Railroad History Quiz Game (Come on in and play)

[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.

[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]

How about Master of Divinity?

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

[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.   

 

[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?

[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

 

[Ishmael]

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

 

[al-in-chgo]

Let's say Flashing rear end device, and flashing up beyond all recognition.

"Flashing" is the way I've heard it, but then again I usually get such information from these boards.

  You are basically right,as Trains magazine has always used flashing, rather than the employee term.

As for ERA , is this railroad related, or Equal Rights Amendment/Earned Run Average? 

Dale, I never said every single term would be a railroad term, or a transit term.  Pls re-read my Rules in the post above about the benefit of equally plausible answers. 

Ca va?  - al

Fair enough.

PATH would be Port Authority-Trans Hudson?  ABSOLUTELY! 

                                                                    Now, how about "IRT"?    - a. s.

 

[al-in-chgo]

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 unanswered do.  - a. s.

 

[nanaimo73]

Let's say Flashing rear end device, and flashing up beyond all recognition.

"Flashing" is the way I've heard it, but then again I usually get such information from these boards.

  You are basically right,as Trains magazine has always used flashing, rather than the employee term.

As for ERA , is this railroad related, or Equal Rights Amendment/Earned Run Average? 

Dale, I never said every single term would be a railroad term, or a transit term.  Pls re-read my Rules in the post above about the benefit of equally plausible answers. 

Ca va?  - al

Fair enough.

PATH would be Port Authority-Trans Hudson?

[blhanel]

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= ??

[al-in-chgo]

FRED and FUBAR? On this forum? Bad Al!   There's a perfectly good clean four-letter word begining with "f" that can add -ed, and works just like the unprintable. 

Let's say Flashing rear end device, and flashing up beyond all recognition.  "Flashing" is the way I've heard it, but then again I usually get such information from these boards. 

As for ERA , is this railroad related, or Equal Rights Amendment/Earned Run Average.  Dale, I never said every single term would be a railroad term, or a transit term.  Pls re-read my Rules in the post above about the benefit of equally plausible answers. 

Ca va?  - al

 

[nanaimo73]

FRED and FUBAR? On this forum? Bad Al!

Let's say Flashing rear end device, and flashing up beyond all recognition.

As for ERA, is this railroad related, or Equal Rights Amendment/Earned Run Average.

[al-in-chgo]

     Go Al go!

      I picked up "the wild garlic place" from Nature's Metropolis,by William Cronon.  His notes mentions onions, skunks and garlic.  He mentions that "the earliest french authority, Jountil in 1687, attributed the name to " the quantity of garlic growing in the district, in the woods".

     But I don't live in Chicago, so I'm just repeating what I've read.

 

IIRC it may well have been (and unless bold new strides are made in paleobotany, we may never know for sure) -- a leek.  Or an onion.  Or wild garlic.  Or, considering how stinky it was said to be, perhaps a ramp.  They're all botanic cousins under the bulb.  Perhaps someone knows if said weed still survives; Illinois is hardly free from slow streams and marshy land.  Imagine a weed specialist and a railfan in one person.  Impressive, but why make life twice as hard as it already is?   

 

Okay, how about a relatively easy quiz for the night owls.  Well, not that easy: 

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

 

BART

MoPac

PATH

ERA 

IRT

FRED  

NASA 

BNI

LSMFT

KCSdeM 

FUBAR

ET&WNC

M.Div.

MOW

LYNX   

 

I'll check back in the (probably late) a.m. and see who has the best and most answers.  If you have no idea for a clue, best to skip it, but don't rule out the occasional inspired guess -- and it's quite possible you have an answer that's different from mine but is just as valid.  OTOH obviously parodic answers will count against you.

If there's a tie, I have a tie-breaker question.

Good grief--I'm getting to bed before 3:00! 

TTFN, al

 

[Murphy Siding]

     Go Al go!

      I picked up "the wild garlic place" from Nature's Metropolis,by William Cronon.  His notes mentions onions, skunks and garlic.  He mentions that "the earliest french authority, Jountil in 1687, attributed the name to " the quantity of garlic growing in the district, in the woods".

     But I don't live in Chicago, so I'm just repeating what I've read.

[Zwingle]

Since Al has been rightfully declared the winner, I'll post this:

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Chicago:

"At the beginning of recorded history, the Chicago area was inhabited by a number of Algonquian peoples, including the Mascoutens and Miamis. Trade links and seasonal hunting migrations linked these peoples with their neighbours, the Potawatomis to the east, Fox to the north, and the Illinois to the southwest. The name "Chicago" is the French version of the Miami-Illinois word shikaakwa ("wild leek"/"skunk"), named for the plants common along the Chicago River,^[1][2][3] and thus has nothing to do with Chief Chicagou of the Michigamea people.^{[citation needed]"}

[Murphy Siding]

      Dang Al, so close that I'd have to give it to you, if it were only a little closer.

