Saturday Slanguage: Ready Tracks

Today we talk about engine servicing facilities.  First, a quick history lesson.  Back when steam engines were the backbone of railroad horsepower in the United States, there were servicing facilities of varying sizes in almost every sizable town along the right of way.  Steam engines required an enormous amount of maintenance, and needed to be serviced as frequently as every 100 miles.  Consequently there were places to water, fuel, and grease them in many towns along the railroad.  They required heavier maintenance periodically, and facilities to handle the more in-depth maintenance typically developed in larger towns, where there were more people to employ in the various trades required to keep the engines going.  Today, with modern diesel locomotives, servicing usually only needs to happen every few thousand miles, and so a lot of the servicing facilities in smaller towns, which once fueled, watered, sanded, and greased steam locomotives, are either gone or unused.

The larger servicing facilities always developed around a building called a roundhouse.  Roundhouses were, as their name implies, large, round buildings, with tracks inside them.  The tracks were arranged so that they all met in the center, at a turntable, and then extended out from there in a radial pattern.  This arrangement allowed equipment to be moved in and out of roundhouse tracks without interfering with any other equipment in there.  Because of the need for organization at larger facilities, a system developed to bring a locomotive into the servicing facility, do all the servicing required, and then leave it somewhere for it to be assigned to another train.  The ready tracks were the last step in this process.  After servicing and inspections, engines are left on ready tracks, named because that is where locomotives ready to be sent out on another train wait.  The ready tracks were simply a place where an outgoing train crew could find their engine, or engines, to put on the train.  Ready tracks are still used today in many servicing facilities.  Steam locomotives are long gone, but today just about any arrangement of diesel locomotives can be found idling on the ready tracks, waiting for their next train.  Typically, if traffic is high, locomotives will not wait long for a train, and the ready tracks will not have very many engines on them.  If traffic is a little slower, engines may wait longer before going out again, and the ready tracks will have more engines on them.

Steven and I have an announcement to make, concerning the Saturday Slanguage posts.  Unfortunately, we will be suspending them indefinitely, effective next Saturday.  This is for a few reasons, although primarily it is to free up a little time for myself.  I was beginning to feel a little swamped with the blog and work, and since the Saturday Slanguage posts are our least popular at the moment, they are getting the ax.  If you want to see more of them, please visit our Facebook page and vote on your favorite feature of the website and blog!

Saturday Slanguage: Hogger

First of all, for those of you who were expecting a post last Saturday, I apologize for missing it.  I thought I had written one and scheduled it to post automatically, however, I had not.  I did not catch that until I returned to Glendive, on Sunday night.

This week we talk about the hogger, or sometimes called the hog head.  This is a nickname for the engineer, and it is used almost exactly how you would use the word engineer.  Sometimes, other crews will ask you who your hogger is, and they just want to know who the engineer is.  If you do not know your engineer, you might ask someone you see in the depot if they know who your hogger is supposed to be.  It is not used that often around here, but it is heard once in a while on the radio and around the depot.

Saturday Slanguage: Emergency Brake

There are a couple of slang terms that come to mind for emergency braking, whether intentional or not.  I know other railroads may use other terms, in addition to the ones I talk about.  Around here, the two most common terms for emergency braking are dynamite and plug.  They're used as verbs, and they mean "to put the train brakes in emergency."  The two words can be  used interchangeably.  Let me explain how they are used.

When someone tells you to plug the train, they are telling you to apply the emergency brakes.  For example, the Conductor might be having a hard time taking off a hand brake on a car.  One way to make it easier is to apply the brakes.  First, the Conductor may ask to "set 'em up," or apply the brakes.  If it is still stuck, the Conductor will usually ask the Engineer to plug the train, or put the brakes in emergency.  If the hand brakes are still stuck, then the Conductor will get a hammer and try to loosen the brake wheel up that way, but very often a brake application will free the hand brake.

In another scenario, the word dynamite might be used instead.  If there is a problem with the distributed power unit, on the end of the train, sometimes it will put the train in emergency.  If the dispatcher asks what the delay is in getting ready to go, someone would have to explain that the DP is having problems and keeps dynamiting the train.Usually that lets the dispatcher know it may be a little while before that train can get going.

