Goods Wagon - Types of Goods Wagon

Types of Goods Wagon

The numerous types of goods wagon are categorised here based on their main design features and in accordance with the international UIC classification system:

• Open wagons (US: gondolas) were formerly referred to in Germany as O wagons; today the international standard types are:
  • Open wagons of standard design (UIC Class E) with at least 85 cm high walls, with side-doors, and without self-discharging equipment
  • Open wagons of special design (UIC Class F) – especially self-discharging wagons (see photo) of type Fcs092.
  • Lowmacs
• Covered wagons or vans (US: boxcars) have a fixed roof and are mainly used for the transportation of part-load goods or parcels. Today these are divided into:
  • Ordinary classes (UIC Class G)
  • Special classes (UIC Class H), which are often distinguished by their large loading volumes.
  • Livestock vans (US:stock cars) for transporting cattle are no longer used. In Germany they were called V wagons and were counted as a special class.
• Refrigerated vans (Class I wagons), formerly known in Germany as T wagons (T = "Thermos") – are insulated covered vans, which are either cooled like conventional refrigerated vans by a cooling medium such as water or dry ice, or are machine-cooled wagons with their own cooling system.
• Flat wagons (US: Flatcars) have no walls or low walls no higher than 60 cm (23.6 in). Today these include wagons with individual axles in UIC Classes K (standard) or L (special), bogie wagons of UIC Classes R (standard) or S (special).
• Wagons with sliding roof (UIC Class T) either have a flat wagon floor or equipment for self-discharging.
• Special wagons of UIC Class U include powder wagons and low-loading wagons
• Tank wagons (UIC Class Z) are suitable for a wide variety of fluids and gases.
• Spine cars to carry intermodal containers.

Goods wagons for special purposes include:

• Departmental wagons are used by railway administrations exclusively for their own internal purposes (such as the slag wagons of Class X in Germany which were mainly based on old open wagons of Class O),
• Ferry wagons with smaller loading gauges for traffic travelling to Great Britain, which were designated with a lower case letter f.
• the rarely mixed open, flat wagons of UIC Class O, which are equipped with folding sides or stakes and can be used either as flats or as open goods wagons.
• Mineral wagons

Railway post vans (Mobile post offices) are not counted as goods wagons.

The UIC’s instructions were sometimes interpreted differently by the various railway administrations, so that it could happen that almost identical wagons were grouped into different classes. In addition wagons had occasionally to be reclassified after slight modifications. For example, an E Class wagon can become an F Class simply through welding on a door.