still being manufactured in Switzerland, France, Germany and Austria through its original founder. The first Saurer was built in 1894.

Shortly after the Mack truck had established itself in the American market, the Hewitt Motor Company was founded by Edward R. Hewitt, an engineer of international fame. The first Hewitt light delivery truck was delivered in 1901, and the first 5-ton truck was delivered in 1905. The largest motor trucks ever marketed in America were the 10-ton Hewitts.

A consolidation of Mack Brothers, Saurer and Hewitt was brought about for the purpose of combining the best features of their respective products in the manufacture of a finer motor truck than existed at that time. All of these vehicles were pioneers in their field and had long records of service behind them, both in America and abroad.

By combining the outstanding features of these three trucks, and applying the same engineering genius and skill, the modern Mack truck has been evolved. The company now building the Mack truck was incorporated as the International Motor Company in October, 1911. More than one-third of the employees at the time of the consolidation are still with the present company.

The remarkable efficiency of the present-day Mack Truck and Mack Rail Car is maintained by the many factors of safety that it embodies – case-hardened parts, large bearing surfaces, long pistons and connecting rods, wide-faced transmission gears, and ample sized springs and axles.

Efficiency and safety are more than technical considerations with Mack engineers. They have acquired a traditional significance and importance that fairly dominate the Mack drafting rooms. They are reflected on the highways by performance characteristics.

In the final analysis, proper engineering, efficient service and master workmanship are the three sturdy legs that support the ultimate performance record of a Mack truck, and that form the foundation of its present-day leadership in the field.

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An introduction to the Mack Model AC Rail Car

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An introduction to the Mack Model AB Rail Car

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Mack Rail – Performance and Operational Costs

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Mack Rail – The Sustainable and Economical Approach to Public Rail Transport

• No coaling plants
• No watering tanks
• No ash pits
• No steaming delays
• No fuel consumed while standing
• No night fire-banking
• No excess heavy equipment wear on tracks and bridges
• No smoke or cinders to necessitate frequent cleaning

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[kscarbel2]

Providing Railway Operators with Innovative Solutions

Mack AB model rail cars

• Aberdeen & Rockfish Railroad
• Bernabe S. Batista (Cuba)
• Bowdon Railway Company
• Camp A.A. Humphrey (U.S. Army)
• Central West Virginia & Southern Railroad
• Chesapeake Western
• Chestnut Ridge Railway
• Columbian National Railways
• Condon, Kinzua & Southern Railroad
• East Kentucky Southern Railway
• Gilmore & Pittsburgh Railroad
• Greenbrier & Eastern Railroad
• Guantanamo & Western (Cuba)
• Hawaii Construction Railway
• Manitoba Power Company
• Manitoba Hydro Electric
• Mount Hood Railroad
• Narragansett Pier Railroad
• New Mexico Central Railroad
• Pacific Gas & Electric
• Pittsburgh, Lisbon & Western Railroad
• Sewell Valley Railroad
• Spalding Miami Lumber Company
• Stone Harbor Railroad
• Tela Railroad (serving the United Fruit Company - Honduras)
• Tropical Oil Company (Columbia – subsidiary of Toronto-based Imperial Oil Ltd.)
• The Atchinson, Topeka & Sante Fe Railroad
• The Phoenix Utility Company
• Willamina & Grand Ronde Railroad
• Winnipeg Electric Company

Mack AC model rail cars

• Artemus & Jellico Railroad
• Buffalo Creek & Gauley Railroad
• Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad
• Covadonga Railway (Cuba)
• Great Northern Railroad
• Havana Central
• Lewisburg, Milton & Watsonville Passenger Railway Company
• Narragansett Pier Railroad
• New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad
• Northern Pacific Railroad
• Rapid City, Back Hills & Western Railroad
• Southeast Lumber
• Spokane, Portland & Seattle railroad
• The Pennsylvania & Kentucky Railroad
• Winnipeg Hydro Electric

Mack ACX model rail cars

• California Western Railroad
• Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad
• United Railways of Havana
• Western Union Telegraph

Mack ACP model rail cars

• Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad

Mack AQ model rail cars

• Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad
• Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad New York Central
• Pennsylvania Railroad
• South Manchurian Railway (Korea)

Mack AR model rail cars

• Great Northern Railway
• Monongahela Railway
• Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad
• Reading Company
• Southern Pacific Lines

Mack AS model rail cars

• Canadian National
• Greater Winnipeg Water District Railway
• Winnipeg Electric

Mack BK model rail cars

• Wilkes-Barre & Hazleton Railroad

Mack BX model rail cars

• Patino Railroad (Bolivia - tin mining)

Mack FCD model rail bus

• Ferro-Carril de Langreo (Spain)
• New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad
• Sperry Rail Service

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Mack AB Rail Cars

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Mack AC Rail Cars

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Mack ACX Rail Cars

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Mack FCD Rail Bus

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[james j neiweem]

Wow! Did Mack ever get into aviation Planes rockets etc.?

[kscarbel2]

Wow! Did Mack ever get into aviation Planes rockets etc.?

Speaking of aviation, Mack chief engineer and vice president Alfred Masury was a strong proponent of rigid airships.Had he not met an untimely death (http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/39563-mack-remembrance-alfred-fellows-masury/?hl=masury), I wouldn't have been a bit surprised if he had taken Mack Trucks into some aspect of aviation.

From another angle, legendary Mack President and CEO Zenon C.R. Hansen was an early supporter of corporate aviation.

[Lmackattack]

Great info as always.

Maybe I missed it but do you know about the time that Mack left the rail market?

[kscarbel2]

Great info as always.

Maybe I missed it but do you know about the time that Mack left the rail market?

My pleasure to share more history about America's most iconic truckmaker, so that it may not be forgotten.

Facing a market contraction in 1959, Mack Trucks phased out rolling stock production in 1960. With that it mind, it's ironic though not surprising that some units like Sperry Rail Service's FCD continue to operate thru the present day.

[39 Baby Mack]

Mack FCD Rail Bus

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Frederick C. Dumaine

F C D

President of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford R.R.

Ron