*Note that other railroads and other locations have other terms for emergency braking besides the ones above.

Saturday Slanguage: Cornfield Meet

Several weeks ago, we talked about headlight meets, which are a favorite among train crews.  Just to review, a headlight meet is a perfectly timed meet between two trains, resulting in the least amount of waiting possible.  Today, however, we talk about a cornfield meet, which is a meet that does not go nearly as well as a headlight meet.

A cornfield meet, is usually an unplanned and poorly timed meet.  They only rarely occur, and usually only on territory that does not have any signals.  They typically occur when one or both trains involved copy their authority to occupy the main track wrong, or when they travel beyond the limits of that authority.  The result of that, especially in an area that is not protected by signals, can  result in a cornfield meet, which is known as a head on collision, outside the railroad.  A cornfield meet can mean anything from the most serious to the most minor, however the result often looks the same to any bystanders.  It is a huge mess.  While a headlight is something every railroader hopes for, a cornfield meet is something every railroader does their best to prevent.  Fortunately that effort pays off, and they are extremely rare.

Saturday Slanguage: Hot

Today we talk about hot trains.  There are a few ways to use this term, but they all have a sense of urgency about them.

A hot train is a high priority, urgent, and very important train.  If the dispatcher tells you to get in the siding as fast as possible because "you're meeting the hottest train on the railroad," then you had better get in the siding quick!  That means the train you are meeting is extremely high priority, and it is not supposed to slow down for anything besides a new crew.  A hot train is supposed to be kept moving as much as possible.

Another meaning for hot is fast.  If you notice an engineer is going 76 mph where the track speed is only 50 mph, you might say to him, "We're running a little hot, don't you think?"  Depending on his attitude, he might slow down, or he might tell you he is not in fact speeding, but actually having a controlled runaway.  A train that is moving faster than it should be for the given circumstances can be described as hot.  This also describes a train that is well below track speed, but trying to make a stop.  For example, if you are on a loaded coal train, a mile from where the train needs to stop, and you notice the engineer is still going 50 mph, you might ask him if he is running a little hot, and remind him of the stop.

Saturday Slanguage: Foamer

A foamer is what most railroaders call people who have an strange, inexplicable attraction to anything on rails.  Being a foamer is not a bad thing, it is just rather strange to most railroaders.  Most railroaders spend enough time on and around trains that it is hard to understand why someone would want to hang around trains when they do not have to.  A foamer is most commonly found near a railroad right of way, armed with a camera and a radio scanner.  Usually they seem to have a better idea of what is going on than the employees!

A picture is worth a thousand words, so here is an example of a foamer.

Photo by Bill Mullin.

Saturday Slanguage: Pull the Pin

To pull the pin has a couple of meanings on the railroad.  The most common usage is actually not the slang term.

Railroad couplers are made up of a large casting, called the drawbar, which is attached to the end of a car or locomotive.  Attached to the drawbar is the knuckle, or portion which swings open, allowing equipment to be uncoupled. When the knuckle is closed, there is a metal block or pin which falls into place inside the coupler, holding the knuckle securely closed.  When that pin or block is pushed or pulled up, it allows the knuckle to open freely and uncouple equipment.  That block or pin is manipulated by a lever on the end of the car, right at the corner.  That is called the cut lever.  Pulling up on the cut lever moves the pin of block out of the way and allows the coupler to open.  When this is done, and a car is released, it is called pulling the pin.  During switching moves, the conductor might instruct his brakeman to pull the pin between specific cars in order to separate them.

A less common but more slang definition pertains to retirement or resignation.  If you were looking for a particular person around the depot, and it had been several weeks since you had seen that person, you might has someone else if they had seen that person.  They might tell you, "Oh no, he is gone now.  He pulled the pin three weeks ago."  Depending on the person's age and employment status, this would tell you that the person you were looking for either retired or resigned three weeks ago.  Sometimes when train crews are frustrated by a long, lousy run, they might grumble and say that work is going to drive them to pull the pin.  This is rarely serious, although it means they've had enough and want to quit.  Usually a good night's sleep, a hot meal, and maybe a paycheck can fix that desire.

