BOX CAR, a covered and enclosed flat car used in America for carrying freight, with sliding doors either at the sides alone or at both side-centre and ends. It is usually about 4o ft. in length, has an average capacity of from 5o to 55 tons, and is made of wood and steel, or steel alone. The evolution of this type of car from the first crude freight car that appeared on the tracks of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad in 1832 has resulted from the need of protection from the weather and the necessity of sealing under lock and key many varieties of general merchandise, among them canned and dry goods. The average trip of the box car has been computed at 14.9 days, with 1 o• 1 hours out of every 24 spent in shifting and interchange movement. In the United States, of the 2,355,225 freight cars in use in 1922, 1,100,000 were ordi nary box cars. A large proportion of the remainder showed some modifications of the box car principle in regard to stock, refriger ating and furniture. Of a total of freight cars believed to have been put in service in the United States from Jan. 1923 to Oct. 1, 1927, 248,008 were thought to be box cars, and this type of car also figured prominently in the loadings esti mated for 1926. Much of the 83.000,00o tons of freight reputed to arrive and leave New York annually by rail is transported in box cars. In England the term box wagon, rather than car, is used.
the name commonly given in the eastern United States to a species of maple (Ater Negundo), various races of which are planted for shade and ornament (see MAPLE).