The transport of freight has always made the difference between profit and loss on railroads, although much of the romance of railroading arises from imagining the excitement and splendor and danger of traveling across the plains in a dusty coach. Today, there are few interurban railroads or trolley lines still operating, and Amtrak is the sole transcontinental passenger carrier. More than ever, freight is the lifeblood of railroads in the United States.
During the boom years when a railroad came into a region, it's availability devastated and eventually bankrupt most of the wagon and ferry boat businesses that had previously carried goods and persons in that area. In the 1920s, the railroads themselves began to lose business to new competitors: trucks for freight; cars and buses for people. Asphalt and concrete replaced steel rail, especially on what had been short branch lines between small towns. Trucks, automobiles, and buses were cheaper for companies to operate and offered more convenience to their customers. Long hauls of freight became the most, and nearly only, profitable market for the railroads.
This steel-framed, wood-sided box car, an antecedent of the modern, all-steel box car, could carry anything from bags of grain to barrels of gunpowder to bolts of fabric. Other types of freight cars include refrigerator cars, stick cars, automobile carriers, flat cars, and piggy back cars which carry truck trailers.