Hi –
Someone recently told me that American railroaders commonly refer to themselves as “Rails”.
I can’t say I have ever noticed this usage in books, magazines or web pages, but that doesn’t mean much - not all slang terms make it onto the net or into books etc.
Just curious - is this a term any of you have heard used or used yourself to refer to railroaders? If so, where and when - is it a local term on some railroads or in some areas, or a term fairly widely used, or what?
Smile,
Stein
Sometimes. Sometimes by union card. Sometimes by road. Sometimes as railroader or just inquire if one works for a railroad.
You find the person descriptive term “Rail” use for the most part by the rail fan press and rail fans.
Railroaders refer to themselves as either railroaders, or by craft, as in “I am a switchman”, (conductor, engineer, brakeman etc.)
They may often include which railroad they work for, but not always.
Other terms, such as “High Iron” to describe main line and “Bending Iron” used to describe lining a switch and such are simply poetic inventions used by writers back when railroads were in the public press and public eye, and many more novels, books and such were popular.
You may hear such terms, but that is the exception, not the rule.
The craft of railroading has been overly romanticized and portrayed as an often heroic job, in movies as well as books, which makes sense when you think about it, who would want to read or watch the everyday dirty grind of real railroading when you can watch such antics as those portrayed in “Unstoppable” and “Runaway Train”.
And to match the heroics shown or written about, the authors have to embellish the language used, for the most part because if they copied the way most railroaders really spoke, you couldn’t publish it, or it would have to have a R or X rating for a movie!
Language and the inevitable slang do vary from region to region; local terms may not be used on the same railroad from terminal to terminal or district to district, and often what is used on one railroad to describe something is unique to that road.
An example would be making a coupling between cars…here on the PTRA we call it “making the joint”, and on the BNSF down here, the same term is used, but on the UP and KCS down here, the terms used are to “make a couple” or “the hook”…same region, but 4 different railroads using varied slang to describe the same movement or work.
That’s what I would have expected, too. Could be that the guy was just full of it. When I asked where it came from, he went off on a mini rant:
Here in America, “We” call the railroad employees “Rails”. We, use a terminology that is different from you finer folks, across the pond. For example the railroad employees, have been known to refer to themselves as “Rails”. Since the “Rails” still use the term “Switch” to describe what you Euro’s and Brit’s call “Turnouts”
Not quite sure what he meant by “what you Euro’s and Brit’s call turnouts”. I believe our British friends use the word “points”, and Europe has quite a few countries with quite a few different terms for switches.
E.g here in Norway, the correct name (as per the rule book) is “sporveksel” (“track changer”). Some people still call them “pens” (a corruption of the British word “points” - out first railroad back in 1854 was built by Brits).
If you wanted to show off, you could always use some more or less obscure nickname - like using “engelskmann” (Englishman) for what a model railroader would call a double slip, which formally would be called “dobbelt kryssveksel” (double cross switch)
Anyways - thanks for your answer.
Stein
Worked over 35 years in the rail industry. Never heard a single employee describe themselves as “Rails”"
I hesitate to post, because the person isn’t here to defend himself, but I think some context is in order.
I stumbled into Stein’s discussion with this person late.
I can’t say about the term rails, but his rant about switch vs. turnout is actually related to model railroading. In particular the notion that real railroaders would never use the term turnout.
The upshot of it is that this is generally true, because switch and turnout are not synonyms. Not really though they are often used a such. A turnout properly refers to the entire structure of track including main and diverging legs. The switch is the mechanism that routes traffic. So someone working an industry will throw a switch and go through the diverging route of a turnout. Only Superman might be expected to be able to throw a turnout.
It comes up as an argument about using “railroader” terminol
As YoHo pointed out, a turnout is the entire structure, a switch is the mechanism used to move the rails to allow a turnout to be used.
The GCOR, Norac and the Canadian rules books refer to lining switches, with various rules on how, when and why, or why not a switch should be lined, and also make reference to speed through turnouts.
A switch is simply a part of a turnout.
As expected, terminology between countries differs, ties are sleepers, caboose becomes van, and engineer becomes driver, so forth and so on.
It sounds like you had a little run in with a railfan snob, whose experience is limited to the books and magazines he reads, plus he would seem to have a little touch of xenophobia!
The good part is that, no matter where you are, trains still operate in the same basic fashion, for the same basic purpose.
I would imagine you probably could take an American freight conductor and with a little training, plop him down in just about any rail yard in the world and he would figure it out pretty quick, same goes for those railroaders from overseas, with a minimal amount of training, they could fit in on most American railroads easily.
Almost all of the slang terms used can be figured out easily, I was asked by a UP conductor to “make the hook for me” and although I had never used the term, I understood what he wanted.
And of course, his engineer understood right away when I told him to “back up six to the joint”
I am always a little leery of the guys who know all the old, esoteric terms or who seem to romanticize railroading.
You meet them occasionally, you know, they guys who knows how many rivets are in a particular gondola, or how much steam pressure a particular locomotive produces,
Granted, there are a few railroaders who are historians, as an example of note from this forum, Carl Shaver may have one of the most comprehensive collection of cars, types and classifications known to man, and he railroaded pretty much fore
Believe me, actually working on the railroad will help you find out how little you know about working on the railroad.
I hear the term fairly often, more so from the old heads, on the former property that had the “falcons.” It’s not really used to describe yourself, but when talking about someone else. Such as, “Remember the bar on the corner of 1st and main? Ernie, the guy who owned it used to be a rail way back.”
Jeff
I agree completely. Perhaps it’s a northern term that hasn’t made all the way down south to the ‘good ole boys’ neighborhood.
Don’t really hear the term up here in the land of PA (at least where I work).
Okay, then it probably is a regional/local term more than something widely used by lots of people.
Thanks,
Stein
Rail is what we run trains on. I’m a railroader.
Exactly!
I don’t think most railroaders want to go out or their way to use slang. They, like most people, strive for economy in speaking. Certain slang adds economy by saying something with fewer words. But other slang just seems to go out of its way to be too cute. There were lots of names for a caboose, but nevertheless, a lot of railroaders just called them cabooses. Any yet on the railroads I am most familiar with, almost everyone referred to lunch as beans. Some terms, like light engine or caboose hop were indispensable as the best way to describe what they meant.
Here is a list of lingo. I see “rail” is on there. Many of these terms, I have never heard used, although many of them are long obsolete too. Most of the ones that seem a little too cute are ones I have never heard:
"I hear the term fairly often, more so from the old heads, on the former property that had the “falcons”
And what might that property be? Is this a game?
That’s a funny name for a cabin car.
That’s a funny name for a waycar.
Name your carrier and let them name the car that hauls the markers!
Yes, “caboose” is slang enough as it is. It is a funny name when you think about it. I always liked the rather euphemistic phrase, “going on the ground” for derailment. Another wreck term that seems quite common is “going in the ditch.”
“Joining the birds” used to be quite common if it is not now. I never heard a railroader tell another one to “deckorate” a car top, but they would always use the phrase, “go high.” Some cabooses had speed recorders called a “Dutch clock.”
The list: http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/glossry1.Html –