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 1953 B&O Rule Book (Updated to December 1964) states -
H. The use of tobacco by employees while on duty in or about passenger stations, or on passenger trains, is prohibited.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Johnny
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.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
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
zugmann mudchicken Mud still sends tie-up wires via e-mail...Our office staff has associated that with Mud out in a cornfield lashed to a fencepost with barbed-wire (creates quite the visual) So where does the term "tie up" come from?
mudchicken Mud still sends tie-up wires via e-mail...Our office staff has associated that with Mud out in a cornfield lashed to a fencepost with barbed-wire (creates quite the visual)
Mud still sends tie-up wires via e-mail...Our office staff has associated that with Mud out in a cornfield lashed to a fencepost with barbed-wire (creates quite the visual)
So where does the term "tie up" come from?
Rule G is Rule G -everybody knows it (Know it, Love it, Heed it!)
(and the business car fleet has really thick shades in the cars)
The first six years of my railroad experience included dealing with a fellow engineering dept. employee that had a problem with alcohol & firearms. In spite of multiple attempts to straighten this person out, liver failure at age 42 was the result after the railroad gave up and fired the person as a last resort. Life lesson.
John WR I'm not sure where you are coming from here. I can easily understand why railroads would prohibit drinking on duty and even for a number of hours before you come on duty. In fact, I would be pretty surprised if such prohibitions did not exist.
I'm not sure where you are coming from here. I can easily understand why railroads would prohibit drinking on duty and even for a number of hours before you come on duty. In fact, I would be pretty surprised if such prohibitions did not exist.
The bottom line on alcohol is that if you get caught on a random test, that you blow a zero point zero. Ditto for the drug portion.
Presumably, your fellow crewmember(s) aren't going to want to work with you if you "smell like a brewery," unless they're all in on it. There was a time when that might well be the case. Any more, not very likely.
Metabolism times for alcohol are pretty whell known. If someone does have a drink at some point before going on duty, I'd opine that it will be far enough ahead of time that they won't have a problem passing a test.
I'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.
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...
Bob,
At times in my life I've traveled around the country on Amtrak. Sometimes I've struck up conversations with off duty people working on the same train and I can recall some of those conversations were over a drink. At the time it did not occur to me that there could be a violation of railroad rules. But if rules were violated that is not a reason for the rules not to exist. There is no doubt in my mind about the rules about alcohol and, I am sure, other substances or that they are strictly enforced.
John
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
John WR I don't want to trespass on sacred ground. However, it seems reasonable to point out that some railroaders are passengers and some passengers are railroaders.
I don't want to trespass on sacred ground. However, it seems reasonable to point out that some railroaders are passengers and some passengers are railroaders.
No trespassing against others here. However, there is still the point that there is not supposed to be any drinking on duty. I do not know whether 'deadheading' railroaders were expected to refrain from imbibing, but the general rule in many lines of business is that 'you're an ambassador of sorts (and not an embarrassador) for your company, and would be expected to show your high qualities and responsibility whenever in the public eye...
I would suspect there is No Alcohol Tolerated in crew dorms, even when the crewmembers in question are not 'engaged to be waiting'.
Now, railroaders who happen to be passengers on their own time -- they're no different from other passengers except they are much more likely to be knowledgeable than other passengers, and more interesting. But they are not on duty at that time, and presumably won't be marking on or subject to call in the immediate future...
Here is one defintion of the term. Like a lot of slang, there is overlap and gray area:
JERK A DRINK—Take water from track pan without stopping train. From this came the word jerkwater, which usually means a locality serving only to supply water to the engines of passing trains; a Place other than a regular stop, hence of minor importance as jerkwater town, jerkwater college, etc.
BroadwayLionA Jerkwater town was a place where the train did NOT stop to take on water, but rather took it on the fly from the track pans.
Both the bucket brigade and the track pan "definitions" seem to have validity per a search I just did. However, one find on the web search included the info that "jerkwater" was not a railroad term - it was a literary description. That may or may not be true in and of itself.
Apparently, though, there was the term "tank town."
One wonders how many people who saw the title of the Steven Segal movie understood the origins of "dark territory," rather than thinking it was a term of foreboding...
The track pan overflow issue for "riders" was apparently worse in the winter, where they might be able to hang on, but would, of course, be drenched and later be found frozen in place.
Maybe I missed them earlier, but how about:
In the hole - waiting on a passing siding
dark territory - unsignalled main track.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
A Jerkwater town was a place where the train did NOT stop to take on water, but rather took it on the fly from the track pans. They lowered the scoop and jerked the water from the pan into the tender. This was done at about 40 mph. When the tender was full, it sloshed out of the back vents to the discomfiture of any hobo riding behind the tender. At this point he usually fell off and died.
