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Goods wagons or freight wagons (
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
: freight cars), also known as goods carriages, goods trucks, freight carriages or freight trucks, are unpowered railway vehicles that are used for the transportation of
cargo
Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including trans ...
. A variety of wagon types are in use to handle different types of goods, but all goods wagons in a regional network typically have standardized
couplers
Coupler may refer to:
Engineering Mechanical
* Railway coupler, a mechanism for connecting rolling stock in a train device
** Janney coupler
** SA3 coupler
** Scharfenberg coupler for multiple unit passenger cars
* Quick coupler, used in constru ...
and other fittings, such as hoses for
air brakes, allowing different wagon types to be assembled into
train
In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...
s. For tracking and identification purposes, goods wagons are generally assigned a
unique identifier
A unique identifier (UID) is an identifier that is guaranteed to be unique among all identifiers used for those objects and for a specific purpose. The concept was formalized early in the development of computer science and information systems. ...
, typically a
UIC wagon number
Wagon numbers (or coach numbers) are key data for railway operations. They enable a railway wagon or coach to be positively identified and form a common language between railway operators, infrastructure companies and the state authorities. The ...
, or in North America, a company
reporting mark
A reporting mark is a code used to identify owners or lessees of rolling stock and other equipment used on certain rail transport networks. The code typically reflects the name or identifying number of the owner, lessee, or operator of the equip ...
plus a company specific serial number.
Development
At the beginning of the railway era, the vast majority of goods wagons were four-
wheeled (two
wheelset) vehicles of simple construction. These were almost exclusively small
covered wagons,
open wagons
Open wagons (trucks in the UK) form a large group of railway goods wagons designed primarily for the transportation of bulk goods that are not moisture-retentive and can usually be tipped, dumped or shovelled. The International Union of Rai ...
with side-boards, and
flat wagon
Flat wagons (sometimes flat beds, flats or rail flats, US: flatcars), as classified by the International Union of Railways (UIC), are railway goods wagons that have a flat, usually full-length, deck (or 2 decks on car transporters) and little ...
s with or without stakes. Over the course of time, an increasing number of specialised wagons were developed.
Special wagons for specific purposes or wagons with special features were already being introduced around 1850 by private companies. Amongst these were tank wagons and numerous
refrigerated van
A refrigerated van (also called a refrigerated wagon) is a railway goods wagon with cooling equipment. Today they are designated by the International Union of Railways (UIC) as Class I.
History
The first wagons were cooled with ice that had b ...
s. In countries like Germany, wagon hire firms procured large numbers of these wagons and hired them to the end users.
In the early days of the railway,
goods trains
Rail freight transport is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers.
A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons (International Union of Railways) hauled ...
still ran at top speeds of only about . However, the introduction of
through brakes using air pipes (such as the
Kunze-Knorr brake
The Kunze-Knorr brake (''Kunze-Knorr-Bremse'' or ''KK-Bremse'') is an automatic compressed-air brake for goods, passenger and express trains. It was the first graduated brake for goods trains in Europe. When it was introduced after the First Wo ...
s in Germany) from the 1920s enabled higher speeds to be safely achieved. Modern goods wagons are authorised for speeds up to around and in certain countries, wagons are increasingly equipped with
GPS
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...
receivers and
transponder
In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend word, blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''.
In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a T ...
s which provide location monitoring as required. The
Deutsche Bahn (DB) even has goods wagons cleared for high-speed rail travel at up to . Because the braking distance of fast goods trains is longer than the separation between distant and home signals (as are Express Passenger trains), they may only run at high speeds of with locos on routes with early signalling systems in the driver's cab (
LZB
Linienzugbeeinflussung (or LZB) is a cab signalling and train protection system used on selected Deutsche Bundesbahn, German and Austrian Federal Railways, Austrian railway lines as well as on the AVE and some commuter rail lines in Rail transpo ...
,
FZB and
ETCS
The European Train Control System (ETCS) is the signalling and control component of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). It is a replacement for legacy train protection systems and designed to replace the many incompatible s ...
).
