In the beginning of railroading there were only a couple of types of freight cars being used, the flatcar or wagon and the wood sided boxcar. Not so today freight cars have become specialize to the product they haul. The auto transport car hauls automobiles from the manufacturer to designated rail yards to car dealerships across the country. Coal cars have been designed to carry coal loads, the gondola car carries raw products, the covered hopper hauls grain and liquids, while tank cars carry a variety of liquid products from shippers to destinations. The most recognized freight car is the boxcar which hauls anything from rolls of newsprint to children's toys, a relative to the boxcar is the reefer or refrigerator car that hauls perishable goods from farmers to market.
Although the caboose is rarely used today it was once a very import part of a freight train, providing living quarters for the crew who looked out for problems on the freight cars ahead of it, since it was the last car on the train. Not only was it the living quarters for the crew but also the office for the conductor. The caboose began disappearing from trains in the 1980's.
Trains and Toy Soldiers offers a wide variety of freight cars in all scales from manufacturers such as MTH Electric Trains, Lionel Trains, Ready Made Trains, Bachmann, Piko America, LGB, Hartland Locomotive Works, Atlas, Micro-Trains, Fox Valley, InterMountain, Broadway Limited, Kato and American Flyer.
Ready-To-Run freight train sets are also available from Trains and Toy Soldiers.