FOAMER-- Was used long before rail fans were a problem. It was a steam engine with foam in the boiler such as it could not get up a good head of steam.
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Brass or Suits - RR officials
Go to beans - head to the beanery (cafe)
Peddler - local or way freight
Ballast scorcher - fast running engineman
Shack - brakeman
Lightning slinger - telegrapher
Gandy dancer - section hand
Telltales - what was their correct name?
Foamer - overly enthusiastic railfan
Diamond - rail crossing
Board - semaphore signal
Wipe the clock or bighole - emergency brake application
Join the birds - jump off the engine before a collision
Hot box - Overheated journal bearing (waste and oil on fire)
Knuckle - drawbar
Ride the rods - hobo
Teakettle - old locomotive
Throttle jerker - engineer
By the way I never knew of a railroader to say "cabeese". I think it is a term coined by railfans.
Drag -- slow freight train
Dog -- another slow freight train, usually unable to make it across the division before going on the law
Dogcatch -- crew called to relieve the dog that died on line
Had a old gandy once tell me a story about a PI (personal Injury) requiring a hospital visit, the admitting nurse asked him what was wrong and he told her "I was cuttin' the nuts of'n a frog and a piece flew up in my eye". Took a while to explain that one to her....
I remember reading somewhere (probably in the pages of our hosts somewhere) "Jerkwater Town". Way Back When, a town that was so small that the railroad didn't deem it large enough for a water tower, a passing train needing to take on water might stop and "Jerk water" from a nearby creek. It is my guess the jerk referred to yanking a bucket up with a rope, though in some cases it might refer to the one doing the pulling. Some short lines equipped the tenders with a pump (or so I'm told).
Brad
EMD - Every Model Different
ALCO - Always Leaking Coolant and Oil
CSX - Coal Spilling eXperts
And, we have rabbits and frogs--two main types of frogs; one type is split into two subtypes.
Jeff, thanks for the illustrations of doll masts, doll posts, or whatever the individual roads call them.
I was a railroader, I understand what you're saying but I don't fully agree. I can't remember one conversation I ever had with a trackside observer that didn't eventually result with the fan to say something so outrageous that it would either make me laugh and, in one occasion, told him he'd best get off the property, because he had told me something so outrageous, so showing in lack of any operational knowledge, that I couldn't believe it. Perhaps you'll think my remarks harsh but that was my experience.
Having said that, I remember many who were little more than passengers but most of them didn't make a long term career out of it, they washed out or were shown the door for one reason or another.
OvermodPassengers, no matter how well they use the railroad vernacular, do not become railroaders when they do. Not even Rogers E.M. Whittaker.
Here's a few more: Flying switch, jerk it by , drop it by, high daddy. These terms all refer to the now, almost universaly prohibited practice of slinging a car from behind the engine into a facing point siding. Or, how about poling a car? Definately against the rules, now! We also used to say "take 20" or 20 minutes, refering to the allowed lunch period for yard jobs. Of course a man who works primarily yard jobs is a "yard bird". You don't carry a suitcase on the railroad. It's a grip. 12 hours puts you on the law, or you hoglaw or perhaps you "die" at some time or location. You "mark off" to take yourself "off the board", when you "mark back up" the crew caller will tell you your first out (or second or sixth out) with nothin' showing. A dwarf signal is not intended as an insult to a vertically challenged signal. What terms are not unique might be easier!
Some pictures of doll signals.
http://www.railroadsignals.us/signals/dolls/index.htm
Jeff
Thanks, Johnny & Brad. I'd never heard of them.
_____________
"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
Paul of Covington Deggesty Another one: doll mast. Doll mast???
Deggesty Another one: doll mast.
Another one: doll mast.
Doll mast???
Doll Mast, Doll Post, Doll Arm.
If there's 3 tracks, and only 2 are signalled, a doll post would represent the 3rd unsignalled track.
John WRBut doesn't "railroad vernacular" include things that passengers would say too if they are talking about riding a train? When I say "I used to catch the 6:35 Clocker at Princeton Junction" am I using railroad vernacular or not?
People can use all the jargon they want. This is America. No one will come haul you off if you get 'salty' and use terms like "physics package" or "prompt excursion" -- on the other hand, it does not prove you work in the field when you do.
Passengers, no matter how well they use the railroad vernacular, do not become railroaders when they do. Not even Rogers E.M. Whittaker. (And a good thing too! I hear Clegg and Beebe saying, as they pour another one back in the private car...)
RME
On DC's and my railroad, that terse telegraph language, was called "Kans-eese". (Cat need fixed, car needs repaired)
Now that I think about it, as others have suggested, the terse nature of railroad language probably was indeed shaped by the limitations of the telegraph. It was the tweeting of the day. When you think about it, train orders were pretty terse.
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