Intermodal railway car

DETAILED DESCRIPTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a mechanical structure for an intermodal railway car which will meet the plate B AAR Clearance Standards when hauling as cargo a variety of types of trailers and containers including the forty-five foot trailers on intermodal railway car.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a depressed center intermodal railway car of such design as to maximize the ability of such railway car to meet the height requirements with rubber tired vehicle trailers loaded thereon in accordance with the Plate B Clearance Standards of the AAR.
It is still another object of the present invention to construct an intermodal railway car designed to minimize material and labor costs in the assembly and construction of such intermodal railway cars.
It is a further object of the present invention to reduce the profile vertically and laterally to obtain reduced wind resistance to maximize the fuel efficiency of the intermodal railway car.
It is still another object of the present invention to further reduce the economic costs of construction of such intermodal railway cars by utilizing an articulated connection between several cars upon a limited number of railway trucks thereby reducing substantially the costs of such construction.
These and other objects of the present invention, together with the advantages thereof over existing and prior art forms which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the detailed disclosure of the present invention as set forth hereinbelow, are accomplished by the improvements herein shown, described and claimed.
It has been found that an intermodal railway car for the transportation of various types of over the highway vehicle trailers and containers can comprise: a set of two fabricated side sills; at each end thereof and connected therebetween a structural web; the structural webs terminating in a stub center sill; the stub center sill having a pivotal connection with and between a railway truck for traversing over the railway; a depressed center structure to provide support for rubber tired vehicle trailers or containers as may be placed therein; the depressed center structure being depressed in an amount sufficient to allow the intermodal railway car to meet the Plate B height restrictions when carrying a rubber tired over the highway vehicle trailer; and the depressed center structure being supported by and attached to the side sills