Railfanning for Dummies
Rule #1
Never, ever, never ever, never ever ever, go up to a railroader and even mention, much less think the word “Lash-up”.
The proper word to use is “consist”.
That is spelled;
C O N S I S T
Don’t forget this word!
Especially if you want to carry on any kind of intelligent conversation with the train crew!
Haupt! der kommander und wunderkind conzizt und dummies der intelligent train an zee krew saz ha ha dumkoffs!
Ich Bin Ein “Grammer Nazi” wallyworld.
To the cooler with him Sgt. Shultz!!
Capt. Klink
And now we know…
And Knowing is half the battle!
G.I.JOE!
I always refer to it as "locomotive consist " or just head end power.But does anyone know where “lash up” came from?
Oh geez. Same difference.
Here’s the big one…
STAY OFF THE GOD FORSAKEN TRACKS!
You numb-nuts that do dumb things make the rest of us look bad.
OR bring a pretty girl , no body will be paying attention to what you have to say .
In some places you might talk about how many units he has in his consist and in some places you might talk about how many motors he has in his consist. You might talk about his lead unit, or the increasingly more prevalent “leader”. But lashup? No, no, no.
Richt onnen Herr walleyworld…>>>
Big Jim , honored engineer and respected ;>>>
Sitting at Little America truck stop ln Flagstaff Ariz. I was causally watching rail traffic across I-40 ,when a rather long consist came into view . A triple header . Everything was as it should be. The #2 engine was hunting and every surge it belched thick black smoke. Is that serious or what??What caused that to happen?
Years ago Detroit engines used to do that. You had to shut off the fuel supply, that didn’t always work . The govenor diapharam would rupture and suck crankcase oil and then events got interesting, strange screeching ,loud clattering and metal flying about. Well you know the rest. Not nice. Respectfully, another Jim.
Ja! One version says teamsters used the term when hitching up teams of draft horses to pull freight wagons.
Didn’t it start showing up when the publication EXTRA 2200 SOUTH got going?
Old Timer
NEVER ask an engineer if he can do a “runby” LOL
Probably just a GE doing it’s thing…
D*mn. Check out those units on Her Consist.[:O] (The Woman)
Allan.
I’m with ya 100%, Big Jim!! That word “lash-up” has always been a silly, non-RR term. It’s CONSIST!!
Funny you should mention it. There was a thread on the Michigan Railroads.com message board some months ago about phrases and terminology used by fans an not by railroaders (at least in my neck of the woods). Here is a cut-and-paste of the pet peeves I came up with:
“Lashup”
I’ve never heard this word used by a railroader, at least T&E. There aren’t any ropes or twine, so they can’t be “lashed”. Maybe MU’d.
“Sunshade”
Meaning “awning”. This, along with a host of other words, seems to have been invented by modelers.
“Car Carrier” or “Car Hauler”
And on ex-CR, they were never “racks”. “Racks” were auto parts boxcars with parts racks inside.
“Drive”
As in “Who’s driving the train?” Improper usage in the United States and Canada. “Run” or “operate” is standard in the US. “Drive” implies steering and intent. You can say “I drove my bicycle”, or “the plane was driven to Cuba” if you want to misuse “drive”.
Modern diesels don’t have huge gears and a transmission like a car.
That squealing you hear when a train goes around a sharp curve ISN’T the brakes.
Operating train crews don’t sleep on the train and run cross-country like a long distance truck driver; they have to be qualified on the physical characteristics of the territory they run over, and normally cannot exceed 12 hours on duty.
A dirty or otherwise unphotogenic engine usually runs just as good as a clean one. So long as it gets the job done.
A “station” is a place designated by the timetable, not necessarily a train station.
A “train” can be just one engine, and an “engine” can be several engines together in one consist.
There are specified speed limits, and you’d better not get caught violating same. And the speeds aren’t not normally posted on many railroads, because
Auto parts boxcars were called racks on CR? Hmmm, weren’t any of them ever called “high cubes”?
I hate to hear someone calling it driving. It’s not, nor has it ever been driving, not in this country, not that I know of. Now, possibly in the early days, because it came from England, where they are still drivers, I believe.
Compliance with the rules is a condition of employment and if you don’t, it will catch up with you, thus we have adherence to the speeds and proper and written methods of operation.
Never heard the term “high cube” on Conrail, at least on the Dearborn Division. Usually were called “excess height” cars and you sure didn’t want them to hit a low bridge.
If you said “we gotta grab some racks” on CR (at least in auto country), they were auto parts cars with just empty parts racks (bins) inside headed back for more parts. Loaded empties, if you will. Manifests showed empty “rack” parts cars something like this : “CR 222005 L RACKS ATSF OKLAHOMA CITY”.
One time I referred to the multilevel train ML441 as “the rack train” and got some real funny looks. “Racks? Those are inside the boxcars! Them there cars are 'levels!!”
Ian
Was it an EMD? If so the turbo was probably coming off the gear track. Yes it can be serious especially if it gets so bad that it is causing the engine to lunge.
Careful, grabbin racks might get you thrown out of some places.