Wagon

The exact name and terminology used are often dependent on the design or shape of the wagon. If low and sideless it may be called a dray, trolley or float. When traveling over long distances and periods, wagons may be covered with cloth to protect their contents from the elements; these are "covered wagons". If it has a permanent top enclosing it, it may be called a "van".

Farm wagons are built for general multi-purpose usage in an agricultural or rural setting. These include gathering hay, crops and wood, and delivering them to the farmstead or market.[4] Wagons can also be pulled with tractors for easy transportation of those materials.

A common form found throughout Europe is the ladder wagon, a large wagon the sides of which often consisted of ladders strapped in place to hold in hay or grain, though these could be removed to serve other needs.[4] A common type of farm wagon particular to North America is the buckboard.

Freight wagons are wagons used for the overland hauling of freight and bulk commodities.[5]

Freight wagons were designed for hauling loads, not people, and were not built for comfort. A driver did not have a seat in front of the wagon like the image most people have of wagons. A driver walked alongside the wagon or rode on top of one of the horses. There was no place in front for a person to sit. Many freight wagons, however, had a unique feature called a "lazyboard." This was a plank that could be pulled out and sat on, and then pushed back in if not needed. It was located on the left side of the wagon between the wheels and close to the brake. If a driver was too tired to walk, he could pull out the lazyboard, and take a rest. That is why it was called a "lazyboard." (Some sources spell "lazyboard" as two words. There is no standard spelling.) In America, lazyboards were located on the left side because carts were steered from the left side. The cart itself was on the right side of the road. Unless a driver wanted to walk in the ditch, he had to steer from the left side. In Europe, carts were steered from the right side. The cart itself was driven on the left side of the road, as vehicles are driven there today. A European freight wagon had its lazyboard on the right side. In both places the driver would walk in the center of the road. More than a hundred years ago, almost everyone knew what a "lazyboard" was. Today, almost nobody would know.[6]

In the United States and Canada, the Conestoga wagon was a predominant form of wagon used for hauling freight in the late 18th and 19th centuries, often used for hauling goods on the Great Wagon Road in the Appalachian Valley and across the Appalachian Mountains.

Even larger freight wagons existed. For instance, the "twenty-mule team" wagons, used for hauling borax from Death Valley, could haul 36 short tons (32 long tons; 33 t) per pair.[7] The wagons' bodies were 16 feet (4.88 m) long and 6 feet (1.83 m) deep; the rear wheels were 7 feet (2.13 m) in diameter.[7]

• 
  Conestoga wagon, USA 1840s
• 
  Ox-wagon hauling wool, New Zealand c. 1880
• 
  Twenty-mule team, Borax freight, USA 1880s
• 
  Size comparison: Borax freight wagons versus man
• 
  Freight wagons, USA 1905
• 
  Freight wagons, Argentina 1920s
• 
  Load of wheat, USA 1910

A delivery wagon is a wagon used to deliver merchandise such as milk, bread, or produce to houses or markets, as well as to commercial customers, often in urban settings. The concept of express wagons and of paneled delivery vans developed in the 19th century.[8] By the end of the 19th century, delivery wagons were often finely painted, lettered and varnished, so as to serve as advertisements for the particular business through the quality of the wagon.[9][10] Special forms of delivery wagon include an ice wagon and a milk wagon.

There were many types of tank wagons. Water wagons held large tanks of water for delivery to areas without piped water or for military use.[11]^: 171 In the early 1900s, the American street flusher was a water tank wagon using a gas-powered pump to clean city streets.[11]^: 7 Liquid manure wagons were low tank vehicles for spreading manure on fields 1860s-1900s.[11]^: 156 Oil wagons operated from the 1880s to 1920s and held up to 500 gallons of oil or spirits.[11]^{: 123–124}

In the city center of Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany, since 1992 the city's plants are irrigated using a horse-drawn wagon with a water tank.[12]

• 
  Bakery delivery wagon, Australia 1900s
• 
  Alcohol tank wagon, France 1900s
• 
  Store delivery, USA 1900s
• 
  Bread delivery, England 1910s
• 
  Milk wagons, Finland 1920s
• 
  Milk delivery, Canada 1920s

Some wagons are intended to serve as mobile homes or mobile workshops.

