A railroad car or railway carriage is a vehicle on a rail transport system (railroad or railway) that is used for the carrying of cargo or passengers.
Most cars carry a "revenue" load, although "non-revenue" cars exist for the railroad's own use, such as for maintenance-of-way purposes. Such uses can generally be divided into the carriage of passengers and freight. "Revenue" cars are basically of two types: passenger cars, or coaches, and freight cars or wagons/trucks.
Freight cars exist in a wide variety of types, adapted to the ideal carriage of a whole host of different things. Originally there were very few types of cars; the boxcar , a closed box with side doors, was among the first.
Aircraft Parts Car
Autorack - (also called auto carriers) are specialized multi-level cars designed for transportation of unladen automobiles.
Boxcar (US), covered wagon (UIC) or van (UIC) - box shape with roof and side or end doors
CargoSprinter - a self propelled container flatcar
Centerbeam cars
Coil car - a specialized type of rolling stock designed for the transport of coils of sheet metal, particularly steel. They are considered a subtype of the gondola car, though they bear little resemblance to a typical gondola.
Conflat (UK) - A flat truck for carrying containers.
Covered wagon (UIC), van (UIC) or boxcar (US) - fully enclosed wagon for moisture-susceptible goods.
Covered hopper - similar to open top hoppers but with a cover for weather and temperature-sensitive loads.
Double-Stack Car (or well car) - specialized cars designed for carrying shipping containers. These have a "well" with a very low bottom floor to allow double stacking.
Flatcar (or flat) - for larger loads that don't load easily into a boxcar. Specialized types such as the depressed-center flatcar (aka "well car") exist for oversize items or the Schnabel car for even larger and heavier loads. With the advent of containerized freight, special types of flatcars were built to carry standard shipping containers and semi-trailers.
Gondola (US) - railroad car with an open top but enclosed sides and ends, for bulk commodities and other goods that might slide off.
Hicube boxcars
Hoppers - similar to gondolas but with bottom dump doors for easy unloading of things like coal, ore, grain, cement, ballast and the like. Short hoppers for carrying iron ore are called ore jennys in the US.
Lorry - An open wagon (UIC) or gondola (US) with a tipping trough, often found in mines.
Lowmac (UK) - A low-floor wagon for carrying machinery.
Modalohr Road Trailer Carriers.
Open wagon (UIC) - railway wagon with an open top but enclosed sides and ends, for bulk commodities and other goods that might slide off.
Refrigerator car (or reefer) - a refrigerated subtype of boxcar.
Roll-block - a train designed to carry another railway train.
Side Dump Cars - used to transport roadbed materials such as, ballast, riprap, and large stone, and are able to unload anywhere along the track.
Slate wagon - specialized freight cars used to transport slate.
Stock Car - for the transport of livestock.
Tank car (US), tank wagon (UIC) (or tanker) - for the transportation of liquids or gases.
Tippler (UK), Gondola (US) (or Lorry) - An open wagon with no doors or roof which are unloaded by being inverted on a Wagon Tippler (UK) or Rotary car dumper (US). They are, used for minerals, such as coal, limestone and iron ore as well as other bulk cargo.
Transporter wagon - a wagon designed to carry other railway equipment.
