A flexible gear coupling includes two external gears and two internal gears meshing with the respective two external gears. A tooth root crowning radius of each external gear is smaller than a tooth tip crowning radius of the external gear. The external gear is formed such that a reference tooth height that is a tooth height at a tooth width direction middle position is smaller than an end tooth height that is a tooth height at a tooth width direction end position. A ratio of the end tooth height to the reference tooth height is set to 1.21 or more, and/or a ratio Rc/Rb of the tooth root crowning radius to the tooth tip crowning radius is set to 0.37 or less.

A flexible gear coupling includes two external gears and two internal gears meshing with the respective two external gears. A tooth root crowning radius of each external gear is smaller than a tooth tip crowning radius of the external gear. The external gear is formed such that a reference tooth height that is a tooth height at a tooth width direction middle position is smaller than an end tooth height that is a tooth height at a tooth width direction end position. A ratio of the end tooth height to the reference tooth height is set to 1.21 or more, and/or a ratio Rc/Rb of the tooth root crowning radius to the tooth tip crowning radius is set to 0.37 or less.

A method of shipping automobiles, railcars for shipping automobiles, and methods of manufacturing railcars for shipping automobiles to enable more efficient shipping of automobiles by facilitating conversion of autorack cars between unilevel, bi-level and tri-level configurations, and/or by providing increased load factors.

A terminal is designed with a railcar staging area and a railcar transfer apparatus, the railcar transfer apparatus configured to move a railcar to and/or from railcar staging area. The terminal may be further designed with a terminal building where the railcar transfer apparatus is configured to move the railcar between the terminal building and the staging area. The staging area may be provided as two staging areas where the railcar transfer apparatus is configured to move the railcar between two staging areas. The railcar transfer apparatus may include automated railcar transfer device, bridge and shuttle.

A method of shipping automobiles, railcars for shipping automobiles, and methods of manufacturing railcars for shipping automobiles to enable more efficient shipping of automobiles by facilitating conversion of autorack cars between unilevel, bi-level and tri-level configurations, and/or by providing increased load factors.

A method of shipping automobiles, railcars for shipping automobiles, and methods of manufacturing railcars for shipping automobiles to enable more efficient shipping of automobiles by facilitating conversion of autorack cars between unilevel, bi-level and tri-level configurations, and/or by providing increased load factors.

A jump rail system is provided for use with a rail car of the type having a substantially flat, open upper deck surface and a pair of parallel, spaced apart deck rails mounted along a length thereof. For each deck rail, an associated jump rail is mounted for rotational movement in relation to the upper deck surface. Each jump rail has a first end disposed in an end-to-end configuration with a first end of the associated deck rail, and a second end extending beyond a terminus of the length of the upper deck surface. A power source is configured to drive rotation of at least one of the jump rails between first and second positions of the jump rail.