The smallest of all railway cars is the push car, made of two pairs of wheels and a slight deck, designed for the convenience of track workers. Next comes the handcar, with a hand lever connected by a crank to the wheels. A few active men can operate one for a short distance at almost railway,speed. A new form of inspection car is an improvement on the handcar, having a small gasoline engine for working the lever.
Street Railway Since power was ap plied to street railway cars they have increased in size and developed along lines similar to steam railway practice. The earlier electric cars were short and mounted on a single truck. As traffic developed the two-truck car came in, and is now the accepted type. Open cars with cross seats and a running board are favored for summer traffic, but the standard car has seats of railway pattern, the tendency being to substitute reversible seats for two persons in place of longitudinal side seats. The front and rear platforms are now generally en closed, to protect the motorman and conductor from the weather. Electric light and heat are commonly supplied, though in some the car stove burning coal is still in use. Since 1910, the "pay as you enter" type of car has become popular with the companies and passengers are detained in a rear vestibule until they have de posited their fares in a box.
For subways, all-steel car construction is preferred, and in some cases is obligatory by law. These cars have both side and end doors, for the quick transfer of passengers. Elevated electric railway cars for city traffic follow closely the lines of development of steam pas senger cars, but are of lighter construction.
Features of The typical modern railway car is the day coach. It has spokeless wheels of either cast iron, wrought iron or cast steel, with a steel tire shrunk on. The wheels are fixed solid on the axles in pairs, and two pairs of wheels form a truck, though eight-wheeled trucks have been built. The body of the car rests on and is fixed to each truck by a central pin on which it turns. There are rolls and springs for steadying the car and preventing jolting. Between the trucks, under the deck, is located the air-brake, consisting of a reservoir of compressed air, a brake-cylinder and connections. (See AIR BRAKE). Cars are provided with couplers at the end of the car-deck and automatic couplers are now generally in use, which hook the cars together when gently bumped. The car roof
has a raised central section called the clear-• story, in which ventilators are placed, so that air circulation may be maintained without drafts. The car-seats have been the subject of hundreds of patents, but the accepted form is now a metal framed seat for two, with double i levers for reversing the back, which sordi narily high. Both seat and back are cushioned, most commonly covered with plush. See RAIL WAY.
There are 110 establishments in the United States manufacturing strictly rail way cars. The American Car and Foundry Company and the Pressed Steel Car Company are the largest, but a large business is done by the Southern Car and Foundry Company, Standard Steel Car Company, the Pullman Com pany, Haskell & Barker Car Company and West ern Steel Car and Foundry Company. Each railway has its own repair shops and many of these make cars, their output being about 15 per cent of the total production. In addition, a number of foundries and machine works make some cars as a side line, their production being about 9 per cent of the total. All these shops have a total capacity of nearly 300,000 cars a year, but rarely have more than 125,000 been made in a year. In 1909 the production was 101,243 cars, of which 1,601 were passen ger, and 603 were for electrical use on trunk line terminals, and 2,089 were for street rail ways. It is estimated that there are in use now (1917) 2,800,000 cars of all sorts on the trunk line railways of the United States.
Railway cars are made by so many differ ent concerns that are also engaged in other manufacturing that it is impossible to state with accuracy the capital invested in the busi ness. The total manufacture, while given as 135,000, valued at $165,000,000 in the 1914 census, is really much higher, because the large rail ways all maintain very large repair shops, and often cars are made of two-thirds new and classed as "repairs? These repair shops in 1914 added a value of $243,000,000 to the roll ing stock of the United States railways. Penn sylvania is the leading State in the steam-car building industry, with $93,600,000 production in 1914; Illinois was next with $41,496,000, Ohio third with $33,286,000; and New York produced $30,893,000. Indiana and California follow, but in other _States the production is small.