wjstix It would be an interesting - though time consuming - project to try to work back who first used the term "cabeese". It definetely started as a joke or play on words in the railfan / model railroad community. I don't think the first person to write it meant it to be a 'real' word, or one that would continue to be used. I started reading Model Railroader in 1971, and I don't recall seeing 'cabeese' in print until many years later, maybe 1980's. If I had to make an educated guess on who used it first, I would guess John Armstrong, perhaps in an article describing one of his track plans. His plans generally included several puns or plays-on-words for place names, like "Ott Dam".
It would be an interesting - though time consuming - project to try to work back who first used the term "cabeese". It definetely started as a joke or play on words in the railfan / model railroad community. I don't think the first person to write it meant it to be a 'real' word, or one that would continue to be used. I started reading Model Railroader in 1971, and I don't recall seeing 'cabeese' in print until many years later, maybe 1980's.
If I had to make an educated guess on who used it first, I would guess John Armstrong, perhaps in an article describing one of his track plans. His plans generally included several puns or plays-on-words for place names, like "Ott Dam".
I could be wrong but didn't Pro Custom Hobbies coin the term cabeese in their ads. They used a lot of puns and cabeese constantly. The rumor was back in the early 80's their constant use of "Beano" for the B&O- Baltimore and Ohio was what caused the first round of licencing requirements for model railroad products started by the Chessie System.
BRAKIE wjstix It definetely started as a joke or play on words in the railfan / model railroad community. Yes,just like "lashup".. In my 9 1/2 years as a brakeman it was always locomotive consist never "lashup".
wjstix It definetely started as a joke or play on words in the railfan / model railroad community.
Yes,just like "lashup".. In my 9 1/2 years as a brakeman it was always locomotive consist never "lashup".
How did y'all get this far without "waycar"? Waycars were common on the C&NW, CB&Q, and on the Rock Island. (Had a secretary on the RI who typed it 'weighcar')
PAW
wjstixlike that whole 'switch vs turnout' deal.
To the operating crews and dispatchers its a switch..To the white shirts in engineering its a turnout.
A form 19 might have read-Do not exceed ten ( one aught) mph over Timkin switch at MP123.8. Today they use one zero mph.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
BRAKIETo the operating crews and dispatchers its a switch..
I agree, Larry. If I had told the switchman, at the steel plant where I worked, to drop four (ingot) buggies just beyond the north turnout, he would've thought me to be from another planet.Naturally, whether they were spotting loaded buggies or clearing empties, they were doing "switching", and surprisingly, using a "switcher", not a "turn-outer".While it's my impression that the "correct" nomenclature sometimes refers to the moveable points as the "switch", we generally took the whole shebang to be the switch, and the points were, of course, points.
As for caboose/cabeese, I had never heard of them referred to as vans until I got into the social aspect of model railroading, despite watching them run past my front porch in the early years of my existence. To me, even here in Canada, it's still a caboose, just as a van was what used to be called a "shaggin' wagon".
Wayne
doctorwayneWhile it's my impression that the "correct" nomenclature sometimes refers to the moveable points as the "switch", we generally took the whole shebang to be the switch, and the points were, of course, points.
A switch is what you use to enter a diversion route so,in railroad speak the whole shebang is indeed a switch and the points is something you check before entering the diversion route to ensure they are completely closed.
Ever see a brakeman or conductor push on the switch handle with his foot?
That is to ensure the switch handle locks in place.Some times we would place the switch lock in the locking holes to ensure the handle didn't move thus moving the points just enough to cause the wheels on the car to spilt the switch and derail...
It's cabooses when there are only a few of them, but it is cabeese if there's a flock of them !
Reynold
Puyallup
ReynoldIt's cabooses when there are only a few of them, but it is cabeese if there's a flock of them ! Reynold Puyallup
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
QuincyPAW How did y'all get this far without "waycar"? Waycars were common on the C&NW, CB&Q, and on the Rock Island. (Had a secretary on the RI who typed it 'weighcar') PAW
I've never heard any RI people in Iowa use "waycar" for caboose.
Jeff
While this thread is still luke warm.......
the crossword puzzle in the local paper wanted a 6 letter word and the clue was caboose
the answer was "heinie"
maxman While this thread is still luke warm....... the crossword puzzle in the local paper wanted a 6 letter word and the clue was caboose the answer was "heinie"
That makes perfect sense since the definition of heinie is a person's buttocks. That would be perfectly appropriate for the definition of caboose (rear end).
I don't know how long the cabeese humor thing has been going on in this forum. I do know prior to Christmas of this last year Ed, gmpullman posted it on show me something and I busted a gut. I was having a scotch at that time. And I do remember blowing it across the room.
That's when I first saw it. I posted back to him and told him of course it's cabeese, more than one goose is geese, so that works. I don't know if he came up with it or it's been going on long before that??? .... but in the two years I've been here, I never seen it prior to that.
TF
On the Pennsylvania we had "Cabin Car(s)".
It was a "switch", not a turnout.
A "motor" was an electric locomotive.
A switch engine was a "Shifter" or "Drill".
And you can use what ever terminology you feel is correct. BTW, in Canada (at least on the CN), it was a Van or the French equivalent.
Boris
maxmanthe crossword puzzle in the local paper wanted a 6 letter word and the clue was caboose the answer was "heinie"
Well, cabooses do bring up the rear!