Saturday Slanguage: Brass

Today we talk about a necessity to run the railroad, but exactly what most railroaders hope to avoid.  It is called the railroad brass, or sometimes the top brass.

I am not quite sure of the origin of this term, but it is used to describe railroad officials and company officers.  Typically it is a nickname used for some of the ones that are higher up on the corporate ladder.  Trainmasters, yardmasters, and road foremen are considered company officials, but usually they are not referred to as railroad brass.

Let's look at an example.  You might be working on the local switch job when you hear rumors of the business train coming to town.  On the BNSF, sometimes the business train is called the Silver Bullet, because all the cars are shiny stainless steel.  After you hear rumor of this, you would probably share the information with your engineer by telling him, "They're saying the Silver Bullet will be in town in an hour.  I guess we have some brass visiting today."  The engineer will probably respond with something like, "Oh, great.  Well keep busy and stay out of the depot until they're gone."

Typically when railroad officials make a visit, people try to stay away from them.  It is the easiest way to stay out of trouble.  Most railroaders fear that the officials are out to get them, and will find something they're doing wrong.  A lot of railroaders feel like the officials do not really know how a railroad runs, because most of them have never worked on a train or in railroad operations.  Most railroaders figure they do their desk jobs best, and they ought to just stay there.

Saturday Slanguage: Headlight Meet

A headlight meet is a railroader's favorite type of meet.

A meet is when two trains, moving in opposite directions, meet each other.  While this does refer to all cases, it is used most commonly when there is only a single track with passing sidings.  In this situation, a meet occurs when one train goes into the siding and waits for the train, or trains, moving in the opposite direction to pass.    A badly planned meet can sometimes take hours.  If the dispatcher planning the meet is not familiar with the territory or with running times, a train may wait quite long time, sometimes several hours, for the opposing train to arrive at the meet.  If a dispatcher knows the territory well and is very familiar with running times, they can plan efficient meets, where all the involved trains are delayed only minimally.  The best dispatchers can plan headlight meets.

A headlight meet happens when both trains are within sight of each other as they approach the meet.  Both trains approach the opposite ends of the siding at about the same time, and the meet happens very quickly, allowing both trains to continue their trip in a short period of time.  Headlight meets are the favorite among railroaders because it means they will not have to spend a long time sitting in a siding doing nothing.

Do not confuse headlight meets with cornfield meets.  A cornfield meet usually ends in tragedy, as it is the term for a head-on collision.

Saturday Slanguage: Kick

Today we talk about a kick.  A common railroad practice is to kick railroad cars.  Don't try what it sound like, you'll just hurt your toe!

In the yard, when trains are being assembled, cars often come in all mixed up on one or several trains.  These trains must be pulled apart and the cars sorted into various yard tracks to make up blocks of cars and eventually entire trains.  Cars are sorted by destination.  A series of cars put together, all headed to the same destination, is a block of cars.  A block can be as small as a single car or an entire train.  If the switch crew has cars mixed up all going to a few destinations, they will usually use each track to sort the cars out.  Rather than use the locomotive to move every car into the proper track, they'll save time by kicking the cars.

Kicking a car is when a locomotive gives the car a shove, and then someone pulls the uncoupling lever and the locomotive stops.  The railroad car keeps moving and goes by inertia into the track it was kicked to.

Before kicking, all the compressed air must be bled off the car.  This releases the brakes, and allows the car to roll freely.  Once coupled to the engine, the air hoses will not be connected, and the train will be controlled just by the locomotive brakes.  This is a common practice when switching.  The locomotives are equipped with brakes sufficient enough to hold quite a lot of cars if the track is reasonably level.

