Railroading Merit Badge
Requirement 1c Study Guide

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There are a few basic types of freight cars, such as the Flatcar, the Boxcar, the Tank car, and the Hopper car, but each type of car has a few special variations of that type of car. There are also some more recent specialty types of cars. And don't forget the Cabooses! This page will also show you how to spot different types of Passenger cars. 

The pictures below are used here with permission of the photographers, to illustrate the various types of cars. If you click on most of the images, you'll get to see the full-size version. (Most of the 'big versions' will take you to the website with the original picture, and many of these off-site images are very large, and they may take a lot of time to load if you have a slow conection.

If you are interested in seeing more pictures of different types of cars and locomotives in the paint jobs of various railroads, please check out these websites;

David Graham's Railfan Archive - http://railfan.ca/
Chris vanderHeide's Canadian Freight Railcar Gallery - http://freight.railfan.ca/
Ryan Wilkerson's photos - http://www.shastarails.com/

Please consider using a worksheet to make notes about the requirements that you are learning about. It will help you organize your information, and will help you remember it when you are ready to get the requirement signed off. You can print off some of these pages, but you will still be asked to identify other pictures or models during your sign-off.

Flatcars were initially a simple platform, mounted on rail wheels, for moving freight. It was easy to load and unload, but it was also easy for freight to fall off during sudden stops and when taking curves at faster speeds. It was also easy for thieves to see (and steal) freight from the flatcars. They remain a versatile freight platform today, and continue to be adapted for special uses. Imagine the weight of this large tractor. Photo by Ryan Wilkerson.

Heavyweight Flatcars were developed to move very heavy loads. The loads may not have been big, but they were always heavy. The extra wheels on each end of the car helped to distribute the weight. In this picture, the car is also a Depressed-Center Flatcar, where the load has been lowered closer to the ground, to allow for larger freight to be carried over the rails. Photo by David Graham.

A Schnabel Railroad Car is different, because the freight is a center component, bolted to the articulated supports mounted above many wheels. All of the extra axles help distribute extra weight, but they are set up in pairs to still be able to turn along the tracks. By putting all the wheels on each end (beyond the freight component), you also allow the center of gravity for the freight to be closer to the ground. Photo by David Graham. ( S. Berliner's SCHNABEL pages ) ( ETMX1001 page )

Center-Beam Flatcars were created to help keep loads from shifting from side to side (especially along windy tracks throgh the mountains), and they are often used for shipping lumber. These cars need to be loaded, and unloaded, from both sides at once, to prevent them from tipping over. Photo by Chris vanderHeide.

Bulkhead Flatcars were created to help keep loads from shifting forward during sudden stops. If the loads were to slide forward during a sudden stop, they could damage the rail cars ahead of them, or damage freight (the the next car was a flatcar, and that load had not shifted). Photo by David Graham.

Trailer-on-Flatcar (TOFC) were flatcars designed to have a tractor trailer driven up a loading ramp onto the flatcar, and they had special supports for the front end of the trailer. These were sometimes referred to as "Piggyback Flatcars. Some variations of TOFC used a crane to move the trailers between the ground and the flatcar. Both the crane-loaded, and the driv-on versions required special loading facilities. Photo by David Graham.

Road-Railer Trains are "Bi-Modal", meaning that the trailers can be used in two modes of service (road and rail). These tractor trailers have special features that make it quick and easy to connect them to special train wheelsets and raise their road wheels. At their rail destination, the road wheels are lowered, and another truck drives them to their final destination. Notice in the picture that there is no 'train' under the trailer, which reduces the weight, and it also lowers the center of gravity of the trailers in transit. Photo by David Graham. (offsite link: Deluxe Innovations RoadRailer models )

Intermodal 'Well' Cars (also called by the trademarked name "Stack Trains") are like drop-bottom flatcars for intermodal freight containers. The lower bed allows for "double-stacks" (two containers tall) to fit through tunnels and bridge portals. Another aspect is that a 'single well car' can have three, four, or 5 beds between the couplers, using shared wheel-sets between the beds, to reduce the friction of some unneeded axles. Photo by David Graham.