German wagon history
In Europe, the first agreements were struck very early on between the national state railways (''
Länderbahnen
The ''Länderbahnen'' (singular: ''Länderbahn'') were the various state railways of the German Confederation and the German Empire in the period from about 1840 to 1920, when they were merged into the Deutsche Reichsbahn after the First World War ...
'') and private companies for the mutual use of each other's goods wagons. Around 1850, the
Union of German Railway Administrations The Union of German Railway Administrations (german: Verein Deutscher Eisenbahnverwaltungen) or VDEV emerged in 1847 from the Association of Prussian Railways (''Verband der preußischen Eisenbahnen''), which had been founded on 10 November 1846 by ...
(''Verein Deutscher Eisenbahnverwaltungen'') drew up regulations for the standardisation of dimensions and fittings. The formation of the Prussian State Railway Union in 1881 encouraged the emergence of wagon classes built to standard
norms.
One further European milestone was the formation of the
German State Railway Wagon Association The German State Railway Wagon Association (german: Deutscher Staatsbahnwagenverband) or DWV was an association of the German state railways ''Länderbahnen'' founded in 1909. The purpose of the association was to guarantee the unrestricted exchange ...
on 1 April 1909. With the participation of all the German state railways, it created a common pool of goods wagons, which by the end of 1911 had no less than 560,000 wagons. In addition, they all had standardised inscriptions and red-brown livery. In order to standardise future procurements, a total of 11 wagon classes were defined (
Sheet nos. A1 to A11). These wagons of the so-called standard class (''
Verbandsbauart
The German term ''Verbandsbauart'' describes both a type of goods wagon as well as a type of tram.
In order to standardise the goods wagons classes of the various German state railways (''Länderbahnen''), the German State Railway Wagon Associat ...
'') and subsequent developments from them (the ''
Austauschbauart
The so-called ''Austauschbauart'' wagons were German railway vehicles produced from the late 1920s onwards which had common components built to agreed standards.
Origin of the concept
The German term ''Austauschbau'' ('interchangeable component ma ...
'' class with interchangeable parts) dominated goods traffic in Germany up to the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and had a significant impact in many other countries which acquired these wagons either through
war reparations
War reparations are compensation payments made after a war by one side to the other. They are intended to cover damage or injury inflicted during a war.
History
Making one party pay a war indemnity is a common practice with a long history.
R ...
or simply because they were left behind by the Germans after the two world wars.
From 1939, wagons were developed primarily from a military point of view and were known as wartime classes (''
Kriegsbauart''). After the war, in East Germany, some pre-war goods wagon classes were given a new lease of life as ‘reconstructed goods wagons’ (''Reko-Güterwagen'') and continued in service for several more decades.
Since the Union of Private Goods Wagon Companies (''Vereinigung der Privatgüterwagen-Interessenten (VPI)'') was founded in 1921, the interests of private transport organisations in Germany (including wagon hire firms, goods wagon builders and repair firms, and owners of private sidings) has been jointly represented. The Union has around 100 members who own 50,000 goods wagons. In 2007, they transported of goods.
[ – S. 4] Other countries have similar organisations.
European wagon history
Since 1922, the agreement for the mutual use of goods wagons in international traffic (
RIV
RIV may refer to:
Anatomy and Medicine
* Right innominate vein
* Recombinant influenza vaccine
Military aviation
* March Air Reserve Base, a U.S. Air Reserve base in Riverside County, California, by IATA airport code
* Fieseler Fi 103R Re ...
) has regulated the exchange of goods wagons in Europe and the Middle East. In addition, international goods wagon fleets were created in 1953 in Western Europe with the ''Europ-Verband'' and in 1965 in Eastern Europe with the Common Goods Wagon Park (OPW). During the second half of the 20th century, national goods wagon classes in Europe were increasingly replaced by
Union internationale des chemins de fer
The International Union of Railways (UIC, french: Union internationale des chemins de fer) is an international rail transport industry body.
History
The railways of Europe originated as many separate concerns, and there were many border chang ...
(UIC) standard wagons. Since 1964, all goods wagons in Germany, for example, have had to be classified using the UIC goods wagon classification system.
