A railroad car, railcar (
American and
Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (
British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
and
UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is a
vehicle
A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles (trains, trams), ...
used for the carrying of
cargo or
passengers on a
rail transport system (a railroad/railway). Such cars, when coupled together and hauled by one or more
locomotives, form a
train. Alternatively, some
passenger cars are self-propelled in which case they may be either single
railcars or make up
multiple units.
The term "car" is commonly used by itself in American English when a rail context is implicit.
Indian English sometimes uses "bogie" in the same manner, though the term has
other meanings in other variants of English. In American English, "railcar" is a generic term for a railway vehicle; in other countries "
railcar" refers specifically to a self-propelled, powered, railway vehicle.
Although some cars exist for the railroad's own use – for
track maintenance purposes, for example – most carry a revenue-earning load of passengers or freight, and may be classified accordingly as
passenger cars or
coaches
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Coac ...
on the one hand or
freight 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 ...
s (or ''wagons'') on the other.
Passenger cars
Passenger cars, or
coaches
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Coac ...
, vary in their internal fittings:
In
standard-gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...
cars, seating is usually configured into ranges from three to five seats across the width of the car, with an aisle in between (resulting in arrangements of 2+1, 2+2 or 3+2 seats) or at the side. Tables may be provided between seats facing one another. Alternatively, seats facing in the same direction may have access to a fold-down ledge on the back of the seat in front.
* If the aisle is located between seats, seat rows may face the same direction, or be grouped, with twin rows facing each other.
* In some vehicles intended for commuter services, seats are positioned with their backs to the side walls, either on one side or more commonly on both, facing each other across the aisle. This gives a wide accessway and allows room for
standing passenger
In urban public transport, provision is made for standing passengers, often called straphangers or standees, to rationalize operation and to provide extra capacity during rush hour.
Occurrence
On crowded rapid transit urban lines, while most tr ...
s at peak times, as well as improving loading and unloading speeds.
* If the aisle is at the side, the car is usually divided into small compartments. These usually contain six seats, although sometimes in second class they contain eight, and sometimes in first class they contain four.
Passenger cars can take the electricity supply for heating and lighting equipment from either of two main sources: directly from a
head end power
In rail transport, head-end power (HEP), also known as electric train supply (ETS), is the electrical power distribution system on a passenger train. The power source, usually a locomotive (or a generator car) at the front or 'head' of a train, p ...
generator on the
locomotive via bus cables, or by an axle-powered generator which continuously charges batteries whenever the train is in motion.
Modern cars usually have either
air-conditioning or windows that can be opened (sometimes, for safety, not so far that one can hang out), or sometimes both. Various types of
onboard train toilet facilities may also be provided.
Other types of passenger car exist, especially for long journeys, such as the
dining car,
parlor car A parlor car (or parlour car outside the United States of America) is a type of passenger coach that provides superior comforts and amenities compared to a standard coach.
History
Parlor cars came about on United States railroads to address the ...
,
disco car, and in rare cases
theater and
movie theater car. In some cases another type of car is temporarily converted to one of these for an event.
Observation cars were built for the rear of many famous trains to allow the passengers to view the scenery. These proved popular, leading to the development of
dome car
A dome car is a type of railway passenger car that has a glass dome on the top of the car where passengers can ride and see in all directions around the train. It also can include features of a coach, lounge car, dining car, sleeping car or obse ...
s multiple units of which could be placed mid-train, and featured a glass-enclosed upper level extending above the normal roof to provide passengers with a better view.
Sleeping cars outfitted with (generally) small bedrooms allow passengers to sleep through their night-time trips, while
couchette car
A couchette car is a railway carriage conveying non or semi-private sleeping accommodation.
Overview
The car is divided into a number of compartments (typically 8 to 10) accessed from the side corridor of the car, which in daytime are configu ...
s provide more basic sleeping accommodation. Long-distance trains often require
baggage cars for the passengers' luggage. In European practice it used to be common for day coaches to be formed of compartments seating 6 or 8 passengers, with access from a side corridor. In the UK, Corridor coaches fell into disfavor in the 1960s and 1970s partially because open coaches are considered more secure by women traveling alone.
Another distinction is between single- and double deck
train cars. An example of a
double decker is the
Amtrak superliner.
A "trainset" (or "set") is a semi-permanently arranged formation of cars, rather than one created "ad hoc" out of whatever cars are available. These are only broken up and reshuffled 'on shed' (in the maintenance depot). Trains are then built of one or more of these 'sets' coupled together as needed for the capacity of that train.
