A railroad car arranged to transport automobiles comprises a floor, a roof, a pair of spaced side walls, at least one door assembly and means for guiding the door assembly to a position adjacent a side wall to enable loading and unloading of the railroad car. A rail secures the lower end of the door assembly, the rail being positioned along the floor of the railroad car. Extensions are attached to the door assembly and are in sliding engagement with the rail. The rail has two interrupted portions through which the tires of an automobile will pass during loading and unloading. The extensions attached to the door assembly are aligned onto the rail after passing through the interrupted portions during opening and closing by a pair of rail segments. The rail segments are spaced at an angle towards the rail and away from the interrupted portions and are attached to the floor at both ends of each interrupted portion. The door assemblies, when in the closed position, are secured at the inerrupted portions by a pin or metal wedge, a correspondingly sized aperture or slit, and means for effecting relative movement therebetween.
An improved sliding door composed of articulated strips in which the novel features are a high guide containing a rotating vertical wheel that supports two adjacent strips and a rotating horizontal wheel that follow a curved track. Additional features include a floor guide that contains only straight segments that are not joined together the corner and a base guide attached to the articulated strips that travels within the floor guide without touching said floor guide during stationary or ordinary operation of the door.
