Car float
（重定向自Carfloat）
![A railroad car float in the Upper New York Bay, 1919. A tugboat (towboat) stack is visible behind the middle car.](/Images/godic/202501/03/NYH_carfloat4447.jpg")
![1912 PRR map showing the Greenville Terminal and its car float operations, also the current crossing](/Images/godic/202501/03/NY_Tunnel_Extension_&_Connections_PRR_19124447.jpg")
![An Erie tugboat and barge on the Chicago River in 1917](/Images/godic/202501/03/Tug_and_Barge_at_Erie_Street4447.png")
![Woodfibre, British Columbia](/Images/godic/202501/03/Woodf3a4447.jpg")
A railroad car float or rail barge is an unpowered barge with rail tracks mounted on its deck. It is used to move railroad cars across water obstacles, or to locations they could not otherwise go, and is towed by a tugboat or pushed by a towboat. As such, the car float is a specialised form of the lighter, as opposed to a train ferry, which is self-powered.