START WITH WHAT YOU CAN SEE
What freight car am I looking at?
You do not need a car number to get started. Choose the body shape that looks closest to the car you saw. The spotter narrows the possibilities and explains the key features to check next.
INTERACTIVE IDENTIFIER
Freight Car Spotter
QUICK VISUAL LIBRARY
Common North American freight-car families
Use these silhouettes and spotting clues when you already know roughly what kind of car you are seeing.
Boxcar
Enclosed rectangle, solid roof, large side doors.
Covered Hopper
Roof hatches plus sloped bays and bottom outlets.
Open Hopper
Open top with sloped lower bays for bottom unloading.
Tank Car
Cylindrical vessel carried on a railcar frame.
Gondola
Open top with a flat floor and fixed sides.
Flatcar
Open deck with little or no permanent body.
Centerbeam
Flatcar with a tall center partition, often for lumber.
Autorack
Very tall enclosed or perforated car for vehicles.
Well Car
Containers sit low between the trucks; often double-stack.
Refrigerated Car
Insulated box-shaped car built for temperature-sensitive loads.
Coil Car
Steel-coil cradles, often protected by rounded removable hoods.
Gondola or open hopper?
Look underneath
An open hopper is built around sloped bays and discharge gates underneath so bulk material can flow out the bottom.
Look at the floor
A gondola usually has a flatter floor inside the open box. It is commonly unloaded from above with cranes, magnets, excavators or rotary dumpers depending on service.
Identification safety
Use visible design features to identify the type of car, not its exact contents. A tank car's shape or paint color alone does not tell you what commodity is inside. Stay off railroad property, never climb on equipment, and observe only from a legal public location.
Still not sure?
Describe the car's shape, doors, roof, hatches, number of levels and anything unusual. Ask the Conductor can help narrow the possibilities.
Ask the ConductorStill not sure what car you are looking at?
Describe the roof, sides, doors, hatches, bays, deck and visible load. The Conductor can help narrow the possibilities.