By Fiona Vernon
One of the biggest fascinations that children have is with trains. They are majestic sights as car after car glides past, seemingly coming out of nowhere and disappearing down some mysterious path. As we grow older, the mystery subsides as we learn the significance that railroads have had on the building of our nation by the delivering of products across industries. What is each type of freight car’s purpose? Some are obvious in their names — autoracks, refrigerated boxcars, and coil cars — but what about centerbeams, flatcars, covered and open-top hoppers, tank cars, well cars, and intermodal equipment. Each of these also have their own nicknames in the industry, making it all the more interesting for lay people. Businesses from the East Coast to West Coast can use freight cars to ship just about anything by rail to keep the economy flowing smoothly.