General Info

Note that the prototype-alongside-model photos on this page were selected only as initiations to the varied car types that can be found in each category.

Beginners Guide to model Passenger Cars (*.mp4)
Passenger Car Underbodies (*.pdf)
High Speed Trucks (*.pdf)

Express Cars

Express cars, while a form of expedited freight traffic, differ in that they are intended to always travel at high speed (got to get those cut flowers to market before they wilt).

| Express Car (*.jpg)
Common Express Box Cars (*.pdf)
| "Baggage" Car (*.jpg) - {a misnomer, as they are actually Streamlined Box Cars}
| Baggage-Coach Combine Car (*.jpg) - {a more suitable car for actual "baggage"}

Passenger Cars

Domes on passenger cars are just fancy windows. They do NOT constitute a Car Type.

| Streetcar using trolley pole (*.jpg) - {an electric City Bus}
Example of a Light Rail Vehicle using pantograph (*.jpg) - {an electric articulated City Bus}
| Rail Diesel Cars (*.jpg)
| Interurban Car (*.jpg) - {an electric RDC}
| Double-Deck Commuter Car (*.jpg)
| Rapid Transit Car using third rail (*.jpg) - {an electric Commuter Car}
| Amfleet Coach (*.jpg)
| Chair Car (*.jpg) - {Coach with reclining seats for napping}
| Heavyweight Sleeping Car (*.jpg)
Flat-end Enclosed Observation Cars (*.pdf)
| Observation Cars (*.jpg) - {these cars often provide beverage service}
Theater Car (*.pdf)

Dining Cars

Railroad food service includes full-length, full-service dining cars with tables and chairs; as well as regular cars that include a small, limited menu cafe with booths. For efficiency, full-length dining cars are often swapped between trains. Cars which include a cafe (or which are combine cars that have a small dining section, as is sometimes found in luxury bi-level cars) will stay with the train.

| Dining Car (*.jpg)
Railroad Dining (*.pdf)

Horse Transport Cars

Today personal horse transport by train rarely occurs except for racing Thoroughbreds. However before the ubiquity of the automobile, passengers commonly transported their horses along with them on their passenger trains in Horse Transport Cars (either specially built, or a baggage car conversion [EXAMPLE]). After the automobile became ubiquitous, and especially before car renting became common, railroads would also use their horse cars (if the car was capable) to transport a passengers personal automobile. Today the Amtrak Auto Train still allows passengers to transport their automobiles along with them.

| Horse Transport Car (*.jpg)
Santa Fe Horse Cars (*.pdf)
| Auto Train Auto Carrier (*.jpg)

Railway Post Office Cars

Although listed on the timetable, Railway Post Office cars are owned and manned by the Postal Service, NOT the railroad. The RDC-4 is railroad owned, but the locked post office section is manned by postal employees. Sealed Mail is securely carried in railroad owned "material handling car" (or a guarded Express/Baggage car).

| Material Handling Car (*.jpg)
Railway Post Office (*.pdf)
| Self-contained RDC-4 RPO (*.jpg) - {although the "baggage" section could be used for high-value express, it most commonly held sealed mailbags}