Hi. If you haven't seen me before, I told everyone about being safe around trains. But I figured
you might also want to know what all those different cars are that you see a big engine pulling on
a freight train.
I can show you. Just look!
At the front, you've all seen the big diesel engine. It's big and powerful, and it pulls all the cars
behind it.
And, here's what used to pull train cars years ago. It's a steam engine.
Instead of a diesel motor, it uses steam to power its big wheels.
This is a hopper car. It can be covered or open. Covered hoppers can carry dry foods like sugar,
rice, and flour. Open top hoppers have lots of room to carry coal, gravel, and sand. When they
unload a hopper car, doors open underneath to open up the stuff they've been carrying.
This is a gondola car. It's open on top and it's used to carry thousands of pounds of scrap iron
and other raw metals. The gondola can also carry logs, lumber, and other cargo.
We've all seen the boxcar. It has doors on the side that allow the loading and unloading of all
kinds of things. The boxcar can carry everything from dog food and paper, to canned goods and
beds. Sometimes, the loads can be as much as 100 tons!
A different kind of boxcar is the refrigerated boxcar. Just like the refrigerator in your kitchen,
this boxcar keeps foods cold. They can carry fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, seafood, and
cheese.
The tank car holds all kinds of liquids. It can carry thousands of gallons of chemicals, water,
fuel, like gasoline and diesel, and even molasses.
This is the flat car. It can carry pipe, logs, lumber, tractors, steel plates and beams, and rails.
How big are flat cars? They can be anywhere from 60-90 feet long. Wow! That's big!
Special flat cars are called container cars. These containers, which hold all kinds of cargo, are
transferred from trucks to trains and back again. That process is called intermodal.
This is an auto rack. It carries cars, and vans, and trucks. They're usually covered so the vehicles
don't get hit with rocks and other things along the way. A full auto rack can carry more than 18
vehicles at once.
Here's a special car called a center beam. It carries heavy building supplies like lumber, wall
board, and fencing materials. The center beam keeps the materials safe and unbroken along the
way.
For many years, the last car of a freight train was the caboose. It was kind of a traveling office
for people who worked on the moving train. It was also like a home away from home for those
workers. There were simple cooking and sleeping facilities, perfect for long trips across the
country. But around 1980, technology and computers made a caboose no longer necessary.
Instead, a small radio called an EOT, end of train, is attached to the last car and automatically
checks things like brake pressure.
Well, that's a lot of train cars. But the next time you're watching a train go by, you'll know what
each of those cars are and what each one is carrying. Remember, be careful and be safe around
trains. So long!