Log Cars are a variant of the Spine Cars, but sometimes a Flatcar would be used as a base as well. The tall steel posts would hold large sections of tree trunks (lined up the same direction of the train, and not longer than the ends of the car). This made them easier to unload using special cranes with 'claws' at their destination. Photo by Ryan Wilkerson.

Airplance Fuselage Segment Transporter, built for the Boeing Corporation, for moving parts of planes that are built in one factory to another factry where they can be assembled into full airplanes (and then they can be flown to their new owners.) This is a specialty flatcar, with the sliding covers to protect the freight while in transit. These covers slide out to the ends of the car for loading and unloading of these large freight loads. Photo by Ryan Wilkerson.

Stock Cars were boxcars made to move livestock, most often cattle. They often had wooden sides, with gaps between the wooden slats. This allowed good air circulation for the animals, while keeping them corraled during their trips. Some cars had multiple levels, for carrying smaller animals. Photo by Jim Sands.

Refrigerated 'Icebox' Boxcars were designed to get fresh produce to market across longer distances. These modified boxcars had insulated floors, roof, and walls, to keep the sun and outside temperatures from affecting the freight. These "icebox reefers" had hatches in the roof at each end of the car for loading ice into trays at the top of the car, which keept the produce cool, and the ice was refilled at stations along the trip. The roof hatches were the clue that the car was a "reefer". Photo by Jim Sands.

Modern Refrigerated Boxcars have special doors, and thicker walls. Instead of ice, they use a refrigerator, similar to the one in your kitchen, with a generator and a fuel tank on each of these cars. You can spot them by looking for the cooling vents near the ends of the cars, looking for the fuel tank under the car, or listening for the motor as the train cars pass by. Photo by David Graham.

This is another Modern Refrigerated Boxcar, where the chiller unit is mounted to the outside of the car (on the end to the right in this picture.) These used an air conditioner very much like the types used on refrigerated trailers used on the roads. Photo by David Graham.

Tank Cars are used to move liquids by rail. There are many types, but you need to look closely to see the differences. Most tank cars have a layer of insulation inside the shell that you see, and an inner tank for the freight. Some liquids need to be kept HOT in transit (plastics, tars), while others need to be kept very cold (or they will become gases). Some tank cars actally carry pressurized gases, such as propane. Most tank cars these days carry only one comodity, but older cars had two or three sections inside. (Look for the number of 'domes' on top used for loading, for a clue to the number of compartments inside.) Photo by David K. Z. Harris.

Coiled Steel cars are a variation of the flatcar or the gondola. These cars have a cover that can be attached after the freight is loaded, which provides some protection in transit. At the destination, the covers are lifted off, and the freight is removed using cranes.

Side-Dump Gondolas are a special variation of gondola which can dump its load to either side of the tracks, but not between the tracks (so this is NOT a Hopper car). The clues to look for are the smaller shutes under the car (between the rails) AND the hinges along the side walls. The walls help to ensure that the contents of the gondola falls away from the ballast roadbed. This car can dump to either side of the train, as may be needed. Cars like this might be used to dump eavy rocks beside the Right-of-Way, to help protect the ballast from approacing flood waters.

Ballast Hoppers were designed to dump their load to the outside of the rails, as well as dumping the load between the rails. The car in the picture to the right has long doors alined above the rails, which can dump its load either between the rails, or outside the rails on the ties for Maintanance of Way work. Photo by David Graham.

Covered Hoppers are still hoppers, but with a cover on them. They are used for freight that is smaller and lighter (corn and grain, plastic particles for factories), that might blow away when the train is in transit, or for freight that shouldn't get wet or dirty during the trip (powdered products, including cement and flour). These empty through discharge ports in the bottom, but may have smaller ports and valves. Photo by Ryan Wilkerson.