Often, but not always, passenger cars in a train are linked together with enclosed, flexible
gangway connection
A gangway connection (or, more loosely, a corridor connection) is a flexible connector fitted to the end of a railway coach, enabling passengers to move from one coach to another without danger of falling from the train.
Origins: Coaches in Br ...
s through which passengers and crewmen can walk. Some designs incorporate semi-permanent connections between cars and may have a full-width connection, effectively making them one long, articulated 'car'. In North America, passenger cars also employ
tightlock coupling
Type H Tightlock couplers are a variety of Janney coupler, typically used on North American mainline passenger rail cars. They are designed with mechanical features which reduce slack in normal operation and prevent telescoping in derailments, ...
s to keep a train together in the event of a derailment or other accident.
Many
multiple unit trains consist of cars which are semi-permanently coupled into sets: these sets may be joined together to form larger trains, but generally passengers can only move around between cars within a set. This "closed" arrangement keeps parties of travellers and their luggage together, and hence allows the separate sets to be easily split to go separate ways. Some multiple-unit trainsets are designed so that corridor connections can be easily opened between coupled sets; this generally requires driving cabs either set to the side or (as in the Dutch ''
Koploper'' or the Japanese
285 series
The is an electric multiple unit (EMU) train type operated jointly by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) and West Japan Railway Company (JR-West) on the overnight '' Sunrise Izumo'' and '' Sunrise Seto'' limited express services in Jap ...
) above the passenger compartment. These cabs or
driving trailers are also useful for quickly reversing the train.
Passenger car gallery
File:Amersham station MMB 18 S Stock.jpg, A Metropolitan line S8 Stock at Amersham in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
File:Bombardier S Stock Circle line Interior 1.jpg, An interior of a S7 Stock in London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
File:Mark3gner.jpg, British Rail Mark 3
The British Rail Mark 3 is a type of passenger carriage developed in response to growing competition from airlines and the car in the 1970s. A variant of the Mark 3 became the rolling stock for the High Speed Train (HST).
Originally conceive ...
coach, an all-steel car from the 1970s
File:InterCity2 - passenger car interior.jpg, Inside a modern-day car from Finland
File:150243 C Bristol Temple Meads.JPG, A British Rail Class 150
The British Rail Class 150 ''Sprinter'' is a class of diesel multiple unit passenger trains; they were developed and constructed by BREL York between 1984 and 1987 for use on regional services across the UK. The type is a second-generation d ...
in the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.
Freight cars
Freight cars (US/Canada),
goods wagon
Goods wagons or freight wagons (North America: 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. A variety of wagon type ...
s (UIC), or trucks (UK) exist in a wide variety of types, adapted to carry a host of goods. Originally there were very few types of cars; the flat car or wagon, and the
boxcar (US/Canada),
covered wagon
The covered wagon or prairie wagon, historically also referred to as an ambulance or prairie schooner, was a vehicle usually made out of wood and canvas that was used for transportation, prominently in 19th-century America. With roots in the he ...
(UIC) or
van (UK), were among the first.
Types of freight cars
Freight cars or goods wagons are generally categorized as follows:
*
Boxcar (US and Canada),
covered wagon
The covered wagon or prairie wagon, historically also referred to as an ambulance or prairie schooner, was a vehicle usually made out of wood and canvas that was used for transportation, prominently in 19th-century America. With roots in the he ...
(
UIC) or
van (UK): fully enclosed car with side or end doors. Standard boxcars have about 3.5 times the capacity of a standard
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 trac ...
.
**
Covered wagon
The covered wagon or prairie wagon, historically also referred to as an ambulance or prairie schooner, was a vehicle usually made out of wood and canvas that was used for transportation, prominently in 19th-century America. With roots in the he ...
(UIC),
van (UK) or boxcar (US/Canada): fully enclosed wagon for moisture-susceptible goods.
**
Hicube boxcars: high-capacity high-clearance boxcar
**
Refrigerator car
A refrigerator car (or "reefer") is a refrigerated boxcar (U.S.), a piece of railroad rolling stock designed to carry perishable freight at specific temperatures. Refrigerator cars differ from simple insulated boxcars and ventilated boxcars (co ...
or reefer (US/Canada): refrigerated boxcar for fruits and vegetables.
*
CargoBeamer
*
Coil car: specialized flat or gondola for heavy sheet metal rolls
*
Combine car
A combine car in North American parlance, most often referred to simply as a combine, is a type of railroad car which combines sections for both passengers and freight.
