40 Train Trivia Questions for Kids

1. Which enclosed freight car has large sliding doors along its sides?

2. Which freight car carries liquids inside a large tank?

3. What do passengers buy as proof that they have paid for a train journey?

4. What is a station at the end of a railway line called?

5. Which train worker checks passengers' tickets on many services?

6. In American railroad language, what is the person who drives a locomotive called?

7. Which passenger car is set up for serving meals?

8. Which train car has beds for overnight trips?

9. Which kind of train carries goods rather than passengers?

10. Which train is designed for regular journeys between home and work?

11. In American English, what is an urban railway that runs mainly underground called?

12. Which freight car has an open, flat deck with no roof or fixed side walls?

13. Which freight car uses sloping floors and bottom doors to unload loose material?

14. What keeps a maglev train lifted above its guideway?

15. What extra rail does a rack railway use to help a train climb a steep hill?

16. What is the powered rail vehicle that pulls a line of unpowered train cars called?

17. What metal is used for most modern railway running rails?

18. What supports lie across the track underneath the rails, also called ties?

19. What are the crushed stones beneath and around many railway tracks called?

20. What movable track part guides a train from one track onto another?

21. What word means the distance between the inner faces of the two running rails?

22. What is standard railway gauge in millimeters?

23. Which open-top freight car has side walls and a flat bottom for loads such as scrap metal?

24. What is a long bridge with a series of supports that can carry trains across a valley?

25. In a steam locomotive, which large vessel heats water to make steam?

26. What liquid is turned into steam inside a steam locomotive?

27. Where is the fuel burned in a traditional steam locomotive?

28. What separate vehicle carries water and fuel behind many steam locomotives?

29. What black rock was commonly burned as fuel in steam locomotives?

30. What tall outlet lets smoke leave the front of a steam locomotive?

31. Which steam-powered sound device can give a locomotive its high, clear call?

32. What small crew car was traditionally attached to the rear of a freight train?

33. What connector joins one railway car to the next?

34. What swiveling wheeled frame supports a railway car and is called a truck in American usage?

35. What raised edge on a railway wheel helps guide it along the rail?

36. What rotating platform can turn a locomotive to face another direction?

37. What fan-shaped railway building often has locomotive stalls arranged around a turntable?

38. What spring-loaded device on the end of some rail vehicles cushions contact between them?

39. Which roof-mounted device touches an overhead wire to collect power for an electric train?

40. Why do some locomotives put sand on the rails just ahead of their wheels?