Wagons
The cars used on the early railways were very much like the stage-coaches and wagons travelling on ordinary roads. Although drawn by horses, these vehicles had flanged wheels which kept them on the rails.
The very first freight cars are known to have been used in coal mines in England. They were open-top wagons which had wooden wheels and were pulled by horses along wooden rails. They were followed by platform cars, also known as flat cars, upon which the freight was piled and covered with tarpaulin to protect it from the weather. As the goods often fell off and were easily damaged, the platforms were fitted with low sides and ends. Later, covered cars came into existence. As time went on and railroads had to carry more and more freight, bigger and better cars were invented for hauling different kinds of goods. Today, the railroads have several classes of freight cars, there being many varieties in each class.
The box car is considered to be the most common type of covered car. It is a general-purpose car intended to carry all kinds of ordinary goods which must be protected from the weather. A special type of box car is a refrigerator car used for hauling food products. The walls, floor and roof of this wagon are air- and waterproof to protect goods from the heat of the outside air.
Another type of car is a tank car intended for liquid goods. The long cylindrical tank of the car is filled through an opening on the top and emptied through a special device in the bottom.
Coal, ore, gravel, and other similar-goods are known to be conveyed in open-top cars, the principal types of these being the gondola and the hopper car. Both types are designed for mechanized loading and unloading and, therefore, built especially strong and durable.
The simplest type of car is the flat car. Being usually employed for transporting rails, beams, timber, and heavy machines, they, if fitted with special devices, can also carry containers. The container traffic is now coming into wide use on all modes of transport reduces the cost of loading and unloading goods and decreases the danger of their breakage. The fact is that goods are packed into containers at factories or warehouses and are not disturbed while in transit, thus being conveyed from "door-to-door".
In addition to the normal-type wagons there exist special freight cars for special kinds of goods. The example of a special-type car is sure to be a double-deck car used to carry automobiles. The conveyance of automobiles by rail has turned out to be more economical than by road.
II. Essential vocabulary
| stage-coach - | wagon |
| to draw - , | flanged wheels - |
| coal mine - ; | wheel - |
| flat - ; | to cover - , |
| to fell off- | to fit - , |
| existence - | to haul - |
| box car- | general-purpose - , |
| to protect , | product - ; |
| floor - , | heat - ; |
| carriage - | ordinary - , |
| vehicle - | freight - ; - |
| top - | to pull - |
| to pile - , | tarpaulin - ; |
| to damage - , | sides and ends - |
| to carry - , | several - |
| to consider - , | to intend - , |
| refrigerator car- - | roof-, |
| waterproof - | tank - , |
| liquid- | through - , |
| device - , | ore - |
| similar - , | gondola car - |
| to design - , | to load - |
| flat car - - | beam - , |
| machine - , | container - , |
| to decrease - | breakage - , |
| factory - , | to disturb - |
| door-to-door - | freight car - |
| double-deck - | automobile - |
| prototype - | publisher - |
| rolling stock | dining-car - - |
| saloon - - | passage - , |
| steel - | reduction - , |
| application - | cylindrical- |
| empty- , | bottom - , |
| gravel - | to convey - , |
| hopper cur -- | durable - ; |
| strong - , | to employ - , |
| timber - | to fit - , |
| to reduce - , | danger - , |
| to pack - , | warehouse - |
| transit - ; | to exist - , |
| sure - , | conveyance - . |
| to turn out - | sleeping-car - |
| to regard to - , | to comprise - |
| coach - , | arrangement - , |
| innovation - | plastics - |
| considerable - , | resistance - , , |
| corrosion - , | to provide - |
| to decrease- | improvement - , |
| to depend on - () | evident - , |
| performance - | maintenance costs - |
| to seem - , | to furnish - , |
| fluorescent - | conventional - |
| likely - , | development - , |
| application - , | to allow - |
| quite , | to seem - , |
| regards- | to involve - , |
| to justify , |
III. Check yourself
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1. What wheels did the first cars have?
2. Where have the really first freight car been s used?
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3. What were they? What were the differences between them?
4. What several classes may the freight covered cars be divided into?
5. How is the box car considered?
6. What special type of the box car is used for hauling food products?
7. In what way are liquid goods hauled?
8. What are the two principal types of open-top cars?
9. Why are the gondola and the hopper car built very strong and durable?
10. Why is the container traffic now coming into wide use? What is its advantage?
11. What is the reason of creating a special-type car?
12. For what is a double-deck car used?
13. Why is the introduction of fluorescent lighting and air-conditioning justified in spite of their high cost?
14. What innovations have been introduced in car construction since the early days?
IV. Translate the sentences
1. ,
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2. ,
3. , , .
4. , , .
5. , () , - .
6. , , .
7. , .
8. , .
9. .
