Trainload

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The amount of merchandise or passengers a single train can transport in its entirety is referred to as a specific cargo capacity This term describes the total load that can be accommodated by a train in one complete trip It indicates the maximum freight or number of people that a train is designed to carry at one time
2. The total capacity of goods or individuals that one train can convey on a single trip is known as a specific load limit
3. The complete quantity of goods or passengers that a train carries in a single journey

Etymology: "Trainload" is a plain compound: "train" joined to "load," with no change in meaning beyond combining the two. The "train" half has a longer road into English than its modern railway sense suggests. It traces back through Old French "trainer," meaning to drag or draw along, to Vulgar Latin "tragīnāre," and ultimately to Latin "trahere," "to draw or pull." So the original idea was of something pulled behind, like a trailing garment or a line of followers, and the sense of a line of linked vehicles came only later. The "load" half is older and more concrete, going back to Old English "lād," a way or course, which later came to mean a burden. Joining the two gives a unit that describes what one train can carry in a single run, a measure used by railway and freight writers.

Synonyms: cargo, shipment, freight, consignment, load