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 railway vehicle often forming part of the composition of passenger trains and used to carry passengers' checked baggage, as well as parcels ("express"). Being typically coupled at the front of the train behind the locomotive, this type of car is sometimes described as "head-end equipment". Passengers are not normally allowed access to baggage cars while trains are 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.

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

See also

• Brake van

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)