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A boxcar (the American term; the British call this kind of car a "goods van") is a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to hold freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freightcar design, is probably the most general-purpose, since it can carry most loads. Boxcars have side doors of varying size and some have end doors to load very large items.
A DSS&A box car at the Mid Continent Railroad Museum in North Freedom, WI. A boxcar in a train, August 8, 2004. Boxcars can carry most kinds of freight. Originally they were hand-loaded, but in more recent years mechanical assistance such as forklift truck s have been used to load and empty them faster. Their generalised design is still slower to load and unload than specialised designs of car, and this partially explains the decline in boxcar numbers since World War II. The other cause for this decline is the container. A container can be easily transshipped and is amenable to intermodal transportation, carryable by ships, trucks or trains, and can be delivered door-to-door. In many respects a container is a boxcar without the wheels and underframe.
Even loose loads such as coal and ore can be carried in a boxcar, with boards over the side door openings. This was more common in earlier days; it was susceptible to losing much loading during the journey, and damaged the boxcar. It was also impossible to mechanically load and unload.
Livestock can be carried in a boxcar, but there is insufficient ventilation in warm weather. Specially built or converted stock cars are preferable.
Historically automobileAn automobile usually called a car (an old word for carriage) or a truck is a wheeled vehicle that carries its own engine. Older terms include horseless carriage and motor car with "motor" referring to what is now usually called the engine. The act of opes were carried in boxcars, but during the 1960sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s Years: 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 Events and trends The 1960s was a turbulent decade of change around specially built autorackAn autorack also known as an auto carrier is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport unladen automobiles. unladen is freight terminology for automobiles without passengers It is widely used to carry new automobiles and light truckss took over; these carried more cars in the same space and were easier to load and unload. The automotive parts business, however, has always been a big user of the boxcar, and larger capacity cars evolved in the 1960s to meet the auto parts industry's needs.
In recent years hicube boxcars - high cubic capacity - have become more common. These are higher than regular boxcars and can only run on routes with increased clearance.
While not holding the dominant position in the world of railborne freight that they had before World War II, the boxcar still exists and is used in great numbers around the world.
The boxcar has been known to carry passengers, especially during warFor other uses of War, see War (disambiguation). War is conflict, between relatively large groups of people, which involves physical force inflicted by the use of weapons. Other terms for war include armed conflict hostilities and police action''. See Lim time. In both World Wars, FrenchThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents. boxcars known as forty-and-eightsForty-and-eights were French 4-wheel boxcars used as military transport cars (the term itself refers to the cars' carrying capacity, said to be 40 men or eight horses). Built starting in the 1870s as regular freight boxcars, they were originally used in m were used as troop transports as well as for freight; in World War II by first the French, then the German occupiers, and finally the Allied liberators. In addition to soldiers, the Nazis infamously transported prisoners and Holocaust victims in overcrowded boxcars. The United States used troop sleepers to ferry U.S. soldiers through North America during World War II, which were both based upon boxcars and intended to be converted into boxcars after the war was over.
Hobos and migrant worker s have often used boxcars in their journeys, since they are enclosed and therefore they cannot be seen by railroad-employed security men ('Bulls') or police, as well as being to some degree insulated from cold weather. Freight equipment| Politics | Business | Finance |
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