I've Been Working on the Railroad

I'VE BEEN WORKING ON THE RAILROAD

Back to the farm, again. I can tell you how the whole

thing happened. Exactly how it happened.

I was sleeping in the top dresser drawer, when I was woken up

by the quill and the air monkey.

"Who pulled the calf's tail?", I said.

There was a gay cat at the gate who was now working

as a gandy dancer and reading the Company Bible

about the Gods of Iron. The hand bomber was hanging up

the clock in the ditch.

I told him, "You better get your head cut in, and stop throwing

diamonds, before you get called on the carpet in the

Knowledge Box, where they will drink your blood like wine."

The bug slinger was batting 'em out and was becoming

concerned about the white feather, but could not see

well enough with his bird cage. The cherry picker

was trying to chew cinders, but was fumbling with the

company jewelry and then suddenly the clown wagon

was in a rabbit. Some pinhead must have lifted the

Lincoln pin. Now, the Temple of Knowledge was barefoot,

much to the embarrassment of the Big Four operating Brotherhoods.

There was no time to send a pink, so the straw boss threw

a butterfly.

The master-mind in the madhouse and the moonlight mechanic

in the monkey house had a very heavy moral decision to make.

Either the throttle-jerker could whistle out a flag,

buckle the rubbers, hit the high-daddy and almost certainly

kill 5000 people by doing so, or else they could 'ball that doodlebug

on the Route #12 branch line to Warm Springs, and risk killing

maybe 50,000 or more people. What to do?

The entire Manchuria Independent Defense Unit began

singing a Judy Garland medley beginning with "The Trolley Song"

and ending with "Over the Rainbow."

In between the flare lights you could see men... standing...

leaning on pick axes and golf clubs or anything they could

get hold of. They lived there, definitely.

I really did not need this kind of tension. I had whiskers

and enough time on the Tin Lizard that I was just hoping

to get the rocking chair, without getting bumped

by a mileage hog.

I felt like I was chasing the red, down a dead man's hole,

but the grave-digger was greasing the pig. Was there

any way to get this Lizard Scorcher over the knoll?

Someone was in the kitchen with Dinah, who frequently

provided services for the diamond crackers, dust-raisers

and goat-feeders.

I was hoping that the highball artist who was holding her

against the brass could hook 'er up and pull her tail,

and horse 'er over before we hoptoaded off the glory road,

but by now we were running on smoke.

However, an Unknown Vendor had changed banjo bolt torque,

and now we were being reaped by the Cow-Catcher in the Rye.

The Ballast Scorcher, instead of batting the stack off of her,

was now big-holing her, and trying to wipe the clock.

However, the Ball of Fire ended in a heavenly Boiler Ascension.

We were surrounded by bell-ringers and bake-heads with banjoes,

and lung doctors in lunar white, but now we were going down the

Indian Valley Line. It was time to join the birds who were

picking our smoked eyelids.

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http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/3/1/8/13185/13185.htm

The "W.W." always _was_ a fraud, and, for all his lumbering bulk and

"MOLINEAUX-like" capacity of "tatur-trap," never _could_ train-on

soundly, or--figuratively speaking--"spank a hole in a pound of

butter." Many cleverish trainers, and still more ambitious backers

of the "Corinthian Jay" species, have had a shy, professionally or

monetarily, at the "Woolwich Whopper," and invariably with disastrous

results. The "W.W.," though big enough in all conscience, is not

of sound constitution, nor of the true wear-and-tear sort, is very

difficult (_and_ expensive) to train, and when brought fairly up

to the scratch is certain to go bang to pieces after the first few

rounds, if these are at all of a hot-and-hot character.

Still there are--worse luck!--certain parties connected, more or less,

with the P.R. who--whether from interest, vanity, or sheer cussedness,

still pin their faith to this "huge, lumbering, soft, long-shanked,

top-heavy, shambling, thump-shirking Son of a Gun," as NOBBY NUPKINS,

of the Nautical Division, pithily called him the other day. If some

of these credulous or conceited coves had witnessed the little

trial "scrap" which took place recently (on the strict Q.T.), at

the "Admiral's Head," in the presence of Mr. JOHN B-LL (the famous

P.R. referee), between the vaunted "Whopper" and a smart and handy

light-weight known as "Quickfire," their owl-eyes might, having been

a little opened, and their peacock-strut a bit modified.

[illustration: RECOGNITION OF MERIT.

_The M Dougall, L.C.C._ (_to Cambridge Don_). "WELL DONE! THE SPINSTER

TO THE SPINNING HOUSE! You ARE INDEED A PROCTOR AND A BROTHER!"]

The story, like the Consols, is good enough for those who don't

want much interest for their money. It may be safely recommended

as a pleasant companion during a railway journey.

Hereby and herewith thanks-a-many are returned to the "Bibliographer,"

who is also the Secretary of the Sette of Odd Volumes, for his

charming little _brochure_ about _Robert Houdin, his Life and Magical

Deeds_, by his truly,

THE BARON DE BOOK-WORMS.

A "STERNE" TRUTH (_as to conviction under The Embezzlement and Larceny

Act, 1861)._--"They order this matter better in France."

