Railroaders' Nostalgia > Friday's dose of slang

Here's another grouping; some we see in everyday life, some seen rarely. Enjoy.

BANJO---Mr. Hubbard's first explanation was a "Firemans shovel".Here's a link that describes
another 'Banjo', the Hall Disc Signal: http://position-light.blogspot.com/2015/11/hall-disc-aka-banjo-signals-explained.html
I never saw one in my travels but they have their place in railroad signaling history. The similarity is obvious.

TONK---A carman or car repairer.

STINGER---A car handbrake. Heard often: "Tie a couple of stingers on that cut and we'll go to beans. Translated: Apply two
hand brakes on that group of cars and then we'll have our meal period. TO's contributor 'TAW', a train dispatcher with considerable
experience tells us in train order operations a 'stinger' is a "train order term for expiration time/date".

BINDLE STIFF---Hobo or Tramp. (Bindle is a corruption of "bundle")

LADDER---Main or most used track within a yard from which individual tracks lead off. Also called a lead.

WESTINGHOUSE---Air brake, so named after the inventor George Westinghouse. His name was often invoked,
when the yardmaster or local trainmaster tried to expedite a movement. The engineer would reply; "You can't hurry
Mr. Westinghouse", a reference to the design of railroad air brakes where air from the locomotive is 'meted' out to
the cars through small charging ports which, in effect, force air to travel evenly throughout the train line.

BULL---Railroad policeman.

ARTIST---An employee who is particularly adept, usually with a prefix such as brake, pin, speed, etc.
Every location or craft has such a person. We had an engineer where I first worked who, although I 
never had the occasion to witness his prowess firsthand was, by most, acknowledged as about the best
there was at his craft. It was said by trainmen, (the harshest of critics), that you could fill your coffee cup
to the brim back on the caboose and "E.C." wouldn't spill a drop. 

REDBALL---Fast freight train. A recent posting here on TO's concerned operations on the Missouri Pacific 
between San Antonio and Laredo, Texas. In researching, I went to the internet and found a MOP employee 
timetable from 1957 where there were several trains that carried the description: "Red Ball Freight". 
Probably there were other roads that carried on the tradition; The Cotton Belt's "Blue Streak Merchandise"
comes to mind. 

RIP-TRACK---Minor repair track where Bad-Ordered, Not-In-Compliance cars are sent for work. I was told once
that "RIP" was an abbreviation for "Repair In Place". Don't know if that's correct, though.

Charlie





 

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/21 12:27 by cewherry.

   In your reference to "artists," would the "E.C." you referred to be E.C. Edwards?  He was the engineer on the 600a City of Industry Switcher on which I made my first day as a student brakeman.  He was a gruff old codger, but when he saw I was trying to learn something, he showed me a lot during the three days I was on that job.

Brian Black
Castle Rock, CO.

tehachcond Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>    In your reference to "artists," would the
> "E.C." you referred to be E.C. Edwards?  He was
> the engineer on the 600a City of Industry Switcher
> on which I made my first day as a student
> brakeman.  He was a gruff old codger, but when he
> saw I was trying to learn something, he showed me
> a lot during the three days I was on that job.

That's the guy. The only time I worked around him, I was the fireman on a Kaiser 'nuggets' through helper. He was the 
head-end engineer. After I returned from the Air Force I learned that he had passed away. I remember seeing 
a drawbar, standing upright, beside the right of way down around Owl with "EC did this to me" chalked on the coupler shank.
I doubt very seriously that E.C. Edwards had anything to do with that mishap. 

Charlie  
 

On the SP Western Div, car men were usually called 'car knockers.'

SCL called them cae knockers also.

cewherry Wrote:
>
> ARTIST---An employee who is particularly adept,
> usually with a prefix such as brake, pin, speed,
> etc.
> Every location or craft has such a person. We had
> an engineer where I first worked who, although
> I 
> never had the occasion to witness his prowess
> firsthand was, by most, acknowledged as about the
> best
> there was at his craft. It was said by trainmen,
> (the harshest of critics), that you could fill
> your coffee cup
> to the brim back on the caboose and "E.C."
> wouldn't spill a drop. 
>

On our little, itty bitty shortline, engineers were said to have a 'golden arm.'

cewherry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> tehachcond Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >    In your reference to "artists," would the
> > "E.C." you referred to be E.C. Edwards?  He
> was
> > the engineer on the 600a City of Industry
> Switcher
> > on which I made my first day as a student
> > brakeman.  He was a gruff old codger, but when
> he
> > saw I was trying to learn something, he showed
> me
> > a lot during the three days I was on that job.
>
> That's the guy. The only time I worked around him,
> I was the fireman on a Kaiser 'nuggets' through
> helper. He was the 
> head-end engineer. After I returned from the Air
> Force I learned that he had passed away. I
> remember seeing 
> a drawbar, standing upright, beside the right of
> way down around Owl with "EC did this to me"
> chalked on the coupler shank.
> I doubt very seriously that E.C. Edwards had
> anything to do with that mishap. 
>
> Charlie  

There was a certain West End brakeman that had on-going issues with E.C.  He was known to carry a piece of chalk with him...if you know what I mean!

Brian
>