A wheeled truck under a train or locomotive that can swivel, allowing the train to turn smoothly. Bogies distribute the weight of heavy trains across multiple wheels.
Possibly from Bogy Hill in Surrey, England, or from a dialectal word related to 'bogey.' Some suggest a Scottish origin referring to a device for hauling. The exact origin is disputed among etymologists.
Railroad engineers call them bogies, and the word might come from a place in England—Bogy Hill—where early railway equipment was made. It's one of those industrial terms that stuck around even as we've forgotten why we call it that! Americans usually say 'truck' instead.
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