Railroaders' Nostalgia > Track Lingo

I have a dumb question and don't know where else to ask it, so I'll try this forum...

I see references to the terms "team track", "balloon track" and "drill track"...there are probably others...and I have no idea what they mean.

Even in my advanced age I have a thirst for knowledge as well as Anchor Steam beer.

Any help available?

On my old territory in KC, a balloon track was simply a tight loop at the diesel stop for turning locomotives.

Posted from Android

Balloon Track = loop of track that allows a train or engine to change direction without having to backup like on a wye.

Team Track = A industry track used by more than one customer.  Thus a "team of customers" use it.  In many cases any shipper/receiver can use a team track if they so desire.

Drill Track = A track used by switch engine to a yard or customers.  If you think of a typical yard, the switch engine needs to a track beyond the yard to allow it to pull cars from one track and push them into another.  Similar use at an industry.  A drill track allows switching without fouling a main track.

Team track may refer to a team of horses from the old days.

Posted from Android

BNSF6400 hits it prett well with his explanation. Having had to deal with all of those in my working career, I would rather be drinking an Anchor Steam beer at the moment!

And as time marches on and the function of a track changes, the name usually stays the same. I have been to many different yards where track names like the "north dock", "ice ramp" and "scale track" are still referred to as such even though the dock, ice house and scales were removed several decades ago. 

usmc1401 Wrote:
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> Team track may refer to a team of horses from the
> old days.
>
> Posted from Android

Yes, where the merchandise was transfered between the railroads' cars to the wagons (later trucks) of the Teamsters.  Often, a pillar crane or stiff-leg derrick was located trackside to assist in movment of oversize/heavyweight stuff.

Additionally, a house track performed a similar function but the merchandise was passed thru a freight house for sorting and consolidation or redistribution.

-Larry Doyle

There is no such thing as a dumb question!

And my oh my don't ever confuse the "Ladder" track with the "Lead" track especially if they are close to each other and you need permission from the yardmaster to use one but not the other. All sorts of ridicule and brimstone over the radio will result....

Previous lengthy discussion on the term "drill track".

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1598703

@WP1501  I wish that was true...say something just a little wrong on this website and get your head chewed off.  Thanks for all the replies...very imformative.

Don't forget the "tail track"!

A team track was a track where a car was spotted so a team of horses with a wagon could unload it. The "teams of horses" are now trucks with gasoline and diesel engines.

A house track can be either a freight house or a track in the roundhouse.

Drill and lead are sometimes synonymous, other times not, although a drill is more commonly a track which connects several industry tracks in in a switching district and lead connects a set of tracks in a ladder fashion. It also depends on how the lingo is used in the terminal.

A can track is one for tank cars, and possibly things like milk cars.

Stock track: for stock cars.

There are hand signs for every one of these.

Is the hand sign for a stock track pinching your nose?

The "tail track" was the dead-end track at the end of a wye, which a train or engine pulled into to back out onto  the other leg of the wye

EricSP Wrote:
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> Is the hand sign for a stock track pinching your
> nose?

Both fists held on the top of the head with two fingers pointing up portraying steer horns.

>Is the hand sign for a stock track pinching your nose?

That's the sign for anything hot/burning, as in a hotbox -- usually the other hand is pointing at whatever is hot. For example, the sign for overheated brake shoes is two part: holding your nose and then lifting a foot and pointing at your shoe.

To make the sign for stock, open your hands, place each thumb on a temple and wiggle your fingers in imitation of horns/antlers. Someone else has mentioned a variation on the location of your hands in relation to your head.

>The "tail track" was the dead-end track at the end of a wye,

Could also be dead-end track at the far end of a run-around or the end of a track used as the main lead for a flat switching yard.

Our readers should keep in mind that the lingo and hand signs aren't 100% uniform from division to division nor terminal to terminal, let alone between the different railroads.

As an example I am standing on a "tail" or "drill" track which is (was?) located on the east end of UP's Cheyenne yard. The track ended on an upgrade eight or nine feet higher than the main line with nothing but a small pile of dirt at the end. I can only assume the grade was to assist the small switch engines in stopping cuts of cars being switched without air, kinda like a Fwy grade escape ramp.
​JB



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/16 15:57 by 3rdswitch.

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Joe,
Notice that most of the people that answered the question
were not the usual posters on this board.

Uncle Joe,Seffner,Fl.

That's alright as every railroad is just a little different offering a wide range of answers.
JB