Cabooses were initially made from old boxcars, but later became a specific type of car. They were the conductors office at the rear of the train, as well as the sleeping quarters for the brakemen. They had equipment to monitor the air pressure in the train brake line, as well as to be able to control the brakes in an emergency. They usually had a small covered porch/platform at each end. At the rear of the train, they could watch for smoke (or smell it), and watch for trouble at the rear of longer trains. To make it easier to see along the length of the train, the Bay Window Caboose had small extensions from the body of the caboose, allowing the crew an easy way to look down the sides without leaning out of the car. A Caboose usually has a brake wheel on each end, as well as ladders to climb up to the roof. Photo by Chris vanderHeide.

The Cupola Caboose has a small observation deck sticking up from the top of the caboose. From this high vantage point, the crew could look forward along the top of the train. This was probably the most common type of caboose. The caboose was the Conductors rolling office, and the 'Brakemans Hotel'. Some bench seats could become a bed, many had a hot stove for heating as well as cooking. Note all of the 'grab-irons' (safety railings) on the cabooses pictured here. Photo by David Graham.

Baggage Cars typically have a couple large doors, and only a few small windows, and are usually found between the locomotives and the  coaches on passenger trains. There are doors on the end of the baggage cars, so that the crews can pass through them during the voyage, but the passengers rarely get to go inside them. Photo by Ryan Wilkerson.

Combination ("Combine") Cars were usually found on railroads with smaller traveling populations. For the weight of a single coach, the railroad would have the capacity of two smaller cars. The  picture to the right shows a Baggage and Rolling Post Office Combine car. In front of the small door, you can see the mailbag catcher, and a few windows to let light in for the postal clerks. The most common Combine was a passenger and baggage combination. You would find many windows on one end, and a large freight door on the other end. Photo by David K. Z. Harris

Passenger Coaches usually have large windows down the side of the coach, so that the passengers can enjoy the view of the passing scenery. Smaller windows may indicate a bathroom, or small crew quarters on either end of the coach. The Royal Gorge was the name given to the 782 mile Rio Grande route between Denver, Colorado and Ogden, Utah. Photo by Ryan Wilkerson.

Sleeping Cars used to have small windows in each sleeping room, and some had a shared bathroom between two sleeping rooms. You would sleep in your room, and the porter would stow or convert your bed into a bench seat during the day.

Dome Cars were some of the first cars to give some passengers this elevated view of the landscape around the trains. The seats faces forward, and passengers could see to the front, as well as both sides (and even to the rear, if they wanted to kneel on their chair). Because there were so few seats with this special view on each train, it was considered good ettiquete to only sit for an hour or so, and then you would go back downstairs to allow someone else the chance to enjoy the view. I believe the car in this picture is ex-Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe #503. The Niles Canyon Railway is currently hosting ATSF #505 during restoration. Only 6 of this car were made, and all of them survive to this day under private ownership. Photo by Ryan Wilkerson.

Parlour Cars were typically at the rear end of the passenger trains. They would often have white lights facing the track, so the conductor could see for 'reverse moves (that is, for backing up) at night, just like most cabooses had lights. Parlour cars often had private rooms on one end, and they had a large lounge and a small porch under the cover of the roof at the other end, as in the picture to the right. Photo by Ryan Wilkerson.

There are currently 120 active merit badges that can be earned by Boy Scouts today, and scouts can find information about most of them on the Internet at the Railroading merit badge requirements. The MBRC has worksheets for most of the current merit badges.

These study guide pages were created on a Mac Mini, running OS X 10.4. The HTML editor was Nvu, and the images here were resized for faster loading using ImageWell. Images by David Harris were taken with a Canon PowerShot A-70 1.2 Mpixel camera. Additional page manipulation for posting on the NCRY website was performed by the webmaster, Jim Swofford.