Types Of Railroad Cars

Although not that common to many people, it is a good idea to know the types of railroad cars. You see, we may be going on train rides a lot but this doesn’t mean that we know and understand what the types of railroad cars really are. This being said let us discuss them one by one and get to know where they are best used.

Locomotive types of railroad cars are the ones that go from one place to another. For the longest time, the rail road has been the main method for people to travel and they use the locomotive types of railroad cars to do just that. There are small ones and there are large locomotives as well. There are some of these that will give you a high speed travel and there are those that will give you an average speed. There are many different ways on how locomotives move. From the steam powered types of railroad cars in the past there are now diesel, gas, and electric methods that make these railroad cars run.

Hopper types of railroad cars are those that have open tops. They are the ones that have high ends and sides too. The bottom part of these types of railroad cars has hoppers and this is why they are called such. These are the types of railroad cars that are used to carry around flour, cement and grain.

Flat types of railroad cars are the ones that have, well, flat cars. They are the railroad cars that are used to carry around huge and heavy material such as lumber and steel beams. They are the ones that are also used to carry around and transport cars and other huge and heavy equipment.

Tank cars are types of railroad cars that are made out of steel. They are the ones that are used to move around liquids and gasses. They are the ones that are used to move around fuels, gasoline, chemicals, and other kinds of gasses and liquids as well.

Box cars are the ones that are said to be the most important of all freight cars. This is because of the fact that they are enclosed and will allow pretty much anything to get transported without getting exposed to the outside world. They do not have windows. They just have sliding doors that are very strong and durable.

Lastly, caboose railroad cars are the ones that you can find at the end of the train. They are the ones where crew members observe paper works, defects, and others. This is where crew members stop the train or apply the brakes when they need to stop. This is where they carry the lights that will mark other trains that they are there as well.

There are many different kinds of railroad cars and as you can see they all have their own target uses. Make sure that you are able to get to know them well so you know where your freight packages will be loaded.