I have the following description. What is a "Trap Boxcar."

The Chicago North Western Railroad, loaded up LCL on baggage wagons and shoved the whole loaded cart into the Trap boxcars. This allowed the whole cart(s) to be shoved out and another shoved in quickly at a station. So the trap cars didn't have to be left at a station while the agent and clerks there wrestled out and in the merchandise with hand trucks, pending the appearance of the next peddler freight to pick it up and move it on to another station where it would be left for a repetition of this sequence. In big freight houses the railroads used 'Towmotors' to haul trains of carts around.


hankmorris@earthlink.net