This is an example of what you will hear and see when cars are being kicked:
Switch Foreman: BNSF 9430, ahead with a kick.
Switch Engineer: Ahead with a kick.
The locomotive will then start to move forward, shoving the car or cars to be kicked.  The switch foreman will wait until enough speed has been reached to ensure that the kicked car or cars will couple to the standing cars in the track.  Once the car or cars are moving fast enough, he will grab one of the uncoupling levers.
Switch Foreman: BNSF 9430, stop.
Switch Engineer: Stopping.
The engineer will apply the locomotive brakes, bring the engine and any cars not being kicked to a stop.  The car or cars being kicked will continue to roll.  Usually the switch foreman will line a switch, and request another kick, and the process will repeat.  Once the kicked cars get to the standing cars in the track, there will be a huge BANG as they couple.


Cars can only be kicked into a track that already has cars in it.  This is to stop the kicked cars.  Remember, they air has been bled off, so they do not have any brakes.  They stop when they couple to the standing cars. If a car is kicked down a track with nothing in it, the car will roll for a very long time.  Last year, someone in Glendive learned this the hard way when they accidentally kicked a car 18 miles.  It went all the way through the track it was kicked into, out the west end of the yard, onto the main line, and it finally came to a stop at the second siding.

Saturday Slanguage: Go in the Hole

Today's phrase has a couple of meanings, although none of them have anything to do with going underground.  Every day, train crews "go in the hole," although regardless of the definition, it is never looked upon as a particularly exciting event.

Go in the Hole:
1. To bring a train into a siding, usually to wait for meeting an opposing trains.
2. Use the bathroom.

In the first definition, going in the hole is a slang term for taking a siding in a meet.  You will not usually hear the dispatcher instruct a crew to go in the hole, but if crews talk about their run, they might tell you something like, "When we got to Marsh, the dispatcher wanted us to go in the hole to meet five!  Why can't they plan their meets better?!"

The second definition refers to the locomotive bathrooms.  They are small and cramped, and most train crews use them only when absolutely necessary.  They are pretty bare bones as well.  The bathroom is located in the nose of the locomotive.  They have a toilet, which is just a stainless steel holding tank really.  There is no toilet paper, sink, mirror, or any other amenities one might expect in a bathroom.  Toilet paper comes in shrink wrapped "crew packs," which also include a couple paper towels, trash bag, motion sickness bag, and hand sanitizer.  The bathroom is so small that only fairly small in skinny people can turn around.  The ceiling is low, meaning anyone over about five feet tall has to stoop when in there.  The entire floor space in the bathroom is about four square feet.  Most guys prefer to wait until the train stops, and then step outside and use the bathroom in the great outdoors.  There's a little more space there.

In the second situation, your Engineer might say, "I gotta go in the hole, watch the alerter for me."  He is just telling you he has to use the bathroom, and to push the alerter button if it goes off before he gets back.

Saturday Slanguage: Dog Catch

Time for another slanguage lesson, this time about dog catching.  You might be surprised to learn that dog catching actually happens quite frequently on the railroad, but it is not anything even close to what it sounds like!

Train crews are allowed to work a maximum of 12 hours in one shift.  After a shift, they have to have 10 hours of undisturbed rest, during which time the railroad cannot contact them for any reason.  If they do get contacted, their undisturbed rest time starts over.  Within those 12 hours on duty, crews do what they need to in order to get the train from point A to point B.  However, once they hit that 12 hour limit, all the work stops.  By the time they 12 hours, they must have the train stopped and secured against movement.  They may have to wait on the train for a ride to come get them, but once they hit 12 hours, they are no longer responsible for the train, and are not permitted to do anything related to their on duty responsibilities.

When a crew hits that 12 hour limit before they get to point B, another crew must come get the train.  That crew is called the dog catch crew.  They pick up the train wherever the previous crew left it, and they take it the remainder of the distance, or as far as they can go in their 12 hours.  The train that they pick up and the crew they relieve are said to be dog caught.  If you are that relieving crew, and someone were to ask what you assignment is, you would probably tell them you were going dog catching.

Example:
If you asked me the other day what I was doing, I would have said, "Well, they have me dog catching a train at Tusler and taking it to Forsyth."
The van driver who was taking us to the train might have asked, "Are you the dog catch crew going to Tusler?"
And if you are running low on your hours, you might hear the dispatcher say something like, "...well, why don't you put the train in the siding at Tusler.  You're not going to make it to town, so I think we'll have to dog catch the train."

