Railroad History Quiz Game (Come on in and play)

[Ishmael]

ET&WNC   East Tennessee and West North Carolina or "Tweetsie".

 

[KCSfan]

The Family-Friendly version of FUBAR is Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition.  As for the others, let's see...

BART= Bay Area Rapid Transit

MoPac= Missouri Pacific

PATH= ??

ERA= Equal Rights Amendment

IRT= ??

FRED= Flashing Rear End Device 

NASA= National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

BNI= ??

LSMFT= Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco

KCSdeM= Kansas City Southern of Mexico 

ET&WNC= ?? 

M.Div.= ??

MOW= Maintenance Of Way

LYNX= ??

Everything you answered is correct.  For "ERA" I would also have accepted "Earned Run Average."   -- Good going! 

Now, the people playing this game will notice that not every term has to do with railroading.  But five of those as yet answered do.  - a. s.

PATH = Port Authority Trans Hudson

IRT = Interborough Rapid Transit

BNI = Burlington Northern Industries

ET&WNC - East Tennessee & Western North Carolina (the Tweetsie)

M. Div = ?

I believe LYNX is the Charlotte light rail line but don't know what the letters stand for

Mark

 

[nanaimo73]

M. Div is Middle Divsion on the B&O?

I guess it could be Mountain, Mississippi or Missouri Division on another railroad.

Brian wins?

[al-in-chgo]

M. Div is Middle Divsion on the B&O?

I guess it could be Mountain, Mississippi or Missouri Division on another railroad.

Brian wins?

A good guess, Dale, though I had a nonRR answer in mind.  You'll get a leg up if you can research and cyber-paste in text that shows or showed that exact abbreviation, period and all, that is or was in actual RR use.  

Dale, (call me)Ishmael, Brian, KCSfan and anyone I've accidentally omitted, I thank you so much for your contributions. 

I see that only one term has stumped you all.   Here's one hint:  M.Div. is a graduate degree (well, professional degree to be precise).  After the M.Div. some people in the profession, after several years on the job, will go on to work on a D.Min. degree.

SOOO, Let's review the bidding:  This is my original list with all correct answers thus far: 

 >>>>>>>>>Call it acronym, abbreviation, or just plain alphabet soup, give the full words from the following:   

BART   --  Bay Area Rapid Transit (San Francisco, Oakland, etc.). 

MoPac  --  Common abbreviation in timetables and such for "Missouri Pacific" RR, which now belongs to (or has been absorbed into) Union Pacific. 

PATH    -- Port Authority Trans Hudson  -- the tubes connecting Manhattan and New Jersey; busiest intra-system transfer point is probably Hoboken, NJ. 

ERA -- Equal Rights Amendment OR Earned Run Average (baseball); both OK.

IRT  -- Interborough Rapid Transit, any NYC subway lines numbered 1 thru 7 today, the original lines (note that only no. 7, Flushing line, runs thru Queens).

FRED  -- Flashing {or I've been told effing} Rear End Device.  Caboose-killer!

NASA -- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (a civilian agy. BTW)

BNI  -- Brian  (sorry, I stand corrected):  Mark -- your guess looks okay to me and I'd give you credit if I needed to.  What I had in mind, though, is that "BNI" is the three-letter New York Stock Exchange code for BNSF. [Independent investors these days have to use these codes online no matter what exchange or brokerage they're trading with; of the Seven Class One's, all seven codes are non-intuitive except for CSX, but at least all seven use three-letter codes.   [Note to Brian:  If I had put "KSU" in that spot instead, what would you have answered?]   

LSMFT -- Absolutely, "Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco."  For what it's worth the cigs are still being produced and still bear that slogan, on the bottom of the pack. 

KCSdeM  -- Since the word "de" in Spanish (pron: "Day") means "from" or "of", it simply translates to "Kansas City Southern of Mexico."  

FUBAR -- Acronym means Fouled (or... you know) Up Beyond All Recognition. 

