Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 156, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 June 1912 — SLANG OF THE RAIL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SLANG OF THE RAIL

PECULIAR AND EXPRESSIVE TERMS USED BY TRAINMEII. ... ,, I,l,ll, ‘nii/ Z~ . .** ~ Shack Hits the Grit If the Old Girl Runs Wild—Kidding the Hasher Has Long Been a Favorite Stunt Among the Boys. A “dead engine” is one without fire. Steam is sometimes known as “fog.”

The conductor of the switching crew is the “drummer” and the brakemen a r e “shacks," "car catchers,” "fielders” or "ground hogs.” The yardmaster is frequently known as a “switch hog” and sometimes as

the big switch hog.” The yardmaster's office is the "knowledge hox,” and the yard clerk is the "number grabber.” Switching cars is "shaking ’em out.” A new fireman or brakeman is A “student.” A “boomer” in the strictest sense of the term is a man who stays only about one pay day on a division. A locomotive engineer is known as a "hoghead,” "hogger,” “eagle eye,” “throttle-puller,” “runner” or "engineman.” A locomotive is a “mill,” “kettle," "scrap heap,” “junk pile,” and frequently and familiarly referred to as the “old girl.” A fireman is known as a “tallow pot,” a "diamond dealer,” “diamond pusher,” and in this day sometimes as a “stoker."

Freight brakemen are called “shacks,” “strong arms,” “twisters,” “brakies,” “cullies” and “dope artists.” “Varnished cars” are passenger coaches. A “gon” Is a gondola or coal car. A “steelgon” Is sometimes called a “whale belly” or a “battle ship.” A refrigerator car Is a "reefer." The “running board” or “toe path” Is made up of the two or three -boards or planks running lengthwise on the “deck" or roof of a box car. The floor of an engine cab or tender Is - also called the “deck.” “Decking" or "deckorating” means that the trainmen are riding on the roof. The heaviest type of a consolidation engine is known as a “battleship,” the lighter type of consolidation is called a "hog.” Although the term “hog” is generally applied to all engines nowadays, In the strictest sense of railroad language it should be used only when referring to locomotives of the consolidation type. A car that Is disabled or broken is a “cripple.” A track for repairing “cripples" Is a “cripple track." Car Inspectors are Inown as "car tlnks” and “knockers.” An overheated journal bearing or brass Is what constitutes a "hot box," and the oiled waste used to repack It Is “dope.” The pay car Is commonly called the "pay wagon” or “band wagon” and is frequently more familiarly known as the "family disturber.” The injector of an engine Is the “gun.” The blower Is the "fireman’s friend.” —Railroad -Magasiney— —-