And so close you could have given me the win if you'd chosen to do so?  I ought to be really [urinated]-off at you, but I have to give you credit in your second post above for calling Chicago "the world's greatest city."  I can't tell if you were being sweet or sarcastic, but hey, any publicity is good, as they say.

Well, I'm not a linguist, but I may have eaten some at an Italian restaurant recently.  The answer, as I read it in a book about Chicago, was "wild garlic place".  Garlic/onion.  What's the diff?  I'm Norweigan, not Italian.

     Therefore, the judges have reconsidered the facts, and believe Al to be close enough for government work.

[al-in-chgo]

      Dang Al, so close that I'd have to give it to you, if it were only a little closer.

And so close you could have given me the win if you'd chosen to do so?  I ought to be really [urinated]-off at you, but I have to give you credit in your second post above for calling Chicago "the world's greatest city."  I can't tell if you were being sweet or sarcastic, but hey, any publicity is good, as they say.

[Murphy Siding]

      Dang Al, so close that I'd have to give it to you, if it were only a little closer.

[al-in-chgo]

I think we studied this in 4th grade History.  Unfortunately, there's never a forth-grader around when you need one.

Black (swampy) water?

 

Most linguists translate the word as "stinky onion," but a few hold out for "wild onion."  A surprising number of the latter group work for the City in tourism.  lol

[rrnut282]

I think we studied this in 4th grade History.  Unfortunately, there's never a forth-grader around when you need one.

Black (swampy) water?

[Murphy Siding]

     Chad- I think you missed your que, and someone else took your place:

      Chicago, the greatest railroad city in the world, was named after a variation of the word chigagou, which I presume is perhaps an indian word (?)  Without looking it up online, what did chicagou mean?

[chad thomas]

Chad did guess the NYC so I guess he can stump us next -- if -- he assures us he was thinking of 1921 and not Flexivan (which wasn't a container system) and not just guessing.  Though given his obscure photos I am not sure that's a great idea!  Otherwise Jim should go next for remembering the WP&Y's pioneering efforts.  Not many people know about that one.

RWM 

Thanks for the vote of confidance RWM but it was just a guess based on something in the back of my mind telling me NYC.

[CShaveRR]

D&H, in the 1920s?

[Railway Man]

Chad did guess the NYC so I guess he can stump us next -- if -- he assures us he was thinking of 1921 and not Flexivan (which wasn't a container system) and not just guessing.  Though given his obscure photos I am not sure that's a great idea!  Otherwise Jim should go next for remembering the WP&Y's pioneering efforts.  Not many people know about that one.

RWM 

[Railway Man]

I think that's enough whiffs at the pinata.  The answer is the New Haven, 1847.

There are three "eras" of the container.  The modern era begins in 1956 with Malcolm McLean and the Pan Atlantic Steamship Co. (the WP&Y introduced containers the same year but its standards were not adopted beyond its own water-rail-truck system).  The 2nd era began in 1921 with the NYC, which put 6x9x7.5 containers into 60-foot gons.  PRR copied this in 1929, but both services died at the hands of the ICC in 1931 when it decided this was a violation of the Fourth Section of the ICC Act.  The 1st era, which lasted for 50 years, was on the New Haven from 1847 to 1896 on its railway and ship lines between New York and Boston via Stonington, New York and Taunton, and other routes.  Containers were of 160 cubic foot capacity and loaded seven to a platform (flat) car.

RWM 

[chad thomas]

Shot in the dark.... DL&W

[al-in-chgo]

Very early on, like the Twenties, wasn't there a barge service from New Orleans to Havana? 

And were the "containers" more like Illinois Central boxcars with the wheels removed so that they acted like containers on the barge?  I believe the cars would have carried manufactured goods (Chicago seems like a natural origin point) that weren't being manufactured in the Carribean, or even the American Southeast for that matter. 

Very labor-intensive but in the Twenties that didn't distend the operations budget as it would today; there were many more RR co. ops. employees then relative to traffic and on the whole labor was a good deal cheaper then than now, even allowing for inflation, because in the era before the Brotherhood and other unions got going, there were no fringe "bennies" to speak of. 

If it wasn't the IC then I'll propose Louisville & Nashville.  -  allen

 

[snagletooth]

Okay then, B&O?

[Railway Man]

All of these were modern pioneers, and great guesses!  But not close.  I'll give it another 2 hours to see if anyone pops with the right answer.  Hint:  No one now alive was around then.