Train Crossword Puzzle

Print a criss-cross vocabulary crossword on trains: engines, cars, track, crews and stations, and railroad history.

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Train Crossword

Read each clue and write the answer in the squares that start at its number, one letter in each square.

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Answer key: Train Crossword

1LUGGAGE2FOR3CABOOSEEOIMG4CONDUC5TORHTU6STATIONNIV7TN8TG9ENGINEERNCLAAKCLEK10WHISTLE

Across 1 LUGGAGE · 3 CABOOSE · 4 CONDUCTOR · 6 STATION · 9 ENGINEER · 10 WHISTLE

Down 1 LOCOMOTIVE · 2 FREIGHT · 5 TUNNEL · 6 SIGNAL · 7 TICKET · 8 TRACK

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All 114 clues

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Engines and How They Run 18

  • Bell It clangs as an engine rolls slowly into town
  • Boiler Long drum on a steam engine where water is turned to steam
  • Coal Fuel rock piled in the car behind a steam engine
  • Cowcatcher Device on the front that pushes obstacles off the rails
  • Diesel Kind of engine named for the man who patented it in the 1890s
  • Electric Kind of engine fed by a wire overhead or by an extra rail
  • Firebox Chamber where a steam engine's fuel burns
  • Flange Lip on the inside edge of a wheel that holds the train on the rails
  • Headlight Front lamp that shines down the rails at night
  • Horn Air-blown warning on newer engines
  • Horse "Iron ___": old nickname for a steam engine
  • Locomotive Powered vehicle that pulls or pushes the cars
  • Pantograph Frame on the roof that collects power from the wire above
  • Piston Steam drives it to and fro; it is linked to the main wheels
  • Smokestack American name for the chimney of a steam engine
  • Tender Car right behind a steam engine that carries its fuel and water
  • Throttle Control that sets how much steam the engine gets; also called the regulator valve
  • Whistle Steam-blown warning call of an old engine

Cars of a Train 24

  • Autorack Car that hauls new road vehicles from factories to dealers
  • Axle A wheelset is two wheels fixed on this bar
  • Baggage Kind of car for suitcases and trunks
  • Bogie British word for the swiveling wheeled frame under a car
  • Boxcar Enclosed car with sliding doors on its sides
  • Caboose Crew's car at the very end of an old goods train
  • Coach Ordinary car where riders sit in rows
  • Consist North American word for a train's whole lineup of cars and engines
  • Container Big metal box that goes from ship to train to road without being opened
  • Coupler Device at each end of a car that joins it to the next
  • Cupola Lookout raised above the roof of the last car
  • Diner Car that serves sit-down meals
  • Flatcar Open car that is only a deck, for loads too big to enclose
  • Freight Every load on a train that is not people
  • Gondola Open-topped car with low sides for loose loads
  • Hopper Car that lets grain or ore out through doors underneath
  • Livestock Farm animals on their way to market in a car with slatted sides
  • Observation Kind of car at the very rear, built for looking at the view
  • Passenger A person riding the train
  • Reefer Short name for a refrigerated car
  • Sleeper Car where riders lie down for the night
  • Tanker Car with a long round body for oil and other liquids
  • Truck American word for the wheeled frame under each end of a car
  • Window Riders beside it get the view

Track, Bridges and Signals 23

  • Ballast Crushed stone packed around the beams under the rails
  • Cog Gear that meshes with a toothed rail on a steep climb
  • Crossbuck X-shaped sign where a road meets the rails
  • Crossing Place where a road goes over the rails at the same level
  • Gate Barrier that drops across the road when a train is coming
  • Gauge Distance between the two rails
  • Grade Steepness of the route
  • Junction Place where two routes meet
  • Roundhouse Circular building where engines are stored and serviced
  • Semaphore Old kind of lineside sign that shows stop or go by the angle of an arm
  • Siding Short side route that branches off the main one
  • Signal Lineside device that tells a driver to stop or to proceed
  • Spike Big nail that fastens a rail to a wooden beam
  • Steel Metal of nearly all rails since the 1870s
  • Switch Movable rails that guide a train onto another route
  • Third "___ rail": extra one beside the others that carries the power for some city trains
  • Tie American word for a beam laid crosswise under the rails
  • Track Rails and the beams and stone bed under them, taken together
  • Trestle Span held up by many close-set frames, often of timber in the 1800s
  • Tunnel Underground passageway, dug through earth or rock, for the rails
  • Turntable Rotating deck that points an engine the other way
  • Viaduct Long raised span whose name is from the Latin for road and to lead
  • Yard Group of side-by-side rails for sorting and storing cars

