# Train dopers: freight cars with windows? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 26, 2007, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-dopers-freight-cars-with-windows/393706 "2007-02-26T09:29:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-dopers-freight-cars-with-windows/393706/1 "2007-02-26T09:29:18Z")
I live across the street from a freight yard and occasionally watch them loading and unloading the trains all day. Last week, I noticed this odd-looking freight container stacked up with some others: [![](https://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s271/sdmb_sublight/?action=view¤t=IMGP0808.jpg) ](https://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s271/sdmb_sublight/?action=view¤t=IMGP0808.jpg) (the auto-focus picked out the fence in front, so it’s a little blurry. I’ll try and re-shoot it tomorrow morning) It’s the same size and shape as the other containers, and has the normal base to fit on the flatcars, but it has a door and windows, like it’s made for people to ride in. I don’t remember ever seeing containers like this on any trains passing by. What are they used for? ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-dopers-freight-cars-with-windows/393706/2 "2007-02-26T09:48:58Z")
Just a wild-ass guess - perhaps an office container for use at construction sites? Or even for MOW work. ---
**Author:** ![Black\_Train\_Song](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@Black\_Train\_Song](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Black_Train_Song)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-dopers-freight-cars-with-windows/393706/3 "2007-02-26T10:38:29Z")
I work on freight trains but still just a guess…probably just another container being shipped for a customer. Most of those container shipments get downloaded onto tractor trailers and taken off somewhere into the rest of the world. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-dopers-freight-cars-with-windows/393706/4 "2007-02-26T12:55:17Z")
I’ll go with **lawoot’s** guess. Probably a portable office for a contruction site. Or maybe just a guard building for a customer who has rail access. (You can buy prefab guard huts in industrial supply catalogs. Although the ones offered in Granger don’t look anything like that.) ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-dopers-freight-cars-with-windows/393706/5 "2007-02-26T13:05:09Z")
[QUOTE=Diceman] I’ll go with **lawoot’s** guess. Probably a portable office for a contruction site. Or maybe just a guard building for a customer who has rail access. (You can buy prefab guard huts in industrial supply catalogs. Although the ones offered in Granger don’t look anything like that.) [/QUOTE] Agreed. Although, the customer doesn’t necessarily need rail access. If it can fit on a flat wagon, it can fit on a truck. It’s just a pre-fab site office of some kind. they’re built to container specs for easy handling. There’s actually one on my local railway station, sitting right there on the platform - but right up the end out of the way. It’s used as some kind of lunch room for staff. I don’t know about in the US, but here we have temporary “demountable” school classrooms. They are delivered via truck (or rail) in three container-sized segments. The end segments have two side walls and one outer wall, and the middle one has the side walls only. The three are simply bolted together on-site. I was taught in one thirty years ago, so the concept isn’t new. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-dopers-freight-cars-with-windows/393706/6 "2007-02-26T13:09:27Z")
Nitpicking my own post: now that I recall, the classroom segments were an oversize load for the trucks. A classroom three trucks wide still isn’t very wide. Still a nifty idea. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-dopers-freight-cars-with-windows/393706/7 "2007-02-26T15:37:10Z")
[QUOTE=Black Train Song] …probably just another container being shipped for a customer. [/QUOTE] Except this one has a Japan Freight Railway Company logo on it. Perhaps a temporary office used at their freight terminals? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-dopers-freight-cars-with-windows/393706/8 "2007-02-26T16:08:46Z")
I found some info [here](http://container.pro.tok2.com/JIGYO_J.html), with more photos [here](http://container.pro.tok2.com/htmjg/z1.htm). Apparently it’s a measurement container, used for evaluating locomotive performance. ---
**Author:** ![BlakeTyner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@BlakeTyner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlakeTyner)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-dopers-freight-cars-with-windows/393706/9 "2007-02-26T16:33:31Z")
Could it be an office or control cab for some big machine? Something similar to the big coal shovels that are shipped in pieces and assembled on-site. I can’t tell if those are joysticks in the left window, but I keep getting the impression that this thing is a piece of a bigger machine. Portable office works, too, though. My dad worked out of a semi-trailer. Locomotive evaluation cars are typically permanent railcars. The ones GE uses are former heavyweight passenger cars from the WWII era, among others. I suppose it could be part of a modular system, but it seems somewhat unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-dopers-freight-cars-with-windows/393706/10 "2007-02-26T17:07:25Z")
FWIW, [here](http://container.pro.tok2.com/htmjg/zx45a2.htm) is another JR Freight measurement container. This one is designed specifically for the MC250 high-speed container train. ---
**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2007, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-dopers-freight-cars-with-windows/393706/11 "2007-02-26T17:15:03Z")
WOW! **scr4** for the win! ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2007, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/train-dopers-freight-cars-with-windows/393706/12 "2007-02-27T00:12:32Z")
That first set of photos look exactly like the one in front of my building. Thanks, **scr4**!