page_title: Flatcar
section_title: Centerbeam flatcars/lumber racks
hierarchical_section_title: Flatcar / Specialized types / Centerbeam flatcars/lumber racks
caption_attribution_description: English: BCIT 871027, a centerbeam flat car. It is seen here in interchange service heading westbound out of BN's Eola Yard, just east of Aurora, October 6, 1992. Photo by Sean Lamb (User:Slambo)
context_page_description: A flatcar is a piece of railroad or railway rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck mounted on a pair of trucks or bogies, one at each end containing four or six wheels. Occasionally, flat cars designed to carry extra heavy or extra large loads are mounted on a pair of bogies under each end. The deck of the car can be wood or steel, and the sides of the deck can include pockets for stakes or tie-down points to secure loads. Flatcars designed for carrying machinery have sliding chain assemblies recessed in the deck.
  Flatcars are used for loads that are too large or cumbersome to load in enclosed cars such as boxcars. They are also often used to transport intermodal containers or trailers as part of intermodal freight transport shipping.
context_section_description: Centerbeam flatcars, centerbeams, center partition railcar, or "lumber racks" are specialty cars designed for carrying bundled building supplies such as dimensional lumber, wallboard, and fence posts. They are essentially bulkhead flatcars that have been reinforced by a longitudinal I-beam, often in the form of a Vierendeel truss, sometimes reinforced by diagonal members, but originally in the form of stressed panels perforated by panel-lightening "opera windows", either oval-shaped (seen above) or egg-shaped. These flatcars must be loaded symmetrically, with half of the payload on one side of the centerbeam and half on the other, to avoid tipping over.
caption: BC Rail #871027, a centerbeam flat car, leaves Burlington Northern's Eola Yard, in Illinois in 1992.
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