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waycar. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
waycar, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
waycar in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
waycar you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
way + car
Pronunciation
Noun
waycar (plural waycars)
- A crewed railroad car attached to the end of a freight train, serving as the conductor’s office, lookout (often via a cupola), and living quarters—equivalent to a caboose. Used chiefly in North America, historically.
1889 January, “Running Locomotives Without Regular Crews.”, in Locomotive Engineers’j Monthly Journal, volume XXIII, number 1, page 114:The question certainly has two sides, some able managers thinking that keeping the locomotives circulating round without attaching any set practice of making a conductor, engineer, fireman and two brakemen follow a certain waycar and all keep together, taking out any engine which may be available for the run.
1930, Ackerman V. Michigan Central Railroad Co. Gentinne V. Same, 249 MICH 693 (1930), page 70:The waycar is the rear car on the train. It is generally called a caboose.
2013, Dena Bisnette, Joe Gilliam, Newton, Arcadia Publishing, page 38:Crewmembers left their winter clothes in the waycar, another name for the caboose, hitched 56 cars behind the engine.
Usage notes
The term waycar appears in many late 19th and early 20th century railroad sources. For example, the CB&Q referred to its cabooses as waycars and the Denver South Park & Pacific Railroad used the same term.
Synonyms
caboose — the usual North American term for this type of car