North American history
Freight railroads in North American have always been almost entirely privately owned. The separate northern and southern U.S.
track gauges
Track or Tracks may refer to:
Routes or imprints
* Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity
* Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across
* Desire path, a line worn by people taking the short ...
were unified on June 1, 1886, allowing freight cars to be interchanged throughout the continent. The
Safety Appliance Act
The Safety Appliance Act is a United States federal law that made air brakes and automatic couplers mandatory on all trains in the United States. It was enacted on March 2, 1893, and took effect in 1900, after a seven-year grace period. The ...
of 1893 made air brakes and automatic couplers mandatory on all trains in the United States, effective 1900. The
Association of American Railroads
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) is an industry trade group representing primarily the major freight Rail transport, railroads of North America (Canada, Mexico and the United States). Amtrak and some regional Commuter rail in North Am ...
(AAR) had its origins in 1872 as the
American Railway Association
The American Railway Association (ARA) was an industry trade group representing railroads in the United States. The organization had its inception in meetings of General Managers and ranking railroad operating officials known as Time Table Conventi ...
, initially to coordinate time tables. The AAR has developed various standards for freight cars over the years, including
couplers
Coupler may refer to:
Engineering Mechanical
* Railway coupler, a mechanism for connecting rolling stock in a train device
** Janney coupler
** SA3 coupler
** Scharfenberg coupler for multiple unit passenger cars
* Quick coupler, used in constru ...
,
loading gauge
A loading gauge is a diagram or physical structure that defines the maximum height and width dimensions in railway vehicles and their loads. Their purpose is to ensure that rail vehicles can pass safely through tunnels and under bridges, and ke ...
s,
reporting mark
A reporting mark is a code used to identify owners or lessees of rolling stock and other equipment used on certain rail transport networks. The code typically reflects the name or identifying number of the owner, lessee, or operator of the equip ...
s, interchange rules, and information systems, through its ''Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices'' publications.
Types of goods wagon
The numerous types of goods wagon are categorised here based on their main design features and in accordance with the international
UIC classification system:
*
Open wagons
Open wagons (trucks in the UK) form a large group of railway goods wagons designed primarily for the transportation of bulk goods that are not moisture-retentive and can usually be tipped, dumped or shovelled. The International Union of Rai ...
(US/Canada:
gondolas
The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull ...
) were formerly referred to in Germany as ''O'' wagons; today the international standard types are:
** Open wagons of standard design (
UIC Class E) with at least high walls, with side-doors, and without self-discharging equipment
** Open wagons of special design (
UIC Class F) – especially self-discharging wagons (see photo) of type Fcs092.
**
Lowmac
Lowmac is a United Kingdom railway term for a design of low-floored ('well') wagon. A Lowmac's purpose is for carrying vehicles or equipment that would normally be over the recommended height of a normal flatbed wagon, and hence exceed the loadin ...
s
**
Bogie bolster wagon
A bogie bolster wagon is a British railway term for a wagon designed to carry long thin cargoes such as timber or rails and other steel sections. The sides and ends are minimal and there is no roof. The load is carried longitudinally and borne by ...
**
Well wagons
*
Covered wagons or vans (US/Canada:
boxcar
A boxcar is the North American ( AAR) term for a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is considered one of the most versatile since it can carry most ...
s) have a fixed roof and are mainly used for the transportation of part-load goods or parcels. Today these are divided into:
** Ordinary classes (
UIC Class G)
** Special classes (
UIC Class H), which are often distinguished by their large loading volumes.
**
Livestock vans (US/Canada:
stock cars
Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...
) for transporting cattle are no longer used. In Germany they were called ''V'' wagons and were counted as a special class.
*
Refrigerated van
A refrigerated van (also called a refrigerated wagon) is a railway goods wagon with cooling equipment. Today they are designated by the International Union of Railways (UIC) as Class I.
History
The first wagons were cooled with ice that had b ...
s (Class I wagons), formerly known in Germany as ''T'' wagons (T = "Thermos") – are insulated covered vans which are either cooled by a cooling medium such as water or
dry ice
Dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide. It is commonly used for temporary refrigeration as CO2 does not have a liquid state at normal atmospheric pressure and sublimates directly from the solid state to the gas state. It is used primarily a ...
like conventional refrigerated vans, or are machine-cooled wagons with their own cooling system.
