A Selection of Hallmark Ornaments: Railroad Freight Cars

The basic boxcar was long the backbone of American freight railroading. These enclosed cars carried everything from foodstuffs, to raw materials, to manufactured goods. Later in the 20th century, standardized intermodal containers -- which could be carried interchangeably on truck-trailer chassis or on railroad flatcars -- replaced boxcars on U.S. railroads for many cargoes.

Flatcars are the simplest freight cars -- little more than flat decks on railroad wheels. But they are highly flexible. Flatcars carry loads that are too large for enclosed boxcars -- everything from industrial equipment, to farm tractors, to airplane fuselages. Specialized flatcars are vital to the trains that carry intermodal containers from marine terminals to distribution centers.

Tank cars are used to transport liquid and gas commodities. Some are insulated to keep their contents hot or cold, and many have interior baffles to keep liquids from sloshing around while in transit. Tank cars carrying hazardous materials are reinforced to help prevent their contents from spilling in the event of an accident.

The hopper car is designed to carry bulk materials. Open-top hoppers are used for resilient cargoes like stone, ore and coal. More sensitive goods like grain, fertilizer and sugar are carried in covered hoppers with roofs. Most hopper cars have hatches on their bottoms that allow their contents to be unloaded by gravity.

The stock car is a specialized version of a boxcar designed to transport livestock. Its louvered side panels provide ventilation for cattle, hogs, sheep, or other animals. Shipping livestock was a costly business, with animals requiring food and water along the route. Railroads and shippers alike found it more economical to transport processed animal products in refrigerated railcars.

The caboose was the conductor's office, the crew's quarters, and -- with its rooftop cupola or side-view bay windows -- a place to spot problems on the train. But, unlike other cars in a freight train, the caboose didn't generate any revenue for the railroad. By the 1980s, new technologies and smaller train crews made cabooses unnecessary, and railroads quickly retired them.