Saturday Slanguage: Grip

Once again, it is time for another railroad language lesson.  Today we talk about a grip.

A grip is what railroaders call their bag of tricks.  There are certain things that will be needed on a trip, such as track warrants, paperwork, lantern, radio, spare batteries and safety equipment, such as gloves, high visibility vest, and glasses.  Besides these items required to get the job done, most railroaders want to bring a lunch or two and a couple changes of clothes and toiletries for their time in the hotel away from home.  All this needs to be carried on to the train somehow, and ideally, it will all be carried in one bag. That bag is called a grip.  Railroader's bags were once called grip sacks, however over the decades of railroading, that term was eventually shortened to simply grip.

Grips come in all shapes and sizes.  There really is no specific bag that the word grip refers to.  Some railroaders prefer backpacks for all their gear, while others prefer shoulder bags.  Some railroaders carry one bag for their railroad gear and a second, smaller one for their clothes and toiletries.  Some railroaders carry their lunch in a separate container as well.  In any case, it is correct to call any of these a grip.  My grip is a rugged and durable shoulder bag, and I put everything in it.  It has my name embroidered on it for easy identification, but other than that, it really is a fairly nondescript, black shoulder bag.

Saturday Slanguage: Roll Up Track

At least once on almost every trip, the train dispatcher will ask the train crew to "roll up some track" for him.  Sometimes he asks for a "roll up," and other times he will tell the crew to "roll up" a certain milepost.  While this may sound like a physically challenging task, I assure you it is actually quite simple and easy!

When the dispatcher asks a train crew to "roll up track," he wants to know where the rear of the train is.  Usually he needs this information so he can send a maintenance crew or track inspector out behind the train.  For obvious safety reasons, he would not want to send them out without knowing that the train has passed the location that they will be working.  When the rolls up track, the conductor tells the dispatcher what location the rear end of the train is past.  The most recent milepost is the most common location reference.  The dispatcher repeats this back, and then verifies it with the engineer.  At that point, the dispatcher knows that the the train is clear of the named location.

Sometimes the dispatcher knows he will want to send out a track inspector at a specific location.  Rather than wait until he thinks the train is past, he will tell the train crew in advance to roll up a certain location.  All this means is that, when the train has passed the specified location, he wants the crew to let him know.  From there, the roll up procedure is exactly the same.

Let's take a look at an example:
Dispatcher: BNSF 9697 West, for a roll up, over.
Conductor:  BNSF 9697 West, Conductor Ogden verifies the entire train is clear of milepost 96, over.
Dispatcher: BNSF 9697 West, on track warrant 612-56, entire train is clear of milepost 96 at 9:57, 0-9-5-7, is that correct?  Over.
Engineer:  BNSF 9697 West, Engineer Roberts, that is all correct, over.
In the above example, the dispatcher needed to know where the train was, and needed whatever track was available behind them.  He did not specify a location, either because he already knew they were beyond the area he needed, or he knew that they could roll up enough track for him to give authority to someone else in that area.  Now, let's look at the other possibility.
Dispatcher: BNSF 6268 East, please roll up West Blatchford, over.
Conductor: Roger, BNSF 6268 East to roll up West Blatchford, over.
Upon passing West Blatchford, the crew gets in touch with the dispatcher again:
Conductor: BNSF 6268 East to the Forsyth dispatcher, for West Blatchford, over.
Dispatcher: Forsyth dispatcher, over.
Conductor: BNSF 6268 East, Conductor Ogden verifies entire train is clear of West Blatchford.
Dispatcher: BNSF 6268 East, on track warrant 612-21, entire train is clear of West Blatchford at 11:32, 1-1-3-2, is that correct?  Over.
Engineer: BNSF 6268 East, Engineer Roberts, that is correct, over.