ET&WNC  Yes, it's East Tennessee & Western North Carolina, a narrow-gauge road that once ran from Elizabethton, TN up into the Smokies into North Carolina.  A portion of that line near Blowing Rock became the foundation for what is now the Tweetsie amusement park.  Anyone remember a nickname or two from last year's posts on parody RR based on company initials?

M.Div. --  ________________________ [see hint above].  

MOW  --  Maintenance of Way

LYNX  -- You're right on the money, KCSfan, no acronym here.  LYNX falls under the catch-all of "alphabet soup" that I mentioned in initial post.  The word, however, is both a pun and an allusion:  a pun because the system "links" downtown to other parts of Charlotte; also an indirect reference to Charlotte's growing tradition of naming sports teams for various type of cats.  (In fact, the umbrella transit authority is Charlotte Area Transit Authority:  CATS!) <<<<<<<<<<<<<

I'd like to hold off on declaring a winner until you've had a guess on "M.Div."  After all, I did give a hint and said that any answer won't hurt your competition.  It's just midevening here in the great Central Time zone, 2043 hrs, so I'll hold it open just a bit longer.  After that I'll declare a winner or co-winners; and I welcome the next poster but (IMHO only) hope s/he poses a more railroad-specific answer.   

 

[blhanel]

How about Master of Divinity?

EDIT: BTW, that was not me that guessed the answer to BNI- that was Mark (KCSfan). 

[al-in-chgo]

How about Master of Divinity?

EDIT: BTW, that was not me that guessed the answer to BNI- that was Mark (KCSfan). 

Ding!          Ding!          Ding!         Ding!   

Brian, you have won this competition.  KCSfan (Mark) you had several good solid answers that make you the runner up.  If the winner is not able to perform his chosen duties, etc., which in this case isn't in the mood to post this evening, it is your option to post a question.  If neither of you care to then Dale, you are up. 

>>I've a question for everyone who participated here: Would this quiz have been more fun if it stuck exclusively to RR- and transit-oriented topics?   Also, OTOH do you prefer the kind of quiz that is  more commonly used here, that has only one correct answer (or that must answer the question by giving several answers). <<

You may all know this already, but I really, really like this post.  I get to learn things and hear other people speak to the same subject; as a rule the pace perks along nicely.  Best of all, the self-aggrandizement people haven't made a wreck of the spirit of fair competiton. IMO, and knock wood! 

 

[blhanel]

Alrighty then... hmmm, gots to come up with a good question.  If everyone can wait 'til this evening, I could do some research, otherwise KCSfan and/or Dale can feel free to jump in.

[KCSfan]

Alrighty then... hmmm, gots to come up with a good question.  If everyone can wait 'til this evening, I could do some research, otherwise KCSfan and/or Dale can feel free to jump in.

Brian,

I can certainly wait and am looking forward to your question.

Mark

[Ishmael]

Actually, Al, I thought having a few non-railroad subjects in the mix made the contest more interesting. Due to the nature of the forum, the RR's should be in the majority, but a meat packer or a brewery slipped in there would make it more tricky.

Of course, you'd want something of general knowledge. How many people would know that MSD stands for St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District?

Good job.

[rrnut282]

Since my kids went to one, the first thing I thought of was, Metropolitan School District.

 

Al,

I kept thinking you were dyslexic and was going for Railway Express Agency, not ERA.

[al-in-chgo]

 

Al, 

[text edited for relevance of response - a.s.]  .   .   . 

I kept thinking you were dyslexic and was going for Railway Express Agency, not ERA.

 

Dude, don't make fun of the dyslexic.  I'm having a spiritual crisis and was up all night worrying about the existence of Dog.  - a.s.  

 

[rrnut282]

Al,

I was making fun of no-one.  I was just desparately trying to come up with something railroad related for ERA, and that was the only thing that worked for me.

Maybe I should have said it was a typo.

[Murphy Siding]

Al,

I was making fun of no-one.  I was just desparately trying to come up with something railroad related for ERA, and that was the only thing that worked for me.

