Period photo(s) of Mark IIs on car hauler?

[Barry Wolk]

I concur that the vast majority went by rail, however, I've only heard once that they were delivered to customer's homes, uncrated and given their first service by a mechanic from the Continental Division.

[Pat Marshall]

I'm interested in any documentation of shipment by rail.

I have all (but the I.U.'s) invoices and nearly every one lists the shipping ("via") as a trucking company. A few were left blank, some were "Factory Delivery" (prep in plant and customer pick-up). I don't recall ever seeing mention of rail shipment, so I really would like info on that.

[Barry Wolk]

They were shipped by truck for short trips and rail for long trips. We saw cars on train carriers all the time in the Detroit area. Since there was no RR siding at the plant they were all initially shipped by truck, hence the notations.

[Barry Wolk]

[Mark Norris]

Yep, I'm sure the film I saw had The Continental Mkii's being loaded into covered rail cars

[Pat Marshall]

I'm not doubting that they were shipped by rail. My documentation only references trucking shipments. Being a documented history kind of guy, I am looking for the source of the shipment by rail information.

Since Mark II's were such low production, I'm wondering if they could ever fill a whole rail car with II's. It seems to me that one or two cars on a train car which generally held 15 or so cars, would create some big handling problems and risk at the freight load break-down and transfer facilities. I'm really interested how that was done.

[Barry Wolk]

Modern enclosed haulers have a elevator platform. I wonder what it saved by building a platform for loading cars? The the hydraulics of a carrier make loading and unloading quite simple, if you know what you're doing.

It appears the car could be accessed through a zippered window opening on the side, so the cover could be left on during transfers.

[Mark Norris]

I'm pretty sure in the film I saw the covered rail cars only had one level so say 5 Mkii's in each. They certainly were not out in the open like the cars in the rail photo.