Most often, it was used on short lines to carry passengers and their lugga ...
: combined
passenger car and
boxcar in one wagon
*
Flatcar (or ''flat''): for larger bulky loads. Specialized flat cars include:
**
Aircraft Parts Car: with fixtures for large aircraft parts.
**
Autorack
An autorack, also known as an auto carrier (also car transporter outside the US), is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport automobiles and light trucks. Autoracks are used to transport new vehicles from factories to ...
(also called ''auto carriers''): multi-level flat for automobiles.
**
Centerbeam cars (US): specialized flat for building materials.
**
Conflat (UK): specialized flat for
containers.
**
CargoSprinter: self-propelled container flat.
**
Container flatcar
**
Depressed-center flatcar or Wellcar or
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 ...
(UK): for high-clearance loads (e.g. transformers and boilers)
**
Semi-trailer flatcar
**
Rolling highway
In rail transportation, a rolling highway or rolling road is a form of combined transport involving the conveying of road trucks by rail, referred to as Ro-La trains. The concept is a form of piggyback transportation.
The technical challen ...
: a train designed to carry
truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructi ...
s and/or
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 trac ...
s
** Single container car;
Spine car, a center sill and side sill only car with lateral arms to support
intermodal containers. See also Well car.
** Double container car;
Well car
A well car, also known as a double-stack car (or also intermodal car/container car), is a type of railroad car specially designed to carry intermodal containers (shipping containers) used in intermodal freight transport. The "well" is a depresse ...
or
double-stack car. Cars for transporting
Intermodal containers with a low deck to allow double stacking, commonly used in
articulated
An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent pivot joint in its construction, allowing it to turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buses, trams and trains. Steam locomotives were sometim ...
form. See also Spine car
*
Schnabel car
A Schnabel car or Schnabel wagon is a specialized type of railroad freight car. It is designed to carry heavy and oversized loads in such a way that the load makes up part of the car. The load is suspended between the two ends of the cars by lif ...
: for unusually large and heavy industrial equipment (transformers, boilers, reactors, distillation columns,...)
*
Gondola
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, ...
(US): car with open top, enclosed sides and ends for bulk goods.
**
Covered hopper: specialized hopper car with a cover for weather sensitive loads (grain, pellets,...)
**
Open wagon (
UIC): railway wagon with an open top but enclosed sides and ends, for bulk commodities and other goods that might slide off.
**
Hoppers: similar to
gondolas but with bottom dump doors for easy unloading of things like coal, ore, grain, cement,
ballast
Ballast is material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within a boat, ship ...
and the like. Short hoppers for carrying
iron ore are called ore jennies in the US.
**
Lorry
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructio ...
(US/Canada): An open wagon (
UIC) or gondola (US/Canada) with a tipping trough, often found in
mines. See also Tippler.
**
Mine car
In US railroad terminology, a gondola is an open-topped rail vehicle used for transporting loose bulk materials. Because of their low side walls, gondolas are also suitable for the carriage of such high-density cargos as steel plates or coils, ...
**
Mine cart (e.g.,
V skip wagon
A minecart or mine cart (also known as a mine trolley or mine hutch) is a type of rolling stock found on a mine railway, used for moving ore and materials procured in the process of traditional mining. Minecarts are seldom used in modern opera ...
).
**
Side dump cars: used to transport roadbed materials such as,
ballast
Ballast is material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within a boat, ship ...
,
riprap
Riprap (in North American English), also known as rip rap, rip-rap, shot rock, rock armour (in British English) or rubble, is human-placed rock or other material used to protect shoreline structures against scour and water, wave, or ice erosion. ...
, and large
stone
In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...
, and are able to unload anywhere along the track.
** Tippler (UK): An
open wagon with no doors or roof which are unloaded by being inverted on a Wagon Tippler (UK) or
Rotary car dumper (US/Canada). They are, used for
mineral
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...
s, such as
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when ...
,
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
and
iron ore as well as other
bulk cargo. See also Lorry.
**
Quarry tub: a type of small railway or
tramway wagon
A wagon or waggon is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people.
Wagons are immediately distinguished from ...
used in quarries for the transport
mineral
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...
s, such as
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when ...
,
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
and
iron ore.
*
Modalohr Road Trailer Carriers.
*
Presflo and
Prestwin (UK), bulk cement wagons
*
Roll-block: a train designed to carry another railway train
*
Slate wagon: specialized freight cars used to transport slate
*
Stock car
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 ...