In both situations, the track has been made available behind the train for the dispatcher to use.  He may use it for another train, but more likely he needs to get maintenance personnel out on the tracks behind the train.  They could be a track inspector, a welder, signal maintainer, surfacing crew, or just about anyone else.  In both examples, a marked and known location was used.  Mileposts are the most commonly used for a roll up, but stations and switches, like in the second example, can also be used to roll up track.

As it turns out, it is not nearly as physically challenging to "roll up track" as one might be led to believe!

Saturday Slanguage: Deadhead

A deadhead is not something that is unique to the railroad, although the railroad uses deadheads frequently.  While the specifics of a deadhead can vary widely, the general idea of the word basically the same in all applications.

Deadhead:
A non-revenue movement of equipment, supplies, or personnel.  Usually a deadhead is used to put people, equipment, or supplies in a location where they will be needed in the near future.

Most commonly on the railroad, train crews are dead headed.  On the Forsyth Subdivision, when nearly all the crews end up away from home, they are dead headed home so that they can work away from home again.  Sometimes locomotives need to be moved to pull another train from a different location.  Usually they will be run on a train headed in the direction they need to go, but they will not be pulling the train.  If the weather is warm enough, locomotives will be shut down while they deadhead.  On colder days, they will be left running, but isolated, so that they only idle.

Saturday Slanguage: Bad Order

Today we will talk about bad orders.  Bad orders have nothing to do with work orders.  While a bad order is generally something that does not work as designed, it has various contexts in which it can be used.

Bad Order: (noun)
Defective equipment or equipment needing repair before it can be used as designed.
For example, one might say a hopper car is a bad order.  This means that it has a problem that prevents it from safely moved across the railroad.  Typically the bad order is reported to mechanical personnel and the car is left behind until repairs are complete or until mechanical forces authorize movement.

Bad Order: (verb)
1. To put a piece of equipment out of service.
2. To terminate employment.
For example, if I determine that an end of train device is not working properly, I can bad order it to prevent someone else from using it before it gets repaired.
For the second example, we can say that a Conductor was recently bad ordered because she called in sick so frequently that she was at home more often than at work.  This is not to be confused with being fired.  In railroad terminology, being fired does not mean you have lost your job.  It means you did something wrong and the railroad is punishing you by not allowing you to work for a specific period of time, usually just a day or two.  A Conductor that gets bad ordered no longer has a job with the railroad, while a Conductor that gets fired just has a few unplanned days off and some retraining to do.

Saturday Slanguage: Introduction

Steven and I have been talking about starting a new weekly series about railroading language.  Railroads and railroaders tend to have some unique words and phrases, which are usually quite unfamiliar to the non-railroading world.  We already have a glossary on our website, which covers many of the proper terms for various railroad things.  If you want definitions for anything on this blog, you can always check the glossary.  The goal behind this series is to present some of the improper terms of things, or the railroad slang.  If you have ever wondered what it means to "set out a trainmaster," what exactly a "hogger" is, or how "Fred and Lucy" have anything to do with trains, this series will tell you all that.  The slang you find here will not appear in our glossary, as that is more reserved for proper railroading terms.  We hope you enjoy the new series, and if you have any word or phrase suggestions, please let us know!

Today we kick off the series with the word "highball."

Highball
Highball is used so often it does not even feel like a slang word.  It tells the crew of a train to proceed in the authorized direction at the maximum authorized speed.  It is often used on passenger trains, when work at a station is finished, or on freight trains to let the engineer know that it is safe to go.  It is also used to let a train crew know they do not need to stop.  On freight trains this is used most often after the crew of one train gives a roll-by inspection to another train.  Once the train has passed and the inspection was good, the inspecting employee will tell the crew on the other train to "Highball," letting them know it is safe to keep going.

Examples:
On Amtrak, you may hear the Conductor tell the Engineer, "Amtrak five, highball Denver."  This means that all the passengers are safely aboard, the doors are closed, and the train is ready to depart.
On a freight train, you might hear, "BNSF 6031, good roll-by, highball Blatchford."  This means that a crew member on another train inspected the BNSF 6031 and found no problems, and is letting the crew of the 6031 know that they can continue on their way.
You could say that Steven gave me the highball to write this post and start the series.