Passenger Trains > Shoofly: Where did it come from?

Where did the word shoofly come from? I know what it is. Years ago there was a train accident out of Ludlow, CA, when a drunk train crew ran into the back of another train as they missed the signal. I watched SF build a shoofly around the accident. Several people tried to answer my question: Where did the word come from? Can anyone tell me or us on trainorders?

Most likely from the song phrase "Shoo fly don't bother me" How it came to use on the railroad I am not sure but its similar to a dogleg and possum belly. My guess is because curving track around a problem is remeniscent of the waving motion when shooing a fly.

puckeringswine Wrote:
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> belly. My guess is because curving track around a
> problem is remeniscent of the waving motion when
> shooing a fly.

ooohhhhkayyy... i'll take it.....

I had heard the fly idea, but surely someone can come up with a more sophisticated answer. The term is used often and no one knows the origin of it all?

Woodman Wrote:
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> I had heard the fly idea, but surely someone can
> come up with a more sophisticated answer. The term
> is used often and no one knows the origin of it
> all?


Sohisticated? Trainorders? I'm gonna have to think about that a while...

Here may be the origin..Found on a Website about North Carolina hauntings under " Ghost Trains"..I have posted an excerpt.

There was a terrible wreck of a train called the “Shoo Fly” in November of 1906. Mistakenly, a switch was left open on the track near Warsaw ,North Carolina and the “Shoo Fly” came barreling down the track, hit the open switch, careened off the track and turned over, killing several people.

PROPULDUDE Wrote:
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> Here may be the origin..Found on a Website about "
> Ghost Trains"..I have posted an excerpt.
>
> There was a terrible wreck of a train called the
> “Shoo Fly” in November of 1906. Mistakenly, a
> switch was left open on the track near Warsaw (
> USA ) and the “Shoo Fly” came barreling down
> the track, hit the open switch, careened off the
> track and turned over, killing several people.

Could you please post the web addy for that site. It looks like something in which I would be interested.

BaltoJoey

Hi Balto Joey,
Here is the link... http://www.latitudemagazine.com/Publications/102006/36Spooky.php

Not authoritative but posting it anyway. From the Federal Highway Administration website (some type of discussion forum, explaining previous use of the term for a highway detour):

"Re: Road Closures on Categorical Exclusions
05/14/2007 04:03 PM
A shoofly is a temporary detour and I believe the term came from the railroad industry....flies over the rail and shaped like a horseshoe."

The site:
http://nepa.fhwa.dot.gov/ReNEPA/ReNepa.nsf/discussionDisplay?Open&id=513B286E3C08B076852572D70063CE1C&Group=NEPA%20Process%20and%20Documentation&tab=DISCUSSION

I like PuckeringSwine's answer, but not because of the "waving hand" reasoning. I can see how a clean-up or MOW crew might consider trains to be like "flies" that keep coming around and keep them from getting their work done. Someone could have jokingly "shoo'ed" the oncoming train away with "shoo-fly, shoo" like in the song and have it catch on. Maybe a WAG but I don't think it is a SWAG. The saying "shoo-fly" was in common use in the 1800's and well into the 20th century especially in Pennsylvania.

I'm suprised that with all of the info available on the Internet, we haven't found the answer yet. I mean, we can find out how to crack the iPhone but we can find the origin of shoo-fly. Go figure!

Ken

how does this relate to "shoo-fly pie"?

"Shoo-fly" - 1. A child's rocker; 2. An undercover cop checking on other cops.

"Shoefly pie" - A pie with a filling of moasses and brown sugar. So called because it attracts flies that have to be shooed away.

At least this is what my dictionary says. Railroad use ? ? ?

poultrycar Wrote:
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> "Shoo-fly" - 1. A child's rocker; 2. An
> undercover cop checking on other cops.
>
> "Shoefly pie" - A pie with a filling of moasses
> and brown sugar. So called because it attracts
> flies that have to be shooed away.
>
> At least this is what my dictionary says.
> Railroad use ? ? ?

My dictionary (Random House unabridged) has for one of several definitions, "Railroads. A temporary track." No origin is provided.

Ray

Great for Random House. I will reconsider the value of my American Haritage Dictionary.

But "Shoe" fly ?? Whoops, that is my error. I guess I can not spell "shoo".

I don't have any hard evidence, but I was always under the impression that "shoo fly" came from the flight path of the fly being shoo'd away.

He's coming towards you (or whatever) in a relatively straight line. You wave your hand at him, and he flies a curving loop around the hand, then resumes his original flight path. It looks a lot like the route most shooflys take.

Watch the next time you swat at one, and you'll see what I mean...

We had this discussion recently on another list, and one guy said that an old MOW head had told him that the term came from the child's rocker... it's basically a wooden horse that's hung from straps or ropes between two support beams. When the kid gets on and rides, it displaces the horse, which bounces around on the straps, but when the kid gets off, the horse returns to its original position.

Of course, this begs the question... how was the kid's horse toy named? I like the "Shoo, fly!" theory myself... it's logical and elegant, and fits with the times (mid-1800s).