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A railroad car (or, more briefly, car), also known as an item of rolling stock in British parlance, is a vehicle on a railroad or railway that is not a locomotive - one that provides another purpose than purely haulage, although some types of car are powered. Cars can be coupled together into a train, either hauled by a locomotive or self-powered.
Most cars carry a paying load, although non-revenue cars exist for the railroad's own use, such as for maintenance purposes. Such uses can generally be divided into the carriage of passengers and of freight.
Seating is usually three, four, or five seats across the width of the car, with an aisle in between (resulting in 2+1, 2+2 or 3+2 seats) or at the side. Tables may be present between seats facing one another. Alternatively, seats facing the same direction may have access to a fold-down ledge on the back of the seat in front.
Cars usually have either air-conditioning or windows that can be opened (sometimes, for safety, not so far that one can hang out). Toilet facilities are also usual, though the setup varies (see passenger train human waste disposal).
Other types of passenger car exist, especially for long journeys, such as the dining car, parlor car , disco car, and in rare cases theater car (picture). 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 cars 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 carThe couchette car is a railroad car conveying basic sleeping accommodation. The car is divided into a number of compartments (typically 8 or 9) accessed from the side corridor of the car, which in daytime are configured with a bench seat along each long ss provide more basic sleeping accommodation. Long-distance trains often require baggage car s for the passengers' luggage. Historically in European practice it was common for day coaches to be formed of compartments seating 6 or 8 passengers, with access from a side corridor -- 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-decker cars.
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 connections that can be walked through by passengers and crew members. Some designs incorporate semi-permanent connections between cars and may have a full-width connection, making in essence one longer, flexible 'car'.
Many multiple unitA multiple unit is a passenger train whose carriages have their own motors, (either diesel or electric) and do not need to be hauled by a locomotive. The motors driving the train on a multiple unit, are mounted underneath the floor of the carriages, on th 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' nature 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 off to the side or (as in the Dutch KoploperTrains in the Netherlands There are two types of double decker trains: the DDM Dubbeldeks Materieel see ) train, consisting of one or more combinations of 3 or 4 coaches; there are two varieties: without motors, coupled to an electric locomotive; the mDDM) above the passenger compartment.
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