If track frog is named after the hores's foot, it is named by resemblance. If it is named after jumping the wheels, it is named by function. Either one seems plausible, but several other things are named frog with no apparent connection to appearance or resemblance. So it seems uncertain to conclude its derivation comes from either function or resemblance.
I think the current 'consensus' about the horse's frog is that it resembles a hard V with wings (corresponding to how the rails come off the point casting). As noted, the derivation is probably from the triangular shape of the batrachian.
I did look to see whether this could be a mistranslation from a foreign term, as "quill" instead of 'spring' is a mistranslation from German in 'quill drive'. Don't see anything likely, but other eyes and wits may be sharper...
I forgot about jennies.
Bucyrus Why were four-wheel ore cars called Jimmies?
Why were four-wheel ore cars called Jimmies?
Same reason 4-axle ore cars are called Jennies?
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
The railroad frog could be derived from the horse's foot. They do have a resemblance to each other. Apparently the origin of the horse foot term, frog is also uncertain. I can't see any reason why it would be called a frog. I am inclined to go with the wheel jumping that a track frog causes.
Oddly, another meaning of frog is that weight with with holes in it that you place in the bottom of a vase, and put the flower stems into the holes. Go figure.
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Can't seem to link it as an image, so click the link to see the bottom of a horsey's lil' footsie... See the part labeled "frog" and how it resembles the RR switch frog.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
There are quite a few different meanings of the term frog, and its origin. But the dictionary lists the track term frog being of uncertain origin circa 1850.
It is curious because other track terms such as spike, rail, tie, tie plate, joint bar, switch, guardrail, switch point, anti-creeper, etc. all have an obvious linkage to meaning and origin. But frog stands alone.
Frogs (the animal) are notorious jumpers, and a railroad frog does cause a wheel to jump a gap. I believe that linkage is the most convincing explanation of the term's origin. If so, it is pretty clever.
Norm48327 Bucyrus Where did the track term, frog come from? Ever see a frog jump?
Bucyrus Where did the track term, frog come from?
Where did the track term, frog come from?
Ever see a frog jump?
I have been told that the bottom of a horse's hoof is called the Frog and looks very much like the RR switch "frog". Since the early makers of track and other equipment were often Blacksmiths, whose primary occupation often dealt with fitting shoes on a horse, it is natural for the term to have been used to describe the RR switch frog.
I have no idea why the bottom of a horsey's li'l' footie is call a frog!
Norm
As noted in another thread: auxiliary tenders.
Water bottles.
A-tanks.
Gins.
Insert more as needed...
They still "tie down" trains. Crews still "tie up". I've heard it said on the old Wheeling, they didn't tie up, they "docked'. Don't have any idea how a nautical-sounding term came to be used.
Also, instead of being in the siding, I believe it was common on the NKP to consider yourself "in the pass". I've been told that wasn't a common phrase on other roads. Of course, "going in the hole", was also a known phrase and I'm not talking about the Rathole on the CNO&TP. Which reminds me, I don't think railroaders call it the Rathole, at least, not anymore
D&HRetiree We had "Dummy Masts" but no doll posts Caboose = Van = Buggy = Crummy (and many of them were!)
We had "Dummy Masts" but no doll posts
Caboose = Van = Buggy = Crummy (and many of them were!)
Johnny
I may have missed it but did any one mention:
All referred to essentiall the same thing (too complex to explain here).
And I don't think I saw anyone call conductors "brains" or the caboose a "brain wagon".
ChuckAllen, TX
Thanks, Jeff, for your research into Rule I.
As to GCOR's I, the 1950 Rock Island (also the authority on several other roads, including B-RI, T&P, MP, GH&H), has Rule L: " Constant presence of mind to insure safety to themselves and others is the primary duty of all employees and they must exercise care to avoid injury to themselves and others. They must observe the condition of equipment and the tools which they use in performing their duties and when found defective will, if practicable, put them in safe condition, reporting defects to the proper authority. They must inform themselves as to the location of structures or obstructions where clearances are close. When employees are on or near tracks, they must expect the movement of trains, engines or cars at any time, on any track, in either direction."
In the Rock Island book, Rule Q is similar in effect to KCT's I H, though quite different in wording: "Employees must report at the appointed time, devote themselves exclusively to their duties, must not absent themselves, nor exchange duties with or substitute others in their place without proper authority...."
Apparently in 1950 there was already the problem of employees using narcotics, since "The use of intoxicants or narcotics is prohibited. Possession of intoxicants or narcotics while on duty is prohibited."
As to "getting on the ground," I have always understood that this can occur anywhere on the property--out on the road as well as in a yard.
On the ground-when a freight car or engine ran off the tracks in the Yards.
Dad would come home and say "they put another one on the ground today" and we'd go back to work with him to see it and how they got it back on tracks.
Tallow pot-fireman
Brains-conductor
Bindlestiff- hobo or bum riding the rails, the knapsack he carried was called a bindle
Sidedoor Pullman-boxcar
Rule G- saw it talked about and had to add about a Frisco brakeman who violated it all the time. The crew who worked with him on third trick would dump him in an empty boxcar to sleep it off. I guess they didn't want to work with him, too dangerous. But one night, he was caught asleep by the Yardmaster and that was it, he was fired on the spot.
Lots of good ones on here, some I know, some I forgot and some I never knew.
