Baggage car

A restored heavyweight Canadian National Railway baggage car on display in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

A baggage car (US terminology) or luggage van (UK terminology) is a type of rail transport passenger car. Its purpose is to carry the checked baggage of the passengers as well as parcels ("express") in a passenger train, and is typically coupled at the front of the train close to the locomotive. Because this type of car is usually hauled at the front of a passenger train, it is sometimes classified as "head-end equipment." Passengers aboard a passenger train are not normally allowed access to a baggage car while a train is in motion.

A special type of baggage car came equipped with doors on one end to facilitate transport of large pieces of equipment and scenery for Broadway shows and other productions. These "theatrical" baggage cars were assigned theatrical names (i.e. Romeo and Juliet), and were similar to the "horse cars" that were used to transport racehorses.

Union Pacific Railroad #2242, a smooth-sided baggage-RPO car, passes through Denver, Colorado on June 5, 1949.

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway #1310, heavyweight baggage-barbershop-buffet-library car San Diego, at Colorado Springs, Colorado on April 7, 1935.

A resgodsvagn of the Swedish State Railways (SJ) in Malmö in 1988

References

• The American Railroad Passenger Car by John H. White, Jr. Two Volumes (1978) by Johns Hopkins University Press.
• ISBN 0-8018-2743-4 (pbk.: set: alk. paper)
• ISBN 0-8018-2722-1 (pbk.: v.1: alk. paper)
• ISBN 0-8018-2747-7 (pbk.: v.2: alk. paper)

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