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The Railroad Vernacular

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The Railroad Vernacular
Posted by zugmann on Thursday, March 14, 2013 7:31 AM

Let's list some of the railroadey terms for basic things. 

#1 has to be grinding stones for grinding wheels.

Jitney = van

fusee = flare

tricks = shifts

Go ahead.. add some more.  We can even regional-ize or localize the railroadey terms if you want to.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by blownout cylinder on Thursday, March 14, 2013 8:03 AM

caboose=cabeese

Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry

I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...

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Posted by zugmann on Thursday, March 14, 2013 8:04 AM

cabins = caboose around here.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by Rikers Yard on Thursday, March 14, 2013 8:28 AM

  How about hogger, or hog head for engineer.

Bull= railroad detective, or cop, at least around here.

                                         Tim

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Posted by mudchicken on Thursday, March 14, 2013 8:41 AM

zugmann

cabins = caboose around here.

Nope, try waycar ...shoving platform .....crummy ......

Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
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Posted by mudchicken on Thursday, March 14, 2013 8:42 AM

Rikers Yard

  How about hogger, or hog head for engineer.

Bull= railroad detective, or cop, at least around here.

                                         Tim

....elephant tracker ..... cinder dick ......special agent .....

Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
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Posted by zugmann on Thursday, March 14, 2013 9:01 AM

Then you can spot a load.

Or you can place a car.

Then that car that you spotted can become a placecar. "Put the empties behind that placecar".


When you place that placecar, be sure to tie one on, sting one on, tie it down, spin one on, and anchor it.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by mudchicken on Thursday, March 14, 2013 9:05 AM

zugmann

 


When you place that placecar, be sure to tie one on, sting one on, tie it down, spin one on, and anchor it.

...or just chunk it.   ...got a skate?

Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
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Posted by zugmann on Thursday, March 14, 2013 9:13 AM

mudchicken

 

..or just chunk it.   ...got a skate?

Nah, but there's a blocker.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by edblysard on Thursday, March 14, 2013 9:18 AM

Hey, wait a minute, that was my favorite stick....

 

Joint- coupling

Cover-buffer car

 

23 17 46 11

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Posted by switch7frg on Thursday, March 14, 2013 10:48 AM

Smile  Are "carknockers " still alive and on the job??

Y6bs evergreen in my mind

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Posted by Mookie on Thursday, March 14, 2013 11:06 AM

Yard Goat

Beanery

Mudchicken

Yellow Thingie

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by carnej1 on Thursday, March 14, 2013 11:13 AM

zugmann

Let's list some of the railroadey terms for basic things. 

#1 has to be grinding stones for grinding wheels.

Jitney = van

fusee = flare

tricks = shifts

Go ahead.. add some more.  We can even regional-ize or localize the railroadey terms if you want to.

 The term "Grinding stone" is not specific to the Railroad industry, it is used for other types of grinding/polishing equipment but nowadays it may be somewhat archaic. If you Google search the term you will get a lot of hits for suppliers of industrial tools/supples, but when you go to the linked websites they are more commonly called wheels..

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Posted by mudchicken on Thursday, March 14, 2013 11:21 AM

May you never be anywhere close to LORAM/SPENO when the stones learn to fly.Wink

Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
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Posted by diningcar on Thursday, March 14, 2013 11:35 AM

armstrong  -  manually powered;  bad order; - beans; - big hook; - brownie; - drag; - drill; - drop; -Johnson bar; - kick; - leg (one half of wye); - meet; - cnfield meet; - cruimmy;   dead head;; - gandy dancer; - highball; - in the hole; - on the ground; - outlawed; - sand house; - shoo fly; - varnish; - flimsy

Thats all for now

 

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Posted by zardoz on Thursday, March 14, 2013 11:37 AM

Early quit

Screw the pooch

Tie up

Grab iron

Anglecock

Bad order

Big hole

Buckle the rubbers

Cornfield meet

Drop

Dutch drop

Flimsy

Flying switch

Goat

Saw-by

Shoo-fly

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Posted by Deggesty on Thursday, March 14, 2013 12:07 PM

Light engine; engine running light

Johnny

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Posted by Deggesty on Thursday, March 14, 2013 12:10 PM

Oh, yes, but not done often today: quartering the main drivers.

