Rolling stock

This article is about train cars. For the genre of motorsports, see stock car racing.
Variety of rolling stock in rail yard

The term rolling stock originally referred to any vehicles that move on a railway. It has since expanded to include the wheeled vehicles used by businesses on roadways. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches, and wagons.[1][2][3][4]

Overview

Rolling stock is considered to be a liquid asset, or close to it, since the value of the vehicle can be readily estimated and then shipped to the buyer without much cost or delay.

The term contrasts with fixed stock (infrastructure), which is a collective term for the track, signals, stations, other buildings, electric wires, etc., necessary to operate a railway.

Code names

In Great Britain, types of rolling stock were given code names, often of animals. For example, "Toad" was used as a code name for the Great Western Railway goods brake van,[5] while British Railways wagons used for track maintenance were named after fish, such as "Dogfish" for a ballast hopper.[6] These codes were telegraphese, somewhat analogous to the SMS language of today.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Yaxham Light Railway rolling stock page".
  2. ↑ "Definition of "rolling stock" from the Oxford English Dictionary accessed 5 February 2007 (subscription service)".
  3. ↑ "Definition of "rolling stock" from the Concise Oxford Dictionary".
  4. ↑ "Definition from the American Heritage Dictionary".
  5. ↑ "Code Names for Great Western Carriage Stock and Vans". greatwestern.org.uk.
  6. ↑ "Fishkinds and TOPS". btinternet.com. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012.
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