The philosophic infidel must be battered into belief by the aid

of philosophy mingled with kindness. Take KENAN, HAECKEL, HUXLEY,

STRAUSS, and DRAPER--the names, I mean; it is quite useless and

might do harm to read their books,--shake them up together and

make into a paste, add some poetical excerpts of a moral

tendency, and spread thick over a violent lad smarting under a

sense of demerit justly scorned, Turn him out into the world,

then scrape clean and return him to his true friends. Cards,

race-meetings, and billiards may be introduced _ad lib._, also

passion, prejudice, a faithful dog, and an infant prattler.

Death-scenes form an effective relief. I have several which only

need a touch or two to be complete. That is the way to please

the publishers and capture the public. Try it, and let me know

what you think.--R.T."]

Or teach the babe in arms to say,

"Base, bold, bad boys are cheap to-day"?

NARR. _The White Witch_.

SONOGUN scarcely knew what to do. He had been up all day, wandering

about the lanes which surrounded the family mansion. A fitful light

blazed in his magnificent eyes, his brow contracted until it assumed

that peculiarly battered expression which is at once characteristic

of a bent penny and consistent with the most sublime beauty. To be

properly appreciated he must be adequately described. Imagine then a

young man of twenty, who was filled with the bitterest hatred of the

world, which he had forsworn two years ago, on being expelled from

school for gambling. There was about him an air of haughty reserve and

of indifference which was equally haughty. This it was his habit to

assume in order to meet any neighbours who happened to meet him, and

the result naturally was that he was not so popular as some inferior

beings who were less haughty. In fact he had a very short way with his

relations, for whose benefit he kept a shell into which he frequently

retired. He was dangerously handsome, in the Italian style, and often

played five bars of music over and over again, with one finger,

to please his mother. Some women thought he was an Apollo, others

described him as an Adonis, but everybody invariably ended or began

by calling him an ancient Roman. He was sarcastic, satiric, and very

strong. Indeed, on one occasion, he absolutely broke the feathers on

a hand-screen, and on another he cracked three walnuts in succession

without looking up. But, oh, the sufferings that young heart had

undergone. Slapped by his nurse, reproved by his mother, expelled by

his schoolmaster, and shunned by the society of the country-side, it

was small wonder that the brave soul revolted against its fellow-men,

and set its jaws in a proud resolve to lash the unfeeling world with

the contempt of a spirit bruised beyond the power of such lotions as

the worldly-wise recommended for the occasion. He whistled to his dog

_Stray_, and clenched his fists in impotent anger. An expression of

gentleness stole over his features. The idea was suggestive. He, too,

the proud, the honourable, the upright would steal, and thus punish

the world. He looked into his make-up box. It contained bitter

defiance, angry scorn, and a card-sharper's pack of cards. He took

them out; and thus SONOGUN, the expelled atheist, made up his mind.

The click of the billiard-balls maddened him, the

sight of a cue made him rave like a maniac. One evening he was walking

homeward to Drury Lane. He had given his coat to a hot-potato-man,

deeming it, in his impulsive way, a bitter satire on the world's

neglect, that the senseless tubers should have jackets, while their

purveyor lacked a coat.

Our names are unknown even to ourselves," replied his new friends,

for friends he felt them to be. "By profession we are industrial

knights. That should be sufficient.

The bargain thus made was soon ratified. They procured cards, SONOGUN

whistled to his dog _Stray_, and they all set out together to the

nearest railway station to pick up their victims.

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.visitclermontohio.com/moscowugrr.htm

Moscow

Underground Railroad and Abolitionist Sites

Lindale Baptist Church was the church of Andrew Coombs, Jr.

(1805-1864). Coombs was the organizing secretary of the Gilead

Anti-Slavery Society in 1836. Coombs' residence was once located

next to the Lindale Church. It became a way station between John

Rankin in Ripley and Levi Coffin in Cincinnati. His burial site

is located in the cemetery immediately behind the church. (3052

St. Rt. 132, Amelia)

Robert E. Fee (1796-1879), an active conductor in Moscow, was a

member of Clermont County's most prominent Underground Railroad

family. His father Thomas Sr., brother Thomas Jr., sister Nancy

and cousins in nearby Felicity are also documented conductors.

Robert E. Fee, his wife, Catherine Ebersole and their children

are all buried at this location. Catherine was the sister of

Jacob Ebersole who was also active in Underground Railroad

activities. (Off St. Rt. 52 on Cemetery Rd., Moscow)

On this parcel of land was once the residence of Robert E. Fee

(1796-1879). Fee became involved in the rescue attempt of Fanny

Wigglesworth and her four children, who were kidnapped and

enslaved. After two unsuccessful attempts, he dedicated himself

to helping the enslaved escape to freedom. In 1852, Fee was

indicted by Pendleton County, Kentucky Grand Jury for slave

stealing, however the Governor of Ohio refused to extradite him

to stand trial. (Water St., Moscow - "at the north end of Water

St. & Wells St.")

Once the residence of Thomas Fee, Jr. (1801-1862), the Fee Villa

was a stop on the Underground Railroad in Moscow. It is located

on the Ohio River, facing Pendleton County, Kentucky. The glow

of lit candles in windows acted as a signal to escaping slaves

that the building was a safe house. The fugitives were harbored

in the basement. After being fed and clothed from the onsite

general store, they were transported to Felicity, the next stop

in Clermont County. Thomas Fee, Jr. was a member of the

prominent abolitionist