: ventilated box car for livestock
*
Tank car (US/Canada), tank wagon (UIC) or tanker: for liquid or gas.
**
British milk tank wagon
**
Milk car Milk cars are a specialized type of railroad car intended to transport raw milk from collection points near dairy farms to a processing creamery. Some milk cars were intended for loading with multiple cans of milk, while others were designed with a ...
: specialized tank car for milk
**
Tank cars for bulk loading
**
"Whale Belly" car: high capacity tank car with a "belly".
*
Transporter wagon: a wagon designed to carry other railway equipment.
*
Well car
A well car, also known as a double-stack car (or also intermodal car/container car), is a type of railroad car specially designed to carry intermodal containers (shipping containers) used in intermodal freight transport. The "well" is a depresse ...
Common Freight Car Underframe Components (North America)
Freight cars, as share in the above section, vary in appearance by the intended end use. The underframe components or running gear is similar between all car types to boost reliability and lower the railcar cost. The major parts groups follow and are regulated by th
Federal Railroad Administration(US) an
Transport Canada(Canada).
*
Centersill
A coupling (or a coupler) is a mechanism typically placed at each end of a railway vehicle that connects them together to form a train. A variety of coupler types have been developed over the course of railway history. Key issues in their desi ...
or
Sidesill
*
Trucks
*
Wheels
*
Brake rigging (Foundation brake gear)
*
Couplers
Freight car gallery
File:Hopper cars.jpg, American style two-bay hopper car
A hopper car (US) or hopper wagon ( UIC) is a type of railroad freight car used to transport loose bulk commodities such as coal, ore, grain, and track ballast. Two main types of hopper car exist: covered hopper cars, which are equipped with ...
s of the Reading Railroad
The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail.
Commonly call ...
File:Boxcar railbox.jpg, U.S. type Railbox boxcar
File:Railroad car with container loads.jpg, A spine car with a 20 ft tanktainer
A tank container or tanktainer is an intermodal container for the transport of liquids, gases and Powder (substance), powders as bulk cargo. It is built to the International Organization for Standardization, ISO standards, making it suitable for d ...
and an open-top 20 ft container with canvas cover
File:DTTX 724681 20050529 IL Rochelle.jpg, North American container train services often employ double-stacked container cars, as here in Rochelle, Illinois.
File:SS851422.JPG, John Deere Combine harvesters being transported by railway in Tyrone, Pennsylvania.
Aluminium cars
The first two main-line all aluminum passenger cars were exhibited at the 1933-35
Chicago World's Fair by
Pullman Company. Aluminum freight cars have a higher net-to-tare ratio of 4.9 than traditional steel based wagons, which have 3.65.
Non-revenue cars
*
Ballast regulator
*
Ballast tamper
Ballast is material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within a boat, ship ...
*
Barrier vehicle or match wagon, with a different coupler at each end.
*
Caboose (US) or
Brake van
Brake van and guard's van are terms used mainly in the UK, Ireland, Australia and India for a railway vehicle equipped with a hand brake which can be applied by the guard. The equivalent North American term is caboose, but a British brake van ...
(UIC) attach to rear to watch freight trains, assist in reverse moves, and provide rear braking. Replaced by
End-Of-Train devices.
*
Catenary maintenance vehicle or tower car, used to maintain
overhead line
An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as:
* Overhead catenary
* Overhead contact system (OCS)
* Overhead equipm ...
s
*
Clearance car, special car to check for obstructions.
*
Crew car aka outfit car or a camp car, bunkhouse car a bunk, kitchen, or tool car for railroad employees.
*
Departmental vehicle
*
Handcar
A handcar (also known as a pump trolley, pump car, rail push trolley, push-trolley, jigger, Kalamazoo, velocipede, or draisine) is a railroad car powered by its passengers, or by people pushing the car from behind. It is mostly used as a railway ...
s, early MOW car powered by passengers with a
handcrank
A crank is an arm attached at a right angle to a rotating shaft by which circular motion is imparted to or received from the shaft. When combined with a connecting rod, it can be used to convert circular motion into reciprocating motion, or vice ...
.
*
Maintenance of way
Maintenance of way (commonly abbreviated to MOW) refers to the maintenance, construction, and improvement of rail infrastructure, including tracks, ballast, grade, and lineside infrastructure such as signals and signs.
Track
The most fundamen ...
(MOW) cars for maintaining track and equipment.
*
Office car which contains a mobile office for a train company.
