For Mookie's Book of Slang

[Mookie]

Need help here people -

Trains Magazine gave me an idea....

This needs to be simple - simple minds you know.

Engineers - hogheads - why? (how did the name originate?)

Car Inspectors - car knockers - ditto

now it is up to you to complete my list - real name, slang name and why....

I am off looking for my mirror and keys to the SD70MAC, but as Ahnold said - "Ah'll be bock".....

Head engineer - Mookie - It is easy to spell

[wabash1]

Mook

There is no lighted make-up mirror on the engines. ( the keys to my mac ha ha ha) a good laugh today thanks .

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by wabash1

Mook

There is no lighted make-up mirror on the engines. ( the keys to my mac ha ha ha) a good laugh today thanks .

aughhhh but do they have seperate restrooms for the "hes" and "shes" [:D]

Ya know the shes do like to powder their nose and some of them take a while to do it. [:o)] Wouldn't want to have to stand cross-legged waiting ya know. [:p]

[mudchicken]

mudchickens, panel parties, cinder dicks, bulls, maniacs, gandys (chorus line license and all), quick checks, lineal spiders, light bulb changers, ground monkeys, black thumb, weed weasels, clucks in the bullpen, .....

That type of stuff?

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mudchicken

mudchickens, panel parties, cinder dicks, bulls, maniacs, gandys (chorus line license and all), quick checks, lineal spiders, light bulb changers, ground monkeys, black thumb, weed weasels, clucks in the bullpen, .....

That type of stuff?

Yeah - you get the point! But now you have to give an explanation and how it originated if you know -

You told me about mudchicken - surveyors - and if I remember right - which I don't always do - their chicken scratch writing.

Bulls - aren't they the same as cinder dicks - railroad police and I probably don't want to know or use the sanitized version - detectives.

Your turn!

Mookie

[CShaveRR]

OK: Car-knockers. If I remember this right, they used to inspect wheels with a hammer...the sound of the ring could point to a defect. I don't think it works now; this could have been back in the days of either iron or cast steel wheels.

[coalminer3]

How about cabeese?

Cabs - C&O

Cabins or cabin cars - Pennsylvania RR

Buggy - Boston and Maine

work safe

[edblysard]

Yard snake, thats me.
We "snake" through all the twisted and convoluted tracks in a yard to get to and switch cars.
Car knocker are carmen, they used to carry a billy club, and would tap the wheel sets on cars.
A sharp ring meant the wheel was sound, a dull or flat sound meant that wheel had a crack or defect.
So they were know know as knockers, because the knocked the wheels.

Weed weasel, a nicer name for a trainmaster, who, in the name of "safety testing", like a weasel, hides in the weeds to see if he can catch you breaking any rules.
Crummie, any caboose that hasnt been kept up, most look and ride as if they are falling apart, which they are.
Filithy, dirty, smelly and generaly not worth the time, about the only thing that works on them are the wheels still roll, some times.
Rock pounder, a switchman in a yard, working the field, he pounds rocks all day long, running from switch to switch.

Ok, Mudchicken, your turn!
Keno and zardoz1 need to jump in here too, we have a few younger and new members who need to hear the old names...
Ed[:D]

[Mookie]

I think Fe Feathers is out making eggs, not sure where the rest of them are - but I did get a couple on my own: Ashcat is a fireman - I think the derivation is obvious. And one that I liked - Steam engines are "Girls" - because they had jackets, aprons, a lap, shoes, pumps and hose! Hog is any large locomotive - hence the Hoghead!

Well, this is a Mookie first! I submit a question, write my own answers with a little help from my friends and google and now I gotta go start a war, so someone will talk to me!

Mookie Ann!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by coalminer3

How about cabeese?

Cabs - C&O

Cabins or cabin cars - Pennsylvania RR

Buggy - Boston and Maine

work safe

And..

Vans-Canada

[mudchicken]

Sorry mooks....will fill in some of the blanks here shortly....Mudchicken has to go back out and plant more trees (2" x 2" x 18" with pointed ends) for the yellow peril at Utah Junction.

MC

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mudchicken

Sorry mooks....will fill in some of the blanks here shortly....Mudchicken has to go back out and plant more trees (2" x 2" x 18" with pointed ends) for the yellow peril at Utah Junction.

MC

[}:)] I owe, I owe, so off to work I go?

[mudchicken]

OK - Back from planting trees on the yellow peril. Concerned to see that Mookie is talking to herself again (Yes, have to work to eat and keep my critters in Kibble)..............................Here goes the obvious:

Panel Party = Derailment requiring the use of track panels (major track damage)

Elephant Tracker = special agent ( from "can't find a female elephant in an open field with fresh snow" - cleaned up a little bit for forum use)

Maniac = Motorcar/master mechanic (abbreviation mnc.)

