Every Type of Railcar Explained in 15 Minutes

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Here in Germany, double deckers are actually very common on the busy commuter lines running from the minor to the major cities. Transporting that many people just wouldn't be possible without them!

In Germany, we have special rail cars to transport liquid pig iron from blast furnaces to steel works. They are designed to keep the iron liquid for hours and are called "torpedo cars".

Will be showing this to my two year old everyday for the next 16 years. Thank you ❤😂

(10:00) If anyone was wondering, the DOT codes for the tank cars are DOT-111 for pressurized tank cars and DOT-105 for non-pressurized ones.

Now this is my kind of content.

As an European/Italian who lives right above a railway and is very fond of trains, this video is a joy for the eyes! And it is really interesting to see the differences between rail services between The USA and what is done here in Europe. Double decker passenger cars are very common in many European countries, like in France and Italy for example, because people here tend to use the train a lot more than the car to commute between home and the workplace or school location, and double deckers obviously are more efficient in passenger throughput in a given amount of time. Low-level cars are also very appreciated because they are most of the time level with the platform, making embarking and disembarking a breeze especially for the disabled. European train manufactures produce mainly low-level rolling stock, double or single decked, these days. It seems that the main differences between USA and Europe is in a few cars: cabooses, autoracks and coil cars. For cabooses, the closest in Europe are the brake vans that were used mainly in the UK when cars had no brakes on them. The UK also had, between the 60s and the late 70s, the so called "brake tenders", which were very low and very heavy ballast cars, looking like big metal slabs on wheels, fitted with automatic brakes, meant to be connected to diesels and assist them with braking. Outside the UK, some European freight cars with brakes had a "braker's box", a very small cabin where the brake man sat during trips and provided him with a brake handle for that car. Continuous braking in all cars/wagons did away with all of these eventually. For autoracks, the main difference is that those in Europe are not enclosed like in The USA. The loaded cars are therefore exposed to the elements, like in a normal car carrier truck. Also, autoracks are at most double decked instead of triple decked. European coil cars are basically in two flavors: the "Shimmns" type and the "Rhlmms" type. The difference is wether the car is enclosed or not. The Rhlmms cars are basically flat cars with shaped seats for the coils, up to 5 usually, which are open to the elements. The Shimmns have a similar arrangement but are also enclosed, and there are two types of covers. One is a simple tarpaulin stretched all over the car from bulkheads and other support beams. The tarpaulin is opened by folding it one one side by moving said beams; the other cover type is a rigid telescopic metal cover, divided in three pieces, who slide into each other when opened. Thanks again for this treat, Grady. Keep it up!!

That "End of Train Device" is super important for safety too. Here in the UK, every train must have some form of red light bringing up the rear. On multiple units or when a loco brings up the rear, you can use the tail lights, while most freight and non-MU trains have a lamp that flashes. Traditionally it was used by signal boxes to ensure the whole train was in tact (look for the light as it passed by) but obviously it's helpful for other trains, track workers etc.

I love how the animation shows all the cars as one absolutely insane train

This series should be a huge hit, from kids to adults, I feel like we all love trains

In Switzerland we even have a prison train, which is sometimes used to transfer prisoners. It is based on an old commuter set, but the interior is modified with several holding cells, some seats where staff can sit and have a look on the cells, and the lavatory has been modified so you can't flee out of the window. Aside from snowblowers (btw, that snowblower at 12:04 is a historic model that is actually steam-powered. Rhaetische Bahn occasionally puts it to use for railfans) there are also snowplows. Some of them have a piece that can clear in between the rails and needs to be lifted up whenever a switch comes. Another wacky railcar is the picklebarrel car. They aren't arond anymore, but they were cars with a big wooden barrel on top. The idea was that the car could be filled with pickled food, and the vinegar would do its magic while the car was on the way. They went the way of the Dodo as the time saved by combining pickling and transport was no longer worth the extra effort from loading, unloading, and cleaning. And my last mention will be transporter wagons, which are basically wagons that use a set of rails as a frame, in order to transport other wagons or locomotives. This is done to transport rolling stock of a different gauge, for example when a train manufacturer wants to deliver some narrow gauge locomotive they made. Overall they are very rare but in my area they are a bit more common, as I live relatively close to a train manufacturer that produces lots of narrow gauge stuff

As a railroad employee, and a huge fan of Practical Engineering, I am very much looking forward to this series! Happy to contribute if needed.

I gotta say, I've really been enjoying the variety of content you've brought lately, especially the practical construction series. Looking forward to the railway series as well.

I'm a retired railroader. Fairly good descriptions. Probably the most important thing about a U. S. freight car is that they are designed to hold the maximum allowable weight of material. The Association of American Railroads' typical weight limit for a car qualified for interchange between railroads is 143 tons (286,000 lbs.). This allows for 100 tons of cargo and up to 43 tons for the weight of the empty car. There are also standard sizes for cars, expressed as (tem)"plates" stenciled on the cars. They are letter designations starting with "A". The standard U. S. clearance for interchange between railroads is "plate C", so a couple of sizes bigger than the smallest. You might see one that says "exceeds plate C", which means it's a little bigger than standard, but not as big as the next standard size. Auto racks are often plate "F". Those limits largely determine the size of a particular car. The descriptions of the differences between open and covered hoppers and gondolas was a little garbled with the images, and the drawings of baggage and combine cars didn't include the larger doors for loading/unloading baggage. Dome cars are pretty much not used in regular Amtrak service in the U. S. anymore, although they are for excursions and private cars that Amtrak sometimes handles. You might have mentioned something such as an ore jenny, which is pretty much specialized to mining areas, like the U. S. upper Midwest, designed to hold heavy, very dense material like iron ore, in a small space.

You should look into the special cars we had in the UK for transporting nuclear waste, they are bloody impressive. They crashed a class 46 loco into one at full tilt and it survived

I used to work for a connector railroad, the RF&P (now part of CSX Transportation), 40 years ago. So I knew of and have seen up close most of the kinds of cars you featured, but it's been a long time and I'm not sure I could've still listed them from memory. It was nice to have this refresher because I'll always be a railfan at heart. Looking forward to the rest of this series! Topics you could cover: Signals and signal communications; switches, junctions, and switchyard technology; major accidents and how safety improved as a result; dynamics of trains crossing peaks and valleys and how these problems are solved; diesel vs. electrified operations; safety and failsafe design at crossings; right of way engineering (grades, drainage, trestles, tunnels, etc.).

I watched a video with someone going through a cold start of a steam locomotive. Took something like 2-4 hours. There are an AMAZING amount of elements to such an engine that I didn't even know about before! A fully functional steam locomotive from anything past 1880 is an absolutely marvel of engineering and really gives credence to the title "engineer" for the guy who has to operate it. You really do have to have some pretty extensive understanding of them to get them to run right and not one component was electrical. All steam and mechanical!

he just dropped one of the best videos ever

I'm a mechanical engineer who designs lift bridges (draw bridges) for railroads across the country. Hope you do a video on lift bridges!

Career railroader here, still amazes me learning the ins and outs of every part of this industry even though I’ve been on the freight and passenger sides. Nicely done.