Certain Members of Congress have http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siderodromophobia

[trackrat888]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siderodromophobia and we should out them and get them in therapy asap. As well as my transit board member @ NFTA and CDTA

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

From the name, I presume it is a fear mainly of only the majority of steam locomotives ???  If it doesn't have siderods, is the diagnosis still applicable ?  I.e., Heislers and most turbines not included; Shays might be (depending on how you view their drive shafts/ rods); Climaxes would be, as would side-rod and / or "jack shaft" electrics and some early diesels, etc. 

What about the rest of us ?  Do we suffer from the opposite malady, whatever it's called ? 

- Paul North. 

[Electroliner 1935]

So most politicians have no problem with Amtrak since it has no siderods? I don't get the issue.

 

[edblysard]

Paul_D_North_Jr

From the name, I presume it is a fear mainly of only the majority of steam locomotives ???  If it doesn't have siderods, is the diagnosis still applicable ?  I.e., Heislers and most turbines not included; Shays might be (depending on how you view their drive shafts/ rods); Climaxes would be, as would side-rod and / or "jack shaft" electrics and some early diesels, etc. 

What about the rest of us ?  Do we suffer from the opposite malady, whatever it's called ? 

- Paul North. 

 

Rail fan syndrome (RFS) 

Kelsey Seybold will have a pill out next year, I am sure....

[M636C]

I think the word is misspelled:

I think it should be

Siderodomorphobia

Sider = steel

rodo = road

morph = shape

phobia = fear

Clearly the elements are run together.

Some of these words are still used in Italian so I assume it is supposed to be latin, which I haven't studied in 52 years.

M636C

[wanswheel]

The Medical and Surgical Reporter, June 21, 1879

Siderodromophobia

This big word is derived from the modern Greek “siderodromos,” railroad, and “phobos,” fear, and is applied by Dr. Johannes Rigler, a German railway surgeon of long experience, to a peculiar mental affection of railroad employees. Dr. R states that, as the result of their occupation, railway-engine mechanics become the subjects of an altered nerve condition, which he calls “irritation of the nerve-centres.” It is the perpetual jarring, and shaking, and noise, which lead by degrees to this change, and which, under the influence of some unexpected shock, as in an accident, still further or more completely upset the nervous equilibrium, which ends, so to speak, in the condition known as “railway spine.” This mental condition he names “Siderodromophobia,” and defines it as “a more or less intense spinal irritation, coupled with a hysterical condition and a morbid disinclination for work, which, as the result of shock, occurs among railway employes, who, in consequence of their occupation, are specially predisposed to it.” The author is unable to state whether this irritation is simply a congestion of the spinal cord, or whether it is to be referred to a dynamically altered nerve condition.

[Wizlish]

M636C

I think the word is misspelled:

I think it should be

Siderodomorphobia

Sider = steel

rodo = road

morph = shape

phobia = fear

Clearly the elements are run together.

Some of these words are still used in Italian so I assume it is supposed to be latin, which I haven't studied in 52 years.

No.  "It's all Greek to me."

Sidero = 'iron' (I think with overtones of 'meteoric iron'; consider what 'sidereal' means)

Dromo = combinatorial form, here with nuance of 'track' as a place where things run or are driven (hippodrome = horse track, velodrome = bicycle track, aerodrome = place where aircraft run, etc.)

Phobia = fear or avoidance.

Remember -- I think it was Lucius Beebe's -- "stenosiderohippologist" as someone who studies narrow-gauge steam locomotives... ?

(And no to PDN, 'siderod' is only incidental... and as schlimm might note, the 'opposite' conditions would be 'siderodromophilia')

Having read "The Difference Engine", I am now delighted to find out that 'railway spine' was an actual named condition!

[M636C]

wanswheel

The Medical and Surgical Reporter, June 21, 1879

Siderodromophobia

This big word is derived from the modern Greek “siderodromos,” railroad, and “phobos,” fear, and is applied by Dr. Johannes Rigler, a German railway surgeon of long experience, to a peculiar mental affection of railroad employees. Dr. R states that, as the result of their occupation, railway-engine mechanics become the subjects of an altered nerve condition, which he calls “irritation of the nerve-centres.” It is the perpetual jarring, and shaking, and noise, which lead by degrees to this change, and which, under the influence of some unexpected shock, as in an accident, still further or more completely upset the nervous equilibrium, which ends, so to speak, in the condition known as “railway spine.” This mental condition he names “Siderodromophobia,” and defines it as “a more or less intense spinal irritation, coupled with a hysterical condition and a morbid disinclination for work, which, as the result of shock, occurs among railway employes, who, in consequence of their occupation, are specially predisposed to it.” The author is unable to state whether this irritation is simply a congestion of the spinal cord, or whether it is to be referred to a dynamically altered nerve condition.

 

 

My apologies:

I did not take up an option to study Greek some 54 years ago.

Perhaps "sider" entered Italian via Latin from Greek?

I've found Latin quite useful professionally as an engineer. I don't think I've missed Greek.

M636C

[gardendance]

Paul_D_North_Jr

From the name, I presume it is a fear mainly of only the majority of steam locomotives ???  If it doesn't have siderods, is the diagnosis still applicable ?  I.e., Heislers and most turbines not included; Shays might be (depending on how you view their drive shafts/ rods); Climaxes would be, as would side-rod and / or "jack shaft" electrics and some early diesels, etc. 

 What about the rest of us ?  Do we suffer from the opposite malady, whatever it's called ? 

- Paul North. 

 

This talk of non-siderod locomotives reminds me of when I was somewhere between 9 and 12 years old some railfan group's slideshow was on logging railroads. "Here are several of their Shays. They have only 1 Climax". The adults laughed, I didn't understand the joke.

As for the "rest of us", doesn't the rest of the world just consider us crazy without specifying any specific malady?

[BaltACD]

[Deggesty]

BaltACD

 

Oh, that way of traveling certainly has its ups and downs!

[Paul of Covington]

   But what about siderodromophilia?  Is there a cure for it?

[Deggesty]

Paul of Covington

   But what about siderodromophilia?  Is there a cure for it?

 

But, who having become afflicted with it would want to be cured?

[gardendance]

Just admitting that you have a problem is the important first step.

[trackrat888]

http://www.cato.org/people/randal-otoole is the chief of Sidrodomophobia get this string tie man into a court ordered 12 step program.

[Semper Vaporo]

gardendance

Just admitting that you have a problem is the important first step.

 

But it is not a problem!