Apparatus for unloading articles, such as luggage, from containers while the containers are being conveyed through an unloading station. The containers have one or more shelves on which the articles may be placed and also have a side which may be folded back over the top of the container and out of the way. These containers are carried on dollies which have upper surfaces which may be tilted transversely to their direction of motion as they pass through the unloading station, thereby tilting the containers and tending to cause the articles to slide from their shelves. The unloading station includes one or more pivotable retaining doors and means for causing the dollies to pass through the unloading station in close lateral register with the retaining doors, so that the retaining doors keep the articles from sliding from the containers before it is desired that they should. The unloading station also includes one or more downwardly sloping chutes positioned immediately downstream of the retaining doors so that the articles in the containers will slide into the chutes as the containers pass beyond the retaining doors.