Boeing 737s - in "Trains" magazine?

The new September issue of "Trains" magazine has a nice, six-page article on the transport, by rail, of Boeing 737 fuselages (and other parts) from Spirit Aerosystems in Wichita to Boeing in Renton. There is a map of the route, showing the identities of the railroads involved, and all the photos are in color.

(Interestingly, the article makes no mention of the 2014 derailment in Montana that resulted in the scrapping of several 737 fuselages.)

 

When I worked in Everett on 767, I could see large railroad cars at the other end of the assembly building that proudly said something like "Another Quality Boeing 747 Component From Northrop Corporation". When I worked at Grumman's plant in Stuart, FL where we were building the lower Section 45 for the 767, I saw that our otherwise-identical rail cars were completely blank, so I mentioned the Northrop cars and asked why we weren't advertising our work similarly.

I was told that as the cars passed through the South, advertising like that would tend to invite pot shots by redneck yahoos who wanted to see these expensive components shot full of holes. If you didn't tell them what the contents were, they would be far less likely to take pot shots, since the contents might be, well, explosive! I would think that exposed aircraft fuselages would get more respect, but maybe not.

 

The triple-stack automobile carriers on trains were originally entirely open, but are now fully enclosed to prevent bullet holes; I presume the perforated metal panels now used are at least partially bullet-resistant.