Gandy = (gandy dancer) track laborer, caniballized "Jim Dandy", or gander/ dance-like motion with a gang lining track with lining bars by hand

Quick Checks = claim agent

lineal spider = signal lineman

light bulb changer = signal maintainer

ground monkey = switchman on a yard lead, yard pilot for a yard cleaner at work

bridge monkey = steel bridge inspector

black thumb = weed sprayer (If it grows, it must die!)

clucks = female clerks (anybody remember "Music Man"?)

bullpen = clerks concentrated outside the supt.s office

real estate= bad, low BTU coal

boob = tie shear

bull *** = drift pin / punch

old alibi = roadmonster = roadmaster

Gaffer = track foreman

Go Devil = track handcar

gun = snooze alarm = track torpedo

hoptoad = flop-over derail

mud shop = mudchicken's office (What's an Oreck?)

porcupine = bamboo peacock = clearance car

snipe = track dog = trackman

lizzard scorcher = cook on a wrecker dining car

bad guess = dispatcher

cornfield meet = you are supposed to meet in a siding, not in the middle of farmer Jones' cornfield

roman candle = boutet weld charge

alligator = switch point derail (visual)

launching pad = visitors chairs in front of trainmasters desk

brownie box = business car (goes back to Browns System, discipline, issuing demerits)

Kenneo & Zardoz - help!

Mudchicken

[Anonymous]

Hey Mud! I got two more for you from this modern age: "Rug Rat" and "Ground Hog"...they both are remote control operators.

[mudchicken]

Thoroughly Modern Mookie will appreciate that! (hadn't heard those yet, but then again, I don't run the trains, I just supply the steering)

Mudchicken

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mudchicken

OK - Back from planting trees on the yellow peril. Concerned to see that Mookie is talking to herself again (Yes, have to work to eat and keep my critters in Kibble)..............................Here goes the obvious:

Panel Party = Derailment requiring the use of track panels (major track damage)

Elephant Tracker = special agent ( from "can't find a female elephant in an open field with fresh snow" - cleaned up a little bit for forum use)

Maniac = Motorcar/master mechanic (abbreviation mnc.)

Gandy = (gandy dancer) track laborer, caniballized "Jim Dandy", or gander/ dance-like motion with a gang lining track with lining bars by hand

Quick Checks = claim agent

lineal spider = signal lineman

light bulb changer = signal maintainer

ground monkey = switchman on a yard lead, yard pilot for a yard cleaner at work

bridge monkey = steel bridge inspector

black thumb = weed sprayer (If it grows, it must die!)

clucks = female clerks (anybody remember "Music Man"?)

bullpen = clerks concentrated outside the supt.s office

real estate= bad, low BTU coal

boob = tie shear

bull *** = drift pin / punch

old alibi = roadmonster = roadmaster

Gaffer = track foreman

Go Devil = track handcar

gun = snooze alarm = track torpedo

hoptoad = flop-over derail

mud shop = mudchicken's office (What's an Oreck?)

porcupine = bamboo peacock = clearance car

snipe = track dog = trackman

lizzard scorcher = cook on a wrecker dining car

bad guess = dispatcher

cornfield meet = you are supposed to meet in a siding, not in the middle of farmer Jones' cornfield

roman candle = boutet weld charge

alligator = switch point derail (visual)

launching pad = visitors chairs in front of trainmasters desk

brownie box = business car (goes back to Browns System, discipline, issuing demerits)

Kenneo & Zardoz - help!

Mudchicken

Just a couple of questions:

What are track panels?

Tie Shear?

Drift Pin?

Flop Over derail?

Clearance Car?

Mookie Ann (Ma!)

[JoeKoh]

flop over derail-a device attached to the track that flips over the rail and can be locked to keep cars in a siding.

clearence car a car used to check hights in tunnels and on overpasses to make sure trains can go through or underneath.
stay safe
Joe

[edblysard]

Drift pin is a steep pin, used to hold parts together, like a handle to a shaft. A drift pin punch is a steel punch, looks like a big screwdriver, with a round profile nad blunt nose, used with a hammer to punch or "drift" these pins out of the hole.
Track panels, just what the name implies, a panel of track, pre made or pre fabricated, they are shipped in gons or flat cars, the track and ties are pre assembled, you just pick it up and put it in place, almost like model railroading in real 1 to 1 scale.
Switches, turnouts and crossover are made this way, it cheaper and quicker.
Stay Frosty,
Ed

[wabash1]

Joe you are almost right on the derail. it is not intended to keep cars in siding it is intended to derail them this is to keep them from rolling out onto the main. it is not on siding but spurs . if you had them in sidings you would haft to throw them at both ends and replace them at both ends when leaving a siding.

