With success in the RoadRailer field with Triple Crown Service, Wabash National looked for other ways to adapt its RoadRailer technology to other types of trailers.      One of the most innovative concepts was the AutoRailer. It is a RoadRailer-like trailer that is a special 53' ultra-high-cube van designed specifically for the automotive industry. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, always looking for innovative ideas, took delivery of five of these special Wabash trailers, numbered them SFTZ #460000 to SFTZ #460001, and had them painted in the new "SuperFleet" paint scheme, which was also being applied to the new safety cab locomotives Santa Fe was buying from General Motors and General Electric.      Santa Fe's AutoRailers were assigned in revenue service to the train designated the V-SDGRIC, which ran between San Diego, CA and Richmond, CA, from late 1997 to early 1998. The train's job was to transport automobiles, Hondas, to Richmond from San Diego, and although it was never finalized, to bring Toyotas from Richmond to San Diego. The AutoRailers were used for a while, however the traffic to support additional trailer purchases never materialized, and so the trailers spent their lives being placed at different parts of the system, now the vast Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway. A public trace, available from BNSF's computers, done in July 1999, reported the trailers to be Naperville, IL: SFTZ 460000 - Naperville, IL SFTZ 460001 - Naperville, IL SFTZ 460002 - Naperville, IL - in use by Trucker RWCK SFTZ 460003 - Chicago, IL - in use by Trucker BNSF SFTZ 460004 - Naperville, IL - in use by Trucker RWCK      The trailers were eventually sold to Honda, and the company currently uses the trailers for automotive operations in Mexico.      For additional prototype information, as well as measurements, please visit Wabash National's official AutoRailer page.

SFTZ #460001	SFTZ #460001	SFTZ #460001
Click for full size Broadside view - Richmond, CA 09-24-1997	Click for full size 3/4 view - Richmond, CA 09-24-1997	Click for full size Front view - Richmond, CA 09-24-1997
SFTZ #460001	SFTZ #460001	SFTZ #460001
Click for full size Front connects. The box at the upper left is for 12VDC power from the tractor to run the rack motor. Note the "hitch" for connectiong to another trailer while in "train" ops. - Richmond, CA 09-24-1997	Click for full size Landing gear, left side view - Richmond, CA 09-24-1997	Click for full size Back view - Richmond, CA 09-24-1997
SFTZ #460001	SFTZ #460001	SFTZ #460001
Click for full size Rear view with one door open; note the the two-piece ramps stowed on the door. There are two more ramp pieces stowed on the left door too. - Richmond, CA 09-24-1997	Click for full size The inner track for dual-level auto loading. The rack is moved up/down with a 12VDC motor mounted in the nose - Richmond, CA 09-24-1997	Click for full size This rack is all the way down. Note the pile of tie down straps - Richmond, CA 09-24-1997
	SFTZ #460001
	Click for full size Here is the 12VDC rack motor up in the nose. It is powered from a tractor via cables. - Richmond, CA 09-24-1997
SFLC #460000	WNCR #1183	WNCR #1183
Click for full size Here is the CouplerMate for adapting from standard freight cars to the RoadRailer System. This one has SFLC reporting marks - Richmond, CA 09-24-1997	Click for full size An intermediate "bogie" on which the AutoRailers ride. This one has Wabash reporting marks. - Richmond, CA 09-24-1997	Click for full size An end view of a bogie. Note the brake gear on board. - Richmond, CA 09-24-1997

Currently there are no commercially available models of Wabash National's AutoRailer trailer, although Bowser Trains does have a licensing agreement with Wabash National to produce models of their RoadRailers. Bowser has produced a model Santa Fe RoadRailer, with twelve different road numbers, even though ATSF never had any RoadRailers. This model ATSF RoadRailer can be accepted for the prototype Santa Fe AutoRailer, as in a model consist, shown here by Steven Emerson the spotting features between a RoadRailer and AutoRailer are not readily observed. The decision to accept this compromise is left up to the individual hobbyist.      If the modeler is inclined, Bowser Trains does sell undecorated versions of their Roadrailer, and Microscale produces a Santa Fe AutoRailer decal in HO scale, thus a theoretical fleet could be built for one's model railroad.