Johnny, killing a little time and looking through my rule book collection, I did find a couple with a Rule I.
One is the Kansas City Terminal rules from 1971. There rule I reads, "No employee will engage in other employment without permission from proper office, or be allowed to do any work for himself or for others in working hours, nor in the shops of the Company, except with the permission of the department in which he is employed."
Another is the first and second editions of the General Code of Operating rules, before they went to a new numbering system and junked the traditional rule numbers. Their rule I reads, "Employes must exercise care to prevent injury to themselves or others. They must be alert and attentive at all times when performing their duties and plan their work to avoid injury."
I glanced at a few others, different railroads and eras, and the ones I checked didn't have a rule I. Generally, the rule books read about the same and the numbering is similar. There are differences, as shown by the two examples above, so sometimes it's hard to generalize about what rule is what number or how it reads. Another example is Rule H, usually about tobacco use but in the KCT 1971 rules it is used for reporting for and devoting one's self to duty. The KCT book also is one that uses the entire alphabet, A to Z for the general rules section.
Now for some more vernacular. On another thread I mentioned "chain gang" for pool service. I had mentioned that I was working the chain gang, but as of yesterday I'm back on the extra board. Not by choice. I didn't get "bumped," that is displaced by someone with more seniority. Instead, my turn and two others were "cut." When assignments to a board or pool are abolished, the board is said to be cut. I was "cut off" the board.
"Cut in" and "Cut out" are also used instead of saying turning something on or off. Before entering cab signal territory, we cut in the cab signals. When leaving cab signal territory, we cut them out.
Jeff
Murphy Siding zugmann- New, retro avatar? Joan Jett?
zugmann- New, retro avatar? Joan Jett?
Not quite, but there is a resemblance, I'll admit.
There's a logic to what I display, but that is not really important.
Jeff, I wish I could find my copy of the 1943 Southern Operating Rules; I hoped that I would find it while packing books for my move (I did find some other books and such), but it has not come to light; I have a vague memory that Rule I was in it. Now, if I can find certain books that should have been in boxes labeled to indicate what is in them.... It's exciting, determining what will fit into a much smaller living space after living in a house for thirty-eight and a half years.
I've read that steam engines with power reverse, at least some classes on the Pennsy, would allow the valve gear to drop to full forward as the air leaked out of the power reverse cylinder. This occured as the air pumps would have the steam cut off when the engine was bedded down for the night. If the throttle leaked, the results were obvious! Fortunately, there was a snifter valve (I think that's the right spelling) on the side of the cylinder that could be opened to allow sneaky steam to escape harmlessly. This was the round thingy near the inlet port to the valve chamber.
Semper VaporoThere is the story of one engine that was parked in a roundhouse and left overnight (no night crew) with the engine still hot. The throttle leaked and pressure built up in the cylinders until the engine rolled forward to the back wall which stopped the engine. Pressure continued to build until the wheels broke traction and spun wildly. The blast of exhaust up the stack blew the roof off the back of the roundhouse.
I remember this story -- and with a little care I can probably find the source.
Google 'Night Walkers' for more information on how this happened -- it obviously is not just a 'leaking throttle'. What would happen was that the engine would cool down at a different rate from the throttle LINKAGE which would push it ever-so-gently open. If you didn't have the valves with proper lap and the valve gear wasn't blocked in mid (to keep steam from getting into either end of a cylinder in the first place)... well, it would move. Usually not as extreme as in the story, which probably involved the valve gear dropping over time.
If you ever wondered why there was a reversing lever in an outside throttle rod, about in the middle -- that is how they fixed the nightwalking issue. The lever reverses the effect of differential expansion in half the rod... so the net movement is zero.
RME
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Deggesty Is Rule H (against use of tobacco by employees serving patrons at passenger stations or on passenger cars) still in the code of operating rules? I have the impression that this applied especially to chewing tobacco or dipping snuff--though I saw a conductor on a passenger train chewing, back in 1953. Does anyone know what rule I was?
Is Rule H (against use of tobacco by employees serving patrons at passenger stations or on passenger cars) still in the code of operating rules? I have the impression that this applied especially to chewing tobacco or dipping snuff--though I saw a conductor on a passenger train chewing, back in 1953.
Does anyone know what rule I was?
My oldest rule books (CB&Q 1900 and CRI&P 1904) don't have rule I. Either it was already deleted by then or may have never existed. They may have just skipped using I for a rule designation since in some printing fonts a J can be close to an I.
John WR tree68I'm not above having an adult beverage in the evening after a long, hot day, because I know I'm not on duty until the next morning. In any job behavior that is perfectly acceptable off duty is not necessarily acceptable if it interferes with work.
tree68I'm not above having an adult beverage in the evening after a long, hot day, because I know I'm not on duty until the next morning.
In any job behavior that is perfectly acceptable off duty is not necessarily acceptable if it interferes with work.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
zugmann wjstix Most likely from the days of horses...like Western movies, where the cowboy rides into town and 'ties up' his horse to a hitching post. That makes sense. Never thought of it that way.
wjstix Most likely from the days of horses...like Western movies, where the cowboy rides into town and 'ties up' his horse to a hitching post.
Most likely from the days of horses...like Western movies, where the cowboy rides into town and 'ties up' his horse to a hitching post.
That makes sense. Never thought of it that way.
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