Freight cars

Freight cars (UK: "wagons" or "trucks") exist in a wide variety of types, adapted to the ideal carriage of a whole host of different things. Originally there were very few types of cars; the boxcar (UK: "van"), a closed box with side doors, was among the first.
Common types of freight cars include:
Aircraft Parts Car

Autorack - (also called auto carriers) are specialized multi-level cars designed for transportation of unladen automobiles.

Boxcar (or van) - box shape with roof and side or end doors.

CargoSprinter - a self propelled container flatcar.
Centerbeam cars
Coil car - a specialized type of rolling stock designed for the transport of coils of sheet metal, particularly steel. They are considered a subtype of the gondola car, though they bear little resemblance to a typical gondola.

Covered hopper - similar to open top hoppers but with a cover for weather and temperature-sensitive loads.

Double-Stack Car (or well car) - specialized cars designed for carrying shipping containers. These have a "well" with a very low bottom floor to allow double stacking.

Flatcar (or flat) - for larger loads that don't load easily into a boxcar. Specialized types such as the depressed-center flatcar (aka "well car") exist for oversize items or the Schnabel car for even larger and heavier loads. With the advent of containerized freight, special types of flatcars were built to carry standard shipping containers and semi-trailers.

Gondola - railroad cars with an open top but enclosed sides and ends, for bulk commodities and other goods that might slide off.

Hicube boxcars
Lorry - An open railroad car (gondola) with a tipping trough, often found in mines.
Refrigerator car (or reefer) - a refrigerated subtype of boxcar.

Side Dump Cars - used to transport roadbed materials such as, ballast, riprap, and large stone, and are able to unload anywhere along the track.

Hoppers - similar to gondolas but with bottom dump doors for easy unloading of things like coal, ore, grain, cement, ballast and the like. Short hoppers for carrying iron ore are called ore jennys.
Modalohr Road Trailer Carriers.

Roll-block - a train designed to carry another railway train.

Slate wagon - specialized freight cars used to transport slate.

Stock Car - for the transport of livestock.

Tank car (or tanker) - for the transportation of liquids.

Transporter wagon - a wagon designed to carry other railway equipment.

Conflat (UK) - A flat truck for carrying containers.

Lowmac (UK) - A low-floor wagon for carrying machinery.

Tippler (UK) Gondola (US) (or Lorry) - An open wagon with no doors or roof which are unloaded by being inverted on a Wagon Tippler (UK) or Rotary car dumper (US). They are, used for minerals, such as coal, limestone and iron ore as well as other bulk cargo.