What does it mean?

[Puckdropper]

In the song Casey Jones, (http://www.watervalley.net/users/caseyjones/song.htm) a "blackboard" is referred to. What is it? An unilluminated signal?

Also, Trains magazine in March 1986 had a story called "Student Fireman." The term "low bar" is used in the sentence, "He was no match for the hand-fired K4 and a hard-hitting hogger working a low bar and a full throttle attempting to generate the work of two engines." What's a low bar ?

[tree68]

Only an idea on the blackboard - a reference to scheduled times or meets?

The 'bar' is probably the "Johnson Bar" - the reverse lever. The hogger was using steam faster than the fireman/engine could supply it, instead of economizing by setting the cutoff to it's most efficient point for the speed.

[Anonymous]

Blackboard could very well be the crew boards listing first in and last out, who's up next and who's working what shift and what train, good picture of this set up in this months trains (June), page 33

[edblysard]

Puck,
You got it...
A blackboard, (read it as black board) is a signal that is not working, or a signal that means stop.
In the GCOR, one of the rules states that any signal that should show a aspect, ie, be lighted or display a indication, but does not, has to be treated as if it is displaying the most restrictive indication possible, absolute stop.

Before the advent of electric signals, lots of devices were used as signals, lighted lanterns with different colored lens, colored balls that were displayed at certain heights (high ball comes from that practice) and colored boards in daylight, lanterns at night, displayed at stations to tell train crews what to expect between that point and the next station or control point.

A black board would mean that the station operator had failed to display a signal, or the lantern had gone out, both instances would have required a stop.
Often these boards were, at night, a lantern with a colored lens, red, yellow and red.

A "board" isnt what you think it means.

We refer to looking at a signal that, say, had a red aspect, as a "red board".
A train that catches all greens has been given a "green board all the way" board being the term for signal.
Most likely, the term board came from the early simple sephamore system, with colored blades giving indications.
Later, the position of the blades, or a combination of position and color were used, some roads used the number of blades or "boards" shown as a indication.
So a black board means we are looking for a signal that should be there, or should be lighted, but isnt, and we are required to stop short of it, treating it as a absolute stop.
Then contact the dispatcher or control operator for instructions.

As the song states, Jones blew by a black board, he should have stopped and found out about conditions ahead, but didnt, the rest is history.

Ed

[Anonymous]

In Jones's time, a clear board would have been white...the white light indicating clear was just being changed to green on many US roads about this time. The bar in the corner indicates the Johnson bar in the lowest position to get maximum stroke on the cut-off; such an engineer who did this needlessly was referred to as a "rapper." [this was long before the advent of Poop Doggy dogg, of course.] I remember an oldtime steam engineer working with Ross Rowland in our district saying Rowland also was a rapper. The sounds made by this practice were impressive, but it caused needless wear and tear on the machinery [not to mention wear and tear on the poor fireboy!].

[rrock]

Rapping is still alive on many of the tourist steam railroads in the Pacific Northwest. Many of train crews know how to put on an impressive show for the crowd- lots of noise and lots of smoke.

Of course, in the "real" world the opposite is true for most efficient running of a steam engine. But to the public- Steam! Smoke! Noise!

It's amazing the noise even a geared locomotive can make....at a blazing 10MPH.

[joseph2]

One version of the song mentions a "six eight wheeler". What does that mean ? Did his loco have 68" drivers or something ? Thanks. Joe G.