*
Rail ambulance
*
Rail car mover similar to
HiRail trucks.
*
Railroad cranes
*
Railway post office
*
Road-rail vehicle
*
Scale test car
*
Track geometry car
*
Track tester
Military cars
Military
armoured train
An armoured train is a railway train protected with armour. Armoured trains usually include railway wagons armed with artillery, machine guns and autocannons. Some also had slits used to fire small arms from the inside of the train, a facili ...
s use several types of specialized cars:
* Anti-air: equipped with
anti-air guns
* Anti-tank: equipped with
anti-tank guns, usually in a
tank gun turret
* Artillery: fielding mixture of
gun
A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, p ...
s and machine guns
* Command: similar to infantry wagons, but designed to be a train command center
*
DODX is the reporting mark for the
United States Department of Defense Military Traffic Management Command.
* Infantry: fielding machine guns, designed to carry
infantry
Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...
units
* Machine gun: dedicated to
machine guns
* Platform: unarmoured, with purposes ranging from transport of
ammunition or vehicles, through
track repair or derailing protection of ''
railroad ploughs'' for railroad destruction.
*
Troop sleepers
Mobile missile systems
During the
Cold War, the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
fielded a number of trains that served as mobile
missile silo
A missile launch facility, also known as an underground missile silo, launch facility (LF), or nuclear silo, is a vertical cylindrical structure constructed underground, for the storage and launching of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs ...
s. These trains carried the missile and everything necessary to launch, and were kept moving around the railway network to make them difficult to find and destroy in a
first-strike attack. A similar rail-borne system was proposed in the
United States of America for the
LGM-30 Minuteman in the 1960s, and the
Peacekeeper Rail Garrison in the 1980s, but neither were deployed.
Radar bomb scoring
The
Strategic Air Command's
1st Combat Evaluation RBS "Express" deployed from
Barksdale Air Force Base
Barksdale Air Force Base (Barksdale AFB) is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in northwest Louisiana, United States, in Bossier Parish. It is contiguous to Bossier City, Louisiana, along the base's western and northwestern edge. Barksdale AFB ...
with
radar bomb scoring
Radar Bomb Scoring is a combat aviation ground support operation used to evaluate Cold War aircrews' effectiveness with simulated unguided bomb drops near radar stations of the United States Navy, the USAF Strategic Air Command, and Army Project ...
units mounted on military railroad cars with supporting equipment, to score
simulated thermonuclear bomb
A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...
ing of
cities
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
in the
continental United States
The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...
.
See also
*
Air brake
*
Great Western Railway wagons
The fleet of Great Western Railway wagons was both large and varied as it carried the wide variety of goods traffic on the Great Western Railway (GWR) in the United Kingdom. This was the railway company that operated for the longest period of t ...
*
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 s ...
*
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 distinct ...
*
Rail car tracking device
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Railway brake
A railway brake is a type of brake used on the cars of railway trains to enable deceleration, control acceleration (downhill) or to keep them immobile when parked. While the basic principle is similar to that on road vehicle usage, operational f ...
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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 ...
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Skytop Lounge
The Skytop Lounges were a fleet of streamlined passenger cars with the parlor-lounge cars built by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad ("the Milwaukee Road") and sleeper-lounges built by Pullman-Standard in 1948. The cars were d ...
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Tamping machine
A tamping machine or ballast tamper, informally simply a tamper, is a self-propelled, rail-mounted machine used to pack (or tamp) the track ballast under railway tracks to make the tracks and roadbed more durable and level. Prior to the int ...
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Tender
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Tram
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
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Types of goods wagon
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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 ...
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Vacuum brake
The vacuum brake is a braking system employed on trains and introduced in the mid-1860s. A variant, the automatic vacuum brake system, became almost universal in British train equipment and in countries influenced by British practice. Vacuum br ...
Notes
Footnotes
Citations
Further reading
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External links
List of railroad car manufacturers by country
Paquette Railway Solutions, dealing with rolling stock and powerUS Air Force Guard Car G-50Strategic Air Command guard car, rebuilt from Army 1943 troop kitchen car #8750. Photographed in Portola, California at the
Western Pacific Railroad Museum
The Western Pacific Railroad Museum (WPRM) in Portola, California, known as the Portola Railroad Museum until January 1, 2006, is a heritage railroad and archives that preserves and operates historic American railroad equipment and preserves docu ...
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Peacekeeper Rail Garrison Car.Rail car manufacturingGuide to railroad cars
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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 ...