Railroader vocabulary.

[Anonymous]

At the expense of sounding foolish, [:o)]
Can some one tell me what are beeps and dash. I am sure they are some type of diesels. I see it a lot on the forum. Looked for it on the net and found nothing so I guess it must be a slang. [?]
Thanks
Angelo

[guilfordrr]

Beeps are shortened GP-7s manufactured by Ready Made Toys. Dashes, such as Dash-9s, are types of General Electric diesels.

[BigJim]

Angelo,
A beep is a mythical little locomotive. The EMD GP series of units are called GeePs. So this little cut down Geep is called a Beep.

The Dash refers to unit model revisions, much like a MkII or MkIV. The GE units are dash 7, 8 & 9. The EMD units have a dash 2. For example, EMD made first the GP40 and SD40 series engines. These were followed by the GP40-2 and SD40-2 which incorporated design changes. Same with GE.

[Big_Boy_4005]

I think the Beep you are asking about is a non prototype model. It looks like a GP 9 only about 1/3 the length. They were made a long time ago, but the molds have changed owners a couple of times and they are being made again.

General Electric makes real locomotives, and many of them have names that start with Dash. Dash 8's and dash 9's have been around for a while.

[daan]

Let's enhance this vocabulary with a bit more odd railroaders words:

Frog: A device in a switch
switch: a device used to devide 1 track into 2 tracks (has a frog)
switch: a device used to power or discontinue power appliance. (has no frog)
turnout: a switch with a frog
elephant: some gray attribute in a zoo (has no frog, but has a slurf)
frob: a mechanical lever used to move something.
flange: an extension on a wheel to keep it tracked. (needs a frog in a switch)

Anyone??

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys, At least now when someone says beep or dash I'll know what they are talking about.
One more for the road...
What is kit bashing?

[ben10ben]

Kit bashing usually refers to taking one or more commercially available kit and modifying it or combining it with another kit to build a structure otherwise not readily available.

[Anonymous]

Dear NYCentralPA,
Our term "Dash 9" is a shortened form of the locomotives official title, the GE-9-44CW (notice the "-" just before the "9," which gave rise to the term "Dash 9"). If you want pictures of the Dash 9, go to: http://www.trainpictures.net/cgi-bin/imageFolio.cgi?direct=Collection_of_Brian_R_Swan/Locomotives/Union_Pacific/dash9

See you around the forums,
Daniel

[Anonymous]

Some additional things:

GP = General Purpose

Turnouts have frogs & points. The points are the two rails that swing from one position to another & choose the path through the turnout the train will take.

Turnouts & some other special track work also have guard rails. These are rails that are placed inside the main rails & are there to keep the flanges on the wheels from coming off the rails

A diamond is a place where two tracks cross without any points. The term comes from the shape of the rails in the middle of the intersection, which is generally diamond shaped.

An interlocking is a place where there are several turnouts that control which line trains will go on to when they exit the interlocking. An example is a junction at grade between two different main lines, one going north-south & one east-west. There's a diamond in the middle & a series of turnouts that allow trains to either go through or "turn" in either direction onto the other line.

Tony

[Anonymous]

Thanks again guys.
And all this time I thought kit bashing was something really bad.

Angelo

[daan]

Nono, that is called Kit-trashing...[:D]

[dougdagrump]

Most of the vocabulary I learned when I worked for the RR you can't use in mixed company. [censored]

[eZAK]

Can you kit-bash a beep to go over a switch frog but not a frog in a switch?

If you are making fun of a person with a sign in name of kit you are not kit-bashing but bashing kit!

[mersenne6]

There's lots more of course...for instance....

Engineer: Hogger, Ballast Scorcher, Throttle Artist, Runner, Eagle Eye, Highball Artist,
Caboose: Shack, Crummy, Brain Box, Monkey Cage, Kitchen, Bouncer, Buggy, Chariot, Crib, Doghouse, Hack, Hearse, Louse Cage, Palace
Fireman: Ashcat, Diamond Pusher, Tallowpot, Diamond Cracker, Dust Raiser,
Soda Jerker, Bakehead
Conductor: Skipper, Brains, Captain, Dinger
Carry a White Feather: Show a plume of steam over the safety valves of the engine
Switchman: Cherry Picker - so called because of red lights on the switch stands, Cinder Cruncher, Clown, Snake, Switch Monkey
Walk up Against the Gun - Ascend a steep grade with the injector on
Counting the Ties - Reducing Speed
Deckorate - get out on top of freight cars to set hand brakes, Go High
Grass Wagon - Tourist car - (tourists like scenery)
Drone Cage - Private Car
How Many EM's have you got? - How many thousand pounds of tonnage are you pulling ( M = 1000)
Lizard Scorcher - Dining car chef
Hard Joint - Slamming cars together with too much force - could result in a broken knuckle.
Hobo - Open Air Navigator, Blind Baggage, Boxcar Tourist
Buckle the Rubbers - connect air, steam, or signal hose
Cinder Snapper - Passenger who rides open platforms on observation cars.

[phatkat64]

Let's not forget one of my favorites - Highballing!
Back in the day it was signalled to the engineer by pulling a ball up to the top of a post. When the engineer saw the high ball, he knew it was OK to put the pedal to the metal!!![:D]

[Anonymous]

I'm printing that list out mersenne6 's.

[lionelsoni]

Add "cabin car" to the caboose synonyms, for the PRR.