Crews, Stations and City Rails 26

  • Aboard "All ___!": call before a train pulls out
  • Brakeman Worker whose first job was to slow the train by hand, car by car
  • Cable Wire rope that hauls the two cars of a hillside railway
  • Commuter Rider who takes the train between a suburb and a city job
  • Conductor Crew member in charge of the train's safety and schedule
  • Depot Another word for a small-town stop
  • Elevated Kind of city railway raised above the streets, nicknamed the el
  • Engineer North American word for the driver of a train
  • Express Train with few stops between big cities
  • Fare Money paid for a trip
  • Fireman Crew member who shovels fuel on a steam engine
  • Funicular Hillside railway whose name is from the Latin for rope
  • Guard British title for the crew member in charge of a train's safety
  • Handcar Small car that workers move by pumping a lever
  • Local It halts at every stop on the way
  • Luggage Suitcases and bags, taken together
  • Metro Short name for a city's rapid transit
  • Monorail Its cars straddle a beam or hang below it
  • Platform Riders stand on it to board
  • Porter Worker who carries bags; the word comes from the Latin for to carry
  • Station Where a train halts to take on riders, usually with a waiting room
  • Subway What Americans call an underground city railway
  • Terminal Stop at the very end of a route
  • Ticket You show it to prove you paid for the trip
  • Timetable Folded sheet that says when your train leaves
  • Tram City vehicle on rails set in the road, also called a trolley

Railroad History and Fast Trains 23

  • Act An ___ of Congress in 1862 gave land and loans for a railroad to the west
  • Bullet "___ train": English nickname of the first high-speed trains, for their pointed noses
  • Chinese Nationality of more than 10,000 laborers who built the railroad east from California in the 1860s
  • Darlington English town on the first public steam railway, opened in 1825
  • Gold Metal of the ceremonial last nail of the coast-to-coast railroad in 1869
  • Japan Country that opened the first high-speed railway, in 1964
  • Jupiter Planet name of a wood-burning engine at the railroad ceremony of May 10, 1869
  • Maglev Train with no wheels on the rails: magnets hold it up
  • Mines Early rail routes of the 1500s hauled material out of these
  • Model A "___ railroad" is a small copy built as a hobby
  • Omaha Nebraska city from which one company built the railroad west, starting in 1863
  • Pacific Ocean that an 1862 law aimed a railroad toward, from the Missouri River
  • Rocket Name of the 1829 engine whose design became the template for later steam engines
  • Sacramento California city from which one company built a railroad east in the 1860s
  • Standard Name of the most widely used rail spacing in the world
  • Telegraph Wire line that an 1862 law of Congress ordered built beside the railroad to the west coast
  • Thumb Tom ___: first American-built steam engine to run on a common-carrier railroad
  • Trail "Rail ___": old railroad bed turned into a way for bicycles and hikers
  • Utah Territory of Promontory Summit, where two railroads joined in 1869
  • Wagonway Early route of rails for carts, long before steam
  • Wales Land of the first engine-hauled rail trip, in 1804
  • Week The railroad finished in 1869 cut a trip of several months to about one
  • Zones Time ___: railroads of the United States and Canada began to keep them on November 18, 1883

How this list was compiled: Clues written for this site for grades 2 to 8, in five sets. Terms and dates were checked against English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and, for the railroad finished in 1869, the National Archives page on the Pacific Railway Act (archives.gov) and the National Park Service pages for Golden Spike National Historical Park (nps.gov) in October 2026. Words for cars and crews are North American unless a clue says British. Licence: own work

How it works

This train crossword puzzle prints on Letter or A4, answer key included. The first puzzle has 12 easy words, among them Locomotive, Caboose, Conductor, Track, Station, Freight, Whistle and Tunnel.

Read the full guide

Five sets after the easy one

Engines and How They Run has Boiler, Tender, Piston and Pantograph. Cars of a Train has Boxcar, Hopper, Gondola and Tanker. Track, Bridges and Signals has Ballast, Gauge, Trestle and Turntable. Crews, Stations and City Rails has Fireman, Brakeman, Porter and Funicular. Railroad History and Fast Trains has Wagonway, Rocket, Telegraph and Maglev.

Dates a class can check

History clues carry their dates: the first engine-hauled trip, in Wales in 1804, the first public steam railway of 1825, the act of Congress of 1862, the meeting of the rails in Utah on May 10, 1869, time zones in 1883 and Japan's first high-speed railway in 1964.

  • For a westward expansion or transportation unit, print Railroad History and Fast Trains; for younger train fans, stay with Easy Train Words.

Questions and answers

Is there a printable train crossword puzzle with answers?

Yes. Press Print: the grid and its clues come first and the answer key prints last, filled in, with the answers by clue number. It is free, with no sign-up.

What grade is the train crossword puzzle for?

Easy Train Words suits grades 2 to 5. The five themed sets suit grades 4 to 8 and grown-up rail fans, with answers such as Pantograph, Semaphore and Funicular. These bands are our judgment, not a published standard.

What is the last car of a train called?

On an old North American freight train it is the caboose, a car for the crew, often with a lookout called a cupola above its roof. Caboose and Cupola are both answers.

What are the parts of a train called?

A locomotive pulls or pushes, and behind it come the cars: boxcars, tankers, hoppers and flatcars for freight, or coaches, diners and sleepers for passengers. Cars of a Train has a clue for each kind.

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