[mudchicken]

Wabash:

Some sidings out here come with derails, especially in ABS and dark territory....usually when shorter sidings get used to store long cuts of grain cars etc....spur to me implies only one switch. (Difference in terminology????)

Mooks: Tried to send attached photos offline, but your ISP would always kick-em back.
Have we answered your question?

Mudchicken

ps: World War 7 (pheasant season) started Saturday morning. Not safe for birds or surveyors!

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mudchicken

Wabash:

Some sidings out here come with derails, especially in ABS and dark territory....usually when shorter sidings get used to store long cuts of grain cars etc....spur to me implies only one switch. (Difference in terminology????)

Mooks: Tried to send attached photos offline, but your ISP would always kick-em back.
Have we answered your question?

Mudchicken

ps: World War 7 (pheasant season) started Saturday morning. Not safe for birds or surveyors!

Hello out there in the real world! Mooks puter has been thrown to the floor, kicked out the door and on down the hall! We are getting hacked to death here and it just blows everything out of the water - work included! At this rate - I will have to sit back and read a good book and watch the forums for the rest of the day - What a life!

Wait until maybe tomorrow and then try again.

Would love to get some pictures, letters from home, cookies/cake or money orders, it is lonely out here!!!! [}:)] So hang tight or whatever....I'll be back - hopefully by Tuesday! I think I have a good start with the "lingo" and will develop it as time goes on - or as my puter permits!

Thanx

Da Mooks!

[zardoz]

Actually lots of those nicknames I never heard!

Hogger, I am told, is from the old days (when engineers could get assignaments based on seniority). Engineers apparently had a reputation for grabbing all of the hours they could (too bad for those of lesser seniroity), thereby HOGing all the hours for themselves, hence: hoggers.

Dutch Drop (highly illegal): engine coupled to car(s) accelerates; at correct speed slack in bunched allowing car(s) to be uncoupled; engine then accelerates as fast as possible away from cut; switch is then lined behind engine to allow cars to enter other track.

Make a nest: the engineer's arrangement of seat height, seat distance from front wall, temperature of cab, position of everything adjustable.

Make a bed: Conductor doing the same thing on their side of the loco.

Dog it, hose the hound, screw the pooch, f*** the dog, sandbag: take more time than necessary to do a task, for the purpose of either more overtime, or to screw (cause grief) to: the yardmaster / trainmaster / railroad / engineer / conductor.

[Anonymous]

Hey Mook... Love the topic of RR slang.

Companion topic: RR Company nicknames based on freight car reporting marks. In the old days the Long Island was called the "Lazy and Indolent," and the Jamestown, Westfield and Northwestern was known as "Jesus Wept and No Wonder." (Borrowed this from an old collection of RR articles I have somewhere.)

With all the new RR short lines, there must be some new nicknames... MCF

[Anonymous]

How about a couple of navy ones.
MrHarmon is a flyer therefore, an airedale.
I was in subs therefore, a bubblehead.

[Anonymous]

Any pre-radio railroaders out there? Ever "squeeze the air" on someone? We'll see if anyone had that; if not, I'll fill you in later.

[jchnhtfd]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mcfarrand

Hey Mook... Love the topic of RR slang.

Companion topic: RR Company nicknames based on freight car reporting marks. In the old days the Long Island was called the "Lazy and Indolent," and the Jamestown, Westfield and Northwestern was known as "Jesus Wept and No Wonder." (Borrowed this from an old collection of RR articles I have somewhere.)

With all the new RR short lines, there must be some new nicknames... MCF

Then up my way there was the St. Jesus and Late Coming... (St. Johnsbury and Lamoille County, so called with VERY good reason!)

[dharmon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Scottydog

How about a couple of navy ones.
MrHarmon is a flyer therefore, an airedale.
I was in subs therefore, a bubblehead.

Hey wait a minute....that make us sound like good looking, hyper, not real bright, blonde dogs that are easily distracted by shiny objects. We're nothing at al..........what was the subject again?[;)]

And within naval aviation...as if there were some other type....

pilots --- the single anchor master race, nearly perfect in every way.
NFO's - naval flight officers (back seaters) .....self loading baggage or No Future Outside.
NAC --naval air crew (enlisted guys in the back) --tube slugs

[Anonymous]

See! I told you that people who land planes on carriers are nuts. Must be either the hard bump on landing or the sharp jerk on stopping. Something has to rattle their brains.

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Scottydog

See! I told you that people who land planes on carriers are nuts. Must be either the hard bump on landing or the sharp jerk on stopping. Something has to rattle their brains.

[:D]

Mook

[zardoz]

C&NW=Cheap & Nothing Works
conductor=clerk on wheels
engineer=know-it-all (just ask him)[;)]