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Posted by Overmod on Thursday, March 14, 2013 12:41 PM

Time to test the modac:

Big-hole the Westinghouse

Bad joint

Lazy cock

Broken injector

Blown head

Humping (with the original location being Honeypot)

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Posted by tatans on Thursday, March 14, 2013 1:26 PM

Pinch bar

Ice gang

Sleepy R---  C.P.R.

Flanger

Goat

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Posted by John WR on Thursday, March 14, 2013 6:09 PM

FRED for Flashing Rear End Device.  

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Posted by John WR on Thursday, March 14, 2013 7:00 PM

Railroad pie.  A one dish meal made of ground meat, onion, a little salt and other things* cooked together in a skillet and topped with corn bread batter and baked until the corn bread is done.  There are many recipes but you can add whatever you want to the beef and onions.  Pour off the excess grease if there is too much.  

Traditionally this is made in a black iron skillet but it can also be made in a casserole dish.  It can be made in a Dutch oven with a depressed lid to hold hot coals and baked on a camp fire.  

*for example corn, beans, peppers (sweet or hot as you prefer), cut up cooked potato and anything else you have handy. 

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Posted by ValleyX on Friday, March 15, 2013 11:21 AM

In the ditch  -  derailment

Had it to the roof  -  Term used on some roads to say the engineer had the steam engine doing all it could do

Join the birds  -  Jumping in the event of a cornfield meet

Shoot the bill  -  Placed the train in emergency

Dumped it  -  Same thing

Marked off  -  Taking days off on own account

Bumped or rolled  -  Displaced off a job by a senior person.

The Big O  -  Old time term for conductors, came from the Organization of Railroad Conductors

That's just a few that come to mind.

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Posted by Paul of Covington on Friday, March 15, 2013 11:33 AM

Interlocking is a noun.

Highball is a verb.

   One thing that kinda tickles me is the use of "...account..." instead of "...on account of..."   I guess it was shortened for convenience when filling out forms.

_____________ 

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Posted by Overmod on Friday, March 15, 2013 11:41 AM

ValleyX
Had it to the roof  -  Term used on some roads to say the engineer had the steam engine doing all it could do

While we're there, let's not forget the other half of the operation, 'had it in the company notch'

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Posted by Overmod on Friday, March 15, 2013 11:44 AM

While we're at it: we might as well remember that 'hot-rod' is from a railroad source.

A 'hotrod runner' was an engineer who went so fast or so hard ... or stopped his train so seldom for oiling maintenance ... that the rods would heat up.  Logical to extrapolate this to non-conformists interested in running at high speed in other contexts...

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Posted by narig01 on Friday, March 15, 2013 4:20 PM
Cut and run" . IIRC the term originally referred to when a steam locomotive was running low on water and had to cut loose from the train and run to go fill the tender with more water.
Hack another word for caboose.
Tallow pot. For the locomotive. Lard was used for lubrication on early steam and was kept in a pot in the locomotive. I would suspect it also got spilled.

Highball. IIRC the clear signal for a ball signal is the ball being at the highest position.

Rgds IGN
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Posted by John WR on Friday, March 15, 2013 5:03 PM

Blue Jay.  Back in the days when Jay Gould was active in railroading he would give employees notes written on his distinctive imprinted blue stationary.  These notes were known as "blue Jays."

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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, March 15, 2013 5:13 PM

Overmod

While we're at it: we might as well remember that 'hot-rod' is from a railroad source.

A 'hotrod runner' was an engineer who went so fast or so hard ... or stopped his train so seldom for oiling maintenance ... that the rods would heat up.  Logical to extrapolate this to non-conformists interested in running at high speed in other contexts...

That is very interesting.  I had not thought about it lately, but I know that I have at times wondered what "hot rod" actually referred to as applied to cars.   

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Posted by mudchicken on Friday, March 15, 2013 6:55 PM

Paul of Covington

Interlocking is a noun.

Highball is a verb.

   One thing that kinda tickles me is the use of "...account..." instead of "...on account of..."   I guess it was shortened for convenience when filling out forms.

Saved a few words on the wire (telegram) too... [stop]

Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west

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