Open wagon

Since the 1960s, the majority of goods wagons procured by European railway administrations have been built to standards laid down by, or based on, those established by the UIC.

Some of these wagons can also be completely tipped over, in other words, at certain places they can be lifted up and emptied by being turned about their longitudinal axis.

[citation needed] Typical loads for these wagons are all sorts of bulk goods, like coal, coke, ore, sand or gravel.

Railway companies also use hoppers as departmental wagons in maintenance of way trains for ballasting the track.

These wagons are frequently seen in unit trains for transporting bulk goods such as coal or mineral ore from mines or ports to steelworks or power stations.

In order to prevent wagons from falling over during the tipping operation, some are equipped with track pinch bars with which they can be securely anchored to the trackbed.

These wagons are often seen in unit trains being used to remove excavated material from major construction sites.

[4] The first railway bulk-cargo gondolas, the first freight wagons, were the chaldron cars of the early coal-carrying plateways.

Once locomotive haulage began, the unstable and top-heavy nature of this design became a problem with increasing speeds and later wagons became lower and longer.