Editing Boxcar (section)

{{Short description|Enclosed railroad car used to carry freight}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Distinguish|Bockscar}}
{{About|American freight car|UIC, Australian and New Zealand railway practice|Covered goods wagon|the Wild West wagon|Covered wagon}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2024}}

[[File:South Australian Railways M class boxcar (goods van) 7016, new, in 1926.jpg|thumb|A steel-bodied boxcar built by the [[American Car and Foundry Company]] in 1926 for the [[South Australian Railways]]]]
[[File:Box car DSSA 18052.jpg|thumb|A wooden-bodied [[Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway]] boxcar on display at the [[Mid-Continent Railway Museum]] in [[North Freedom, Wisconsin]]]]
[[File:Box car HLMX 60036 20040808.jpg|thumb|A double-door boxcar passes through [[Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin]].]]

A '''boxcar''' is the [[North America]]n ([[Association of American Railroads|AAR]]) and [[South Australian Railways]] term for a [[Railroad car#Freight cars|railroad car]] that is enclosed and generally used to carry [[freight]]. The boxcar, while not the simplest [[Railroad car#Freight cars|freight car]] design, is considered one of the most versatile since it can carry most loads. Boxcars have side [[sliding door]]s of varying size and operation, and some include end doors and adjustable [[Bulkhead (partition)|bulkheads]] to load very large items.

Similar covered freight cars outside North America are [[covered goods wagon]]s and, depending on the region, are called ''goods van'' ([[United Kingdom|UK]] and [[Australia]]), ''covered wagon'' ([[International Union of Railways|UIC]] and UK) or simply ''van'' (UIC, UK and Australia).{{Efn|An exception in Australia was the former [[South Australian Railways]], which adopted US practices and terminologies; it used the term "boxcar".<ref>{{cite conference |title=The Snowtown to Port Pirie line |first=Des |last=McAuliffe |date=1999 |book-title=Proceedings of the 1999 Convention  |location=Adelaide |conference=Modelling the Railways of South Australia }}</ref>{{Rp|1{{nbhyph}}129}}<!--A non-breaking hyphen is used here because the numerals do not represent a range of pages but one page numbered with four digits and a hyphen.-->}}