Rail Lingo in every day language?

[tree68]

The number of posts made has no bearing on being an expert or what is true

or not.  I haven't claimed the Expert title.  You're reading comprehension is lacking

concerning my original comment. Speaking of arrogance who are you to ask me

what I'm doing here? These were  my sources concernng Mr. McCoy.

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-mcc1.htm

http://www.blackinventor.com/pages/elijahmccoy.html

So far, two of the three citations have gone with the railroad lubricator.  And the invention of the lubricator predates the boxer by some 30 years - bringing forth the very real possibility that his moniker actually stems from the lubricator.  That's a possibility the writer of worldwidewords conveniently neglects to consider.

I'd be more likely to go with the "MacKay" angle - making the Elijah McCoy version a play on words.

[garyla]

Is this whole thread going "off the rails"?  Maybe it's time to "pull the pin"!

[Flint Hills Tex]

Boy, the discussion pertaining to "the real McCoy" sure has derailed (how's that for another mainstream use of a railroad term?).

[wayno]

I've been known to admire a female caboose!

[vsmith]

Is this whole thread going "off the rails"?  Maybe it's time to "pull the pin"!

"Pulling the Pin" I thought was a WW2 term regarding pulling the pin out of a hand grenade before tossing it?

Hmm... better check to see if that grenade has "McCoy" cast into its casing...

[KansasMike]

One that I learned from my Granddad, and still use.....

"Pour the coal to it."  Accelerate a gasoline engine.

[carnej1]

 Easily the most common railroad word I see in use is "derailed" as in "his plans were derailed"...I doubt many people using the word even make the RR connection.

[al-in-chgo]

I've also heard "caboose" used to mean the last in a long string of children . . .  especially if there is a significant gap between that child's birth and the others'. 

 

[tatans]

"Green Board" the light is green.  Where we lived "the wrong side of the tracks" had nothing to do with laundry, it meant you were, poor, socially unacceptable, foreign, or a few other reasons.

[choochoobuff]

You may have already guessed this one but how about, "Take the A Train".

[rluke]

Did the term 'Streamliner' start with the railroads?

I don't know if that 'makes the grade' 

 

[RudyRockvilleMD]

As a part of rail lingo in everyday language, what about car names? Buick produced models called the Roadmaster and the Limited. Lincoln produced the Lincoln Zephyr.

Streamliner could have well originated with the railroads, however, in a strict fluid dynamics sense streamlines refers to the flow of air around objects. 

[al-in-chgo]

Apparently there's a relationship between a "high ball" (track clear shown by manual, not electric, signalling) and "highball" meaning "full speed ahead." 

I am wondering if that has any relationship to what the Germans call ein Longdrink as in "highball of bourbon and water over ice." 

 

[al-in-chgo]

As a part of rail lingo in everyday language, what about car names? Buick produced models called the Roadmaster and the Limited. Lincoln produced the Lincoln Zephyr.

Streamliner could have well originated with the railroads, however, in a strict fluid dynamics sense streamlines refers to the flow of air around objects. 

FWIW I've learned on these boards that the Brilliners were wind-tunnel-tested in the 1930s, as was some New Haven equipment years later, but not Budd's "fluted" or corrugated take on stainless-steel siding or cladding.  

It sure LOOKS streamlined, though, doesn't it?  Nonetheless that didn't keep other railroads from abrogating the term for their own (slabsided) expresses:  UP called the City of Los Angeles a streamliner, for example. 

 

[switch7frg]

With the bottom of pg. 3  I'll pull the pin~~~~~

[al-in-chgo]

With the bottom of pg. 3  I'll pull the pin~~~~~

But that was for hand grenades, right?  Not switches. 

 

[wabash1]

If someone dont cry and wet thier pants and report me for posting the correct answer pulling the pin is not a switch its the cut leaver for seperating cars. slack on the pin  then take them ahead.

[tree68]

If someone dont cry and wet thier pants and report me for posting the correct answer pulling the pin is not a switch its the cut leaver for separating cars. slack on the pin  then take them ahead.

Which term itself dates back to link and pin couplers....

[steam_marc]

"Roll out the red carpet"- Twentieth Century Limited
"So quiet you could hear a pin drop"- Link and pin couplers
"Pull the pin"- Link and pin couplers

[wjstix]

I don't think anyone mentioned "letting off steam"??

"So quiet you could hear a pin drop" has nothing to do with railroads, it's means it's so quiet you could hear a small pin (like you'd use on clothes getting ready to sew them) drop and hit the table or floor.

AFAIK the concept of "rolling out the red carpet" goes back hundreds of years before the NYC or railroading, think it had more to do with European royalty and such. NYC adopted it to make their clientele feel more "regal".

According to I believe the History Channel, McCoy had a hard time getting a patent attorney to take his case with the lubricator, because of his color. This left the door open for imitators, but since none of them could make one as good as his version, railroaders demanded 'the real McCoy' and not an imitation.

Streamlining goes back before the diesels, the first patent for a streamlined train was in something like 1871 for a steam powered "windsplitter". I'm not sure when the term "streamlined" came about, but since "stream" refers to water, I wonder if it wasn't first related to boats with narrow hulls that would cut through the stream of water faster??

BTW in Mississippi riverboat technology, it was found that the higher a steamboat's twin stacks were, the better it would draw, especially in the areas where the river sat in a steep valley. Since boats and ships are usually refered to in the feminine, a boat with high twin stacks would often cause someone seeing the boat to comment that "she's really well stacked"...which worked it's way into the vernacular in a different context. 

[ArtOfRuin]

"It's like Grand Central in here!"

A reference to Grand Central Station. It means it's really busy or crowded.

[CopCarSS]

Caught this one in the Rocky Mountain News this morning:

"I turn on the Avs, that's a train wreck. I turn on the Nuggets, and that's a train wreck. I turn on the Mammoth and that's a train wreck. And I turn on the Rockies, and that's a train wreck. I said, 'I hope they run out of trains.'"

-A disgruntled Denver sports fan overheard at Green Valley Ranch Golf Course

[csxns]

You could not give me a car load.

[UPRR engineer]

How about a little RR lingo not used everyday:

1. Pull the fur off

2. Skin the cat

3. Hi-Daddy