*
Flat wagon
Flat wagons (sometimes flat beds, flats or rail flats, US: flatcars), as classified by the International Union of Railways (UIC), are railway goods wagons that have a flat, usually full-length, deck (or 2 decks on car transporters) and little ...
s (US:
flatcar
A flatcar (US) (also flat car, or flatbed) is a piece of rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck mounted on a pair of trucks (US) or bogies (UK), one at each end containing four or six wheels. Occasionally, flat cars designed to carry ...
s) have no walls or low walls no higher than . Today these include wagons with individual axles in UIC Classes K (standard) or L (special), bogie wagons of UIC Classes R (standard) or S (special).
**
Conflat
Conflat is a United Kingdom railway term for a short wheelbase flat wagon container wagon.
British Railways used several standard types of wagon. The Conflat A, which could carry one type 'B', or two type 'A', containers, was the most common ...
s
*
Wagon with opening roof
The wagon with opening roof is a type of railway goods wagon that is, nowadays, defined and standardised by the International Union of Railways (UIC) as Class "T". They are a large category of rail vehicle, predominantly used for the transport of h ...
**
Wagons with sliding roof (UIC Class T) either have a flat wagon floor or equipment for self-discharging.
*
Special wagons of UIC Class U include powder wagons and low-loading wagons
*
Tank wagons (UIC Class Z) are suitable for a wide variety of fluids and gases.
*
Spine car
A flatcar (US) (also flat car, or flatbed) is a piece of Railroad car, rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck mounted on a pair of trucks (US) or bogies (UK), one at each end containing four or six wheels. Occasionally, flat cars desi ...
s to carry
intermodal container
An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, is a large standardized shipping container, designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different Mode of transport, modes of trans ...
s.
Goods wagons for special purposes include:
*
Departmental wagon Departmental vehicles, also called departmental wagons or engineering vehicles, are special railway vehicles used to support the engineering functions of the railway.Ellis, Iain (2006). ''Ellis' British Railway Engineering Encyclopaedia''. Lulu, p. ...
s are used by railway administrations exclusively for their own internal purposes (such as the slag wagons of Class X in Germany which were mainly based on old open wagons of Class O),
*
Ferry wagons with smaller
loading gauge
A loading gauge is a diagram or physical structure that defines the maximum height and width dimensions in railway vehicles and their loads. Their purpose is to ensure that rail vehicles can pass safely through tunnels and under bridges, and ke ...
s for traffic travelling to
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
, which were designated with a lower case letter ''f''.
* the rarely mixed open, flat wagons of UIC Class O, which are equipped with folding sides or stakes and can be used either as flats or as open goods wagons.
*
Mineral wagon
A mineral wagon or coal truck (British English) is a small open-topped railway goods wagon used in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to carry coal, ores and other mine products.
Background
When the railways originated in the United Kingdom, the ...
s
*
Kiruna Wagon
Kiruna Wagon AB is a Swedish company specialised in the custom design and manufacture of ore wagons. Kiruna Wagon was established in 2004 and is owned by mechanical engineering companies Nybergs Mekaniska Verkstad and Rönnqvist & Wettainen. The c ...
s
* Railway
post vans (
Mobile post offices) are not counted as goods wagons.
The UIC's instructions were sometimes interpreted differently by the various railway administrations, so that it could happen that almost identical wagons were grouped into different classes. In addition wagons had occasionally to be reclassified after slight modifications. For example, an E Class wagon can become an F Class simply through welding on a door.
Gallery
Image:Db-152035-01.jpg, Range of goods wagons at Kornwestheim
Kornwestheim ( Swabian: ) is a town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated about north of Stuttgart, and south of Ludwigsburg.
History
Origins and Development
Kornwestheim can look back at a history of ...
marshalling yard
A classification yard (American and Canadian English (Canadian National Railway use)), marshalling yard (British, Hong Kong, Indian, Australian, and Canadian English (Canadian Pacific Railway use)) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway ya ...
