From Hooniverse.com... I've never quite seen one in this mode of transport. Image Unavailable, Please Login
The entire 737 fuselage is assembled in Wichita, and then transported to Renton, WA via train. Many stories about how Boeing has to carefully inspect each arriving fuselage for non-standard holes created by small projectiles (e.g. .22 cal) [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErnScsC2lyw[/ame]
When I had worked in Everett on the 767, I had often seen the rail cars which were used to bring aircraft sections into the plant, often from Northrop down in CA. They were usually emblazoned with text in big letters along the lines of "Another Quality 747 Component from Northrop". When I then returned to Grumman and was sent down to Stuart, FL to do some liaison work on the first 767 structure that we were building for Boeing, I saw the new rail car that they brought in for the same purpose. It was identical in design to the rail cars I had seen in Everett, but it had no markings whatsoever except the ones required by the railroad authorities. When I asked why we weren't also advertising our presence like Northrop had, I was reminded that this was the deep South, and there was a good chance that somebody would take pot shots at the car if they knew what was in it. If the car was unidentified, that would be far less likely (presumably, because the contents might be explosive).
Our resident expert (former F-18 technician) tells me that they are wrapped and transported that way from very hard carrier landings or burned out fuselages from brake fires.
