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C&O RoadRailer #121 at Grand Rapids, Michigan in June, 1983

 

Former C&O RoadRailer #121, stored along Market Street in Grand Rapids during June, 1983.

The C&O introduced RoadRailers in the late 1950s as a means of more efficiently moving packages and pre-sorted mail between Grand Rapids, Muskegon and Detroit. They were coupled to scheduled passenger trains by means of an adapter truck. At each end of their run, they were hauled to their final destinations singly over the road. After the first few years, RoadRailer service was expanded to include Grand Rapids-Chicago and Grand Rapids-Traverse City runs.

These home-built RoadRailers predated the modern roadrailers built by Wabash National by approximately 20 years. Until Wabash National introduced their version, the C&O was the only railroad in the United States to use roadrailers in regular service, which they did from the late 1950s until the loss of mail service contracts in the late 1960s.

When the RoadRailers were taken out of service, they were put to use as storage sheds at points around the C&O system in Michigan. Most of them stayed close to Wyoming Yard, however.

Photo by Fritz Milhaupt

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