• Shepherd's hut - for remote shepherds
• Vardo - traditional wagon of the 19th-century British Romani people
• Living van - used to house roving work crews during early steam engine days
• Showman's wagon - elaborate living accommodations for showmen
• Chuckwagon - a small wagon used for providing food and cooking; essentially a portable kitchen

• 
  Shepherd huts
• 
  A Romani Vardo
• 
  Showman's wagon
• 
  Chuckwagon

Travelling circuses decorated their wagons to be able to take part in the grand parade—even packing wagons for equipment, animal cage wagons, living vans and band wagons.[11]^: 45 Popular in North America was, and still is, the float or show wagon, driven by six horses pulling a highly decorated show wagon with a token payload, and heavily painted with company or owner advertising.[11]^: 1 Horse-drawn wagons are popular attractions at tourist destinations for leisurely sightseeing.[11]

• 
  Pageant wagons, Belgium 1615
• 
  Circus parade wagon, built 1904
• 
  Parade float, USA 1908
• 
  Tourist wagon, USA 2004
• 
  Sight-seeing wagon, Germany 2008
• 
  Exhibition wagon, USA 2017

Downtown Hico, Texas Wagon Team. circa 1910

In migration and military settings, wagons were often found in large groups called wagon trains.

In warfare, large groups of supply wagons were used to support traveling armies with food and munitions, forming "baggage trains". During the American Civil War, these wagon trains would often be accompanied by the wagons of private merchants, known as sutlers, who sold goods to soldiers, as well as the wagons of photographers and news reporters.[13] Special purpose-built support wagons existed for blacksmithing, telegraphy and even observation ballooning.[14]

In migration settings, such as the emigrant trails of the American West and the Great Trek of South Africa, wagons would travel together for support, navigation and protection. A group of wagons may be used to create an improvised fort called a laager, made by circling them to form an enclosure. In these settings, a chuckwagon is a small wagon used for providing food and cooking, essentially a portable kitchen.

• 
  Sheep and children's wagon (1883)
• 
  Goat pair and wagon (1917)
• 
  Donkey and wagon full of children (1925)
• 
  Mule team and wagon (1939)
• 
  Oxen and covered wagon (1951)

During the transition to mechanized vehicles from animal-powered, vehicles were built by coachbuilders and the bodies and undercarriages were substantially similar to the horse-drawn vehicles.

• Hippomobile - 1860s invention, gas powered
• Steam wagon - late 1800s, large steam-powered vehicle
• Duryea Motor Wagon - 1890s gasoline powered, patterned from the American buggy
• Auto Wagon - early 1900s gas-powered, patterned from the American buggy
• High wheeler - 1910s - often made from converted horse-drawn wagons

In modern times, the term station wagon survives as a type of automobile. It describes a car with a passenger compartment that extends to the back of the vehicle, that has no trunk, that has one or more rear seats that can be folded making space for carrying cargo, as well as featuring an opening tailgate or liftgate.[15]

• Motorized wagons
• 
  Patent drawing for the Duryea Road Vehicle, 1895
• 
  George B. Selden driving an automobile in 1905
• 
  1911 International Harvester Auto Wagon (High wheeler)
• 
  International Harvester Auto-Buggy

• 
  Gravity wagon
• 
  Front unload forage wagon

Painting: Conestoga Wagon, 1883

As a common, important element in history and life, wagons have been the subjects of artwork. Some examples are the paintings The Hay Wain and The Haywain Triptych, and on the Oregon Trail Memorial half dollar.

• The dictionary definition of wagon at Wiktionary
• Media related to Wagons at Wikimedia Commons
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Wagon" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.