A flatcar (US) (also flat car,[ "NP Flat Car Diagrams". Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association. Retrieved November 21, 2012.]
Flatcars are used for loads that are too large or cumbersome to load in enclosed cars such as , but which will not be harmed by the weather. They are also often used to transport intermodal containers (shipping containers) or Semi-trailer as part of intermodal freight transport shipping.
Specialized types
Aircraft parts flatcars
Aircraft parts were hauled via conventional
Boxcar beginning in World War II. However, given the ever-increasing size of aircraft assemblies, the "Sky Box" method of shipping parts was developed in the late 1960s specifically to transport parts for the Boeing 747 and other "jumbo" jets of the time. The "Sky Box" consists of a two-piece metal shell that is placed atop a standard flatcar to support and protect
wing and
Empennage Manufacturing and
fuselage sections in transit (originally, depressed-center or "fish belly" cars were utilized).
Boeing 737 aircraft fuselages constructed by Spirit Aerosystems in Wichita, Kansas are hauled as special loads to the Boeing Renton Factory for final assembly.
Bulkhead flatcars
Bulkhead flatcars are designed with sturdy end-walls (bulkheads) to prevent loads from shifting past the ends of the car. Loads typically carried are pipe,
steel slabs,
and
lumber, though lumber and utility poles are increasingly being hauled by skeleton cars. Bulkheads are typically lightweight when empty. An empty bulkhead on a train puts it at a speed restriction to go no more than . Since bulkheads are lightweight when empty, hunting can occur when the car is above . Hunting is the wobbling movement of the trucks on a freight car or a locomotive. If the wheels hunt against the rails for a period of time, there is a high risk of a
derailment.
Centerbeam flatcars/lumber racks
Centerbeam flatcars, centerbeams, center partition railcar, or "lumber racks" are specialty cars designed for carrying bundled building supplies such as dimensional lumber,
wallboard, and fence posts. They are essentially bulkhead flatcars that have been reinforced by a longitudinal
I-beam, often in the form of a Vierendeel truss, sometimes reinforced by
diagonal members, but originally in the form of stressed panels perforated by panel-lightening "opera windows", either oval-shaped (seen above) or egg-shaped. These flatcars must be loaded
symmetry, with half of the payload on one side of the centerbeam and half on the other, to avoid tipping over.
Heavy capacity flatcars
Heavy capacity flatcars are cars designed to carry more than . They often have more than the typical North American standard of four
(one two-axle
Bogie at each end), and may have a depressed center to handle excess-height loads as well as two trucks of three axles each (one at each end) or four trucks (two at each end) of two axles each, connected by
. Loads typically handled include electrical power equipment and large industrial production machinery.
Circus use
A circus train is a modern method of conveyance for circus troupes. One of the larger users of circus trains was the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (RBBX), a famous
United States circus formed when the Ringling Brothers Circus purchased the Barnum and Bailey Circus in 1907, merged in 1919, and closed permanently as a merged company in May 2017.
Remote control use
Some companies, such as CSX Transportation, have former wood-carrying flatcars rebuilt into platforms which mount remote control equipment for use in operating locomotives. Such platforms are fitted with appropriate headlights,
Train horn, and air brake appliances to operate in the leading position on a cut of cars (i.e. coupled ahead of the locomotive).
Intermodal freight use
COFC (container on flat car) cars are typically long and carry four intermodal containers or two / shipping containers (the two containers are carryable due to the fact that the car is actually long, over the strike plates). With the rise of intermodal-freight-transport–
Well car, and given the age of most of these flats, numbers will decline over the next several years. Indeed, when the first
appeared, allowing double stacking, many container flats were re-built as
. The few "new build" container flats are identifiable by their lack of decking, welded steel frame, and standard length. One variant is the car (which usually carries one large container as a load); these are actually re-built old
. Common
are FEC, CP, SOO and KTTX. The ATTX cars, which feature non-sparking grips and sides, are built for hauling
dangerous goods (ammunition, flammable fluids, etc.).
Image:FEC 37066 20050604 WI Glen Haven.jpg|A Florida East Coast Railway flatcar carries two shipping containers as it passes through Glen Haven, Wisconsin.
Spine car
A spine car is a car with only center and side sills and lateral arms to support intermodal containers.
File:Spine car 02.jpg|Spine cars with semi trailers on them
File:Railroad car with container loads.jpg|A spine car with a 20 ft tanktainer and an open-top 20 ft container with canvas cover.
Trailer-on-flat car
A Trailer-on-flat-car, or piggy-back car allows two trailer pups or one
semi-trailer up to to be carried. Like well cars, these usually come in articulated sets of five or three.
A longer TOFC (trailer on flat car) is usually an car. In the past, these carried three trailers which are, as of 2007, almost obsolete, or one large, , two or trailers. As intermodal traffic grows, these dedicated flats are in decline. Most have been modified to also carry containers as well. One notable type is Canadian Pacific Railway's XTRX service—dedicated five-unit flats that only carry Semi-trailer.
Skeleton car
Similar to the spine car except that it is designed to carry
lumber or
, a skeleton car is composed of a center sill and lateral arms only. No deck, sometimes no side sills and sometimes no end sills.
[ ][ ][ Skelleton logging car, capacity] The arms can include pockets for
or tie-down points to secure loads.
Idler flatcars
In some marine services, the linkspan between a
train ferry or
Car float and its
Ferry slip is very weak. In order to avoid loss of cargo or heavy locomotives, an old flatcar (which is usually the lightest car available) is used as a bridge between the locomotive on the dock and the cars on the ferry or barge.
Idler flatcars are also used in oversize freight service, as loads such as pipe often overhang the ends of most standard-sized flatcars. Empty flatcars will be placed on both ends of the loaded car. This protects the cargo ends from damage and ensures that the loads don't bind and damage the ends of adjacent cars.
Often a flat car is placed directly in front of a crane ("big hook") in order to:
-
provide a way to remove a wrecked car from a crash site.
-
provide a way to store new or removed rail from a work site.
-
allow room for the crane's boom while in transit to and from a work site.
Idler flatcars are also used to mount one kind of Railway coupling on one end and another kind on the other end (dual coupling). This is called a match wagon or a barrier vehicle.
Gallery
FM CN 668080.jpg|CN flatcar with newly built Volvo on the Goderich–Exeter Railway.
Image:Loaded flat cars, covered loads.jpg|A string of flatcars carries (under Tarpaulin) in April 1943
File:Interurban and 'pusher' cart.jpg|The Fraser Valley Heritage Railway Society single vehicle does not use a trolley-pole, instead it is powered by a Diesel generator towed on a small flatcar.
See also
External links
