Railworks America

Is there any sort of way during gameplay to tell if cars are loaded or empty? Or is it just a guess? Would be nice if there was some sort of indicator to see the difference.

In that aspect the game is spot on accurate with the real world. Flats, bulkheads, gondolas, hoppers you can, others you can’t. Who knows whether that tank car, container, box car, covered hopper is full or empty, you can guess depending on direction of travel (sometimes) but only the shipper and consignment note can really tell. There’s a whole industry in shuffling empties around just as there is for fulls and it dates back to the first boxcar/freight van/tank car. Long may it continue.

Whilst mindenjohn is correct, I believe that in the real world, one can have a more educated guess whether the car is loaded by looking at the gaps between the spring coils on the trucks (thanks to Hobo Shoestring on YouTube! :) )