trainfuln.
/ˈtreɪnfʊl/, U.S. /ˈtreɪnˌfʊl/ As much or as many as a railway train will hold; a quantity that fills a train.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > rail travel > [noun] > conveyance by rail or train > quantity or number carried by train
trainload1819
traffic1832
trainful1850
carloading1947
1850 J. Wolley in W. Jardine Contrib. Ornithol. 117 The numbers are rapidly diminishing every year, in consequence of the pitiless persecution which afflicts them—slaughtering parties visit them by trainfuls.
1866 G. O. Trevelyan in Macmillan's Mag. Mar. 408 At Peschiera, the whole trainful—passengers, guards, and firemen—were forced to alight,..our luggage was opened and emptied.
1885 19th Cent. Apr. 635 A trainful of troops.
1922 E. Post Etiquette xxxvii. 594 To at least half of an average trainful of people, strong odors of one kind or another are disagreeable.
1963 Times 16 Jan. 12/2 A small child on a French holiday exchange would have the same kind of care as..a trainful of Girl Guides travelling to Rome.
2007 S. Ludwig Holding my Breath xvi. 220 We hear rumours of Jews being taken away in the middle of the night. Entire communities disappear by the trainful.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1850