I was wondering about this for a while and now I really would like to know
Lilke what does
begin CTC and end CTC mean
also what S/S Mean I think it means spring switch
Also what are track warents (spelling might be off)
Well Ithink of anymore right now if anyone has more please pass them on [:D][:D]
Well, I am assuming that begin CTC and end CTC is the beginning and ending of Centralized Traffic Control. Now as far as S/S dunno what you mean. Now track warrants I understand what they are but I don’t have the terminology to explain them.
Speaking of railroad lingo, on SEPTA they have a term for rookies on the job. FNGs. F ing New Guys.
On UP they have a somewhat simular version but, it means something different. FRNs F ing Rail Nuts.
Other railroad lingo that I know um…
CTDS: Centrailized Train Dispatching System
CPS: Control Point Signal
ABS: Automatic Block Signal
CBS: Controled Block System
DT: Double Track
Track warrants grant to the train the right to be on certain sections of the railroad at certain times. I am told they have superceded timetables. But they do not eliminate the duty to observe signals.
Could it really be that easy? Seems there are always exceptions and contradictions…
Lets see…
You can have
a bald head
by pass
big hole
bump
couple
clear
dump
drag
drop
dutch drop
dog
dynamiter
E type
and F type
you can have a kicker
or you can kick 'em
There are
mudchickens
weed weasels
you can set 'em up
set over
Knock it down and
spot it up.
shove
slack
you can get a pin,
or drop one…
be in a pooch screw,
or, screw the pooch…
ya got stackers
tofcs
and hot ones
hoggers
piglets
mewbies and numb bu**s
GCOR
NORAC…
Ed
Great! Now all you need to do is define 'em and the first part of the glossary is done!
And at the end of the train you can have
a caboose
a van
a way car
a cabin car
a crummy
a hack
In Britain
a brake van
a guard’s van
Say, what exactly is “kicking” a car?
And what’s the difference between dropping a car and “dutch dropping it”?
To my understanding, dutch dropping is the same as performing a “flying switch,” and I always assumed that dropping was the same.
Could you please clear these issues up, somebody?
Gratefully,
Daniel Parks
Dropping a car around here(which is forbidden in out divisional timetable now)is when you have the car say on the east end of your engine,and you need to get it west of your engine.To do so you got to have a cond.and a brakeman.One mans a switch to run the engine into say (a) track ,after the cond. gets enough speed,then slack to cut the car loose.After the engine passes the switch, then the brakeman throws the switch to put the car in the other track(b).Clear as mud ?Then kicking cars is just like it sounds.You get the engineer to gets some speed up,get slack to pull the cut lever,then stop the engine or movement,and let the car(s) go to couple to cars already tied down with brakes.This is permitted in most yards,and industries,but of course some companies won’t allow it on their property.We have a chemical plant here that won’t allow it.[:)]Here’s another termthat in different parts of the country has a different word but the same meaning.To run out of time to work according to the FRA is 11hrs.,59mins.Now here on the Kenova Disrtict of the Pocahontas Division we call it “outlawed”.On the east side of the Poca.they call it “doglawed”.And my Dad who worked on the CSX just across the Ohio River in Russell,Ky.,called it “murphyed”.Go figure all within a 112 radius three different word phrases for the same meaning !
You can go to different parts of the same railroad and the language will be as foreign as it would be on the opposite side of the country.
I thought of a couple more[:D].My Dad used to call a freight train"a manifest"(csx).We call it “a time freight”(ns).I’ve heard people refer a “engineer” as "a hogger"or one that I always liked calling a new engineer or a trainee,“a throttle jockey”[(-D].And a six axle diesel as a “big hog”.
I understand why you would drop a car, but why would you bother kicking? It would seem to me to be much quicker just to make the movement with the engine than to set up the personell to kick a car.
Sincerely,
Daniel Parks
Flat switching is a whole lot quicker. Say you got a bunch of cars - some go to track A, some to track B, and some to track C. Rather than shoving and pulling the whole cut back and forth, you’d kick 'em. Engineer at the throttle, Conductor (usually) with the switch list pulling pins, and the Brakeman lining switches. It’s a beautiful thing. Kinda fun, actually.
So what is some of the interesting lingo that may be doomed to obsolescence because of fallen flags, bigger roads intervening with their own slang, etc.??
Before I got my card I was a piglet as a student, after I got my engineers card I became a hogger.
Rodney
Here’s some other terms I have heard:
Highball
Got A Light
Telly is Flashing
Signal Indication
Roger
That’ll Do
Set 'em up
We have company
Someone’s watching
Stretch 'em
hoghead = engineer
highball = go at maximun track speed
CTC = Centralized Traffic Control
TWC = Track Warrant Control
DTC = Direct Traffic Control
ABS = Automatic Block System
2 MT = Two Main Tracks
Dragger = Travel at slow speed
SPINS = Southern Pacific Industrail Numbering System
Dog Catcher = Van for receiving and delivering train crew
From the steam era:
Blowdown
Keying rods (that was gone by the 1920’s on most lines)
Poling (It’s a no-no today)
Disconnecting the rods
Sorting tissue
Forcing the fire
Dynamic brakes–just kidding [:D]!
But, steam is not obsolete, and neither is its jargon!
Heres one that I used to hear the yardmaster say,“234(or any train symbol)is one the bell”.In some locations a train would actually ring a bell in the dispatchers office at a certain location entering the yard(when the dispatchers office was more local),and it would be relayed to the yardmaster via live phone line,or an actual bell for him,then the yardmaster would notify us to get ready.A term you don’t hear around anymore also is a train being refered to as an “express”.The term "mail train"is also something that’s not heard very often.