Image:Fcs 092.jpg, The side-discharging Class Fcs092 became the UIC standard for the transportation of coarse-grained goods
Image:Scuol Tarasp RhB 5507.jpg, Small covered van on the RhB
The Rhaetian Railway (german: Rhätische Bahn; it, Ferrovia retica; rm, Viafier retica), abbreviated RhB, is a Swiss transport company that owns the largest network of all private railway operators in Switzerland. Headquartered in Chur, the RhB ...
in Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
File:HUA-168077-Afbeelding van enkele opleggers van vrachtauto's op speciale wagons van de S.N.C.F. (z.g. Kangourou- of Huckepack-vervoer), op het terrein van de Veilinghaven te Utrecht, bedoeld voor een tentoonstell.jpg, Semi-trailer
A semi-trailer is a trailer without a front axle. In the United States, the term is also used to refer to the combination of a truck and a semi-trailer; a tractor-trailer.
A large proportion of a semi-trailer's weight is supported by a tracto ...
on a Kangourou wagon
The '' 'kangaroo wagon' '' is a type of wagon rail designed for the transport of semi-trailers. It has a drawbridge forming a pocket in the low position (hence its name) allowing the carrier train (2 or 3 axles) of the semi-trailer to be placed ...
[http://roadmaster-087.skyrock.com/3197907081-SNCF-Kangourou.html Piggyback transport in the 60s video in French]
File:Tank car IMG 9579 1725.jpg, Tank car
A tank car ( International Union of Railways (UIC): tank wagon) is a type of railroad car (UIC: railway car) or rolling stock designed to transport liquid and gaseous commodities.
History
Timeline
The following major events occurred in t ...
File:DR-Bahndienstwagen-aus-Dok-Nr-655-1.jpg, A DR rail maintenance vehicle converted from a former freight van
File:Tunnel Cement No 6.jpg, Presflo bulk cement wagon (UK)
See also
*
British Railway Milk Tank Wagon
*
Covered goods wagon
A covered goods wagon or van is a railway goods wagon which is designed for the transportation of moisture-susceptible goods and therefore fully enclosed by sides and a fixed roof. They are often referred to simply as covered wagons, and this is ...
*
Forty-and-eights
Forty-and-Eight boxcars (french: Quarante et huit), commonly referred to as Forty-and-Eights, were types of French boxcars (''voiture'') used by the French Army and ''Wehrmacht''. Doughboys were transported to the Western Front in the boxcars ...
*
General Utility Van
*
Goods trains
Rail freight transport is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers.
A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons (International Union of Railways) hauled ...
*
Goods wagons of welded construction Goods wagons of welded construction (german: Güterwagen der geschweißter Bauart) were developed and built by the Deutsche Reichsbahn in Germany from 1933 to about 1945. With the introduction of welding technology in 1933 almost all wagon component ...
*
List of railway vehicles
This is a list of all types of vehicle that can be used on a railway, either specifically for running on the rails, or for maintenance or up-keep of a railway.
General classes of railway vehicle
* Freight car (US)
* Goods wagon ( UIC)
* High sp ...
*
List of rolling stock manufacturers
Throughout railroad history, many manufacturing companies have come and gone. This is a list of companies that manufactured railroad cars and other rolling stock. Most of these companies built both passenger and freight equipment and no distinctio ...
*
Rail ambulance
A rail ambulance is a vehicle used for medical transportation services on Track (rail transport), railway lines. The first rail ambulance in Queensland, Australia, was introduced in 1918, with the last withdrawn from service around 1990.
The ...
*
Rolling stock
The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can b ...
*
Types of freight cars - this section of
railroad car
A railroad car, railcar (American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is a ...
contains a list of US freight car types
*
UIC classification of goods wagons
This list contains the UIC classification of goods wagons and their meanings. The description is made up of a category letter (in capitals) and usually several index letters (in lower case).
The international system for the classification of good ...
*
Verbandsbauart
The German term ''Verbandsbauart'' describes both a type of goods wagon as well as a type of tram.
In order to standardise the goods wagons classes of the various German state railways (''Länderbahnen''), the German State Railway Wagon Associat ...
References
Sources
* The original source for this article is the
German Wikipedia:Güterwagen
External links
DB goods wagons with RailionGerman goods wagons from 1910 to 1945
{{Authority control