Maybe I should have said it was a typo.

I hope you can see that Al was just razzing you.

[arkansasrailfan]

Who is Dog? Surely not "Dog the Bounty Hunter"(uh-oh)

[blhanel]

OK, after browsing through a website I normally visit to verify UP engine models, here's my question:

What model diesel locomotives did Union Pacific have the most of on its roster in each of the following years- 

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

It will be interesting to see if I'm interpreting the data correctly once the answers come in, as the roster is somewhat generalized! 

[Murphy Siding]

 

OK, after browsing through a website I normally visit to verify UP engine models, here's my question:

What model diesel locomotives did Union Pacific have the most of on its roster in each of the following years- 

1950  F Units

1960 GP 7/9's

1970  GP 28

1980 SD40

1990 SD40-2

2000 SD70

It will be interesting to see if I'm interpreting the data correctly once the answers come in, as the roster is somewhat generalized! 

Above are my guesses- purely guesses.

[blhanel]

Not bad, Murph- again, based on my interpretation of the data, you've got 4.5 out of 6.  I'll wait awhile to see if others want to take a stab at it...

[Murphy Siding]

  4.5 out of 6

[CShaveRR]

I'll try, Brian.

1950:  F3s

1960:  GP9s

1970:  GP9 still

1980:  SD40-2s

1990:  SD40-2s still

2000:  CW44-9s (too early for most of the SD70Ms)

[blhanel]

Are you lumping together both AC and DC units on that last one, Carl?

[CShaveRR]

I wasn't, but I guess there were probably more ACs than DCs by then--just didn't expect them to be the most plentiful units.

Did your source lump them together to make them most numerous?

[blhanel]

Nope, but it does indicate that all 1000 SD70M's started service in 2000, which I find hard to believe.

EDIT: based on that, I think I'll give you this one, Carl.  I have to believe that the C44 combo outnumbered the SD70 in 2000. 

[inch53]

Since my kids went to one, the first thing I thought of was, Metropolitan School District.

 

 Careful there with MSD, cause we live in the Martinsville School District and are 6 mile from the Marshall School District. Would those count ??

inch

[rrnut282]

Al,

I was making fun of no-one.  I was just desparately trying to come up with something railroad related for ERA, and that was the only thing that worked for me.

Maybe I should have said it was a typo.

I hope you can see that Al was just razzing you.

sssshhhhh, Murph.  The moderators may lock this thread if we don't play nice.

[CShaveRR]

Thanks, Brian!

Here's a quick one:  What might UP destination symbols GB and GF have in common (besides the letter G)?

Hint:  trains whose symbol ends with either of these quite often begin with the letter A.

[blhanel]

I don't have a clue on that one...

BTW, the source for my question was here:

http://www.utahrails.net/all-time/all-time-index.php 

[Anonymous]

They're both green? Green Bay, Green something?

Just a wild guess, dunno if UP even goes to Green Bay...

[nanaimo73]

Thanks, Brian!

Here's a quick one:  What might UP destination symbols GB and GF have in common (besides the letter G)?

Hint:  trains whose symbol ends with either of these quite often begin with the letter A.

Would GB and GF carry autos for General Motors?

[CShaveRR]

Tyler, no Green involved except the kind that pays dividends!  (No, UP no longer goes to Green Bay.)

Dale, that's possible, but I'm not sure that these trains are limited to GM products--in fact, I doubt it.

Another hint:  Another destination that shares the common trait with GB and GF:  EL.  For that one, you have to forget about the "A" prefix.

[jeffhergert]

Both GB and GR aren't on-line UP stations.  They are however, both in Indiana.  (So is EL.)

 GB is Gibson on the IHB

 GR is Griffith on the CN

 EL is Elkhart on the NS, if i remember right.

UP trains to or from any of these places are run-throughs.

Any of this what you're looking for, Carl? 

Jeff

PS I've had my share of these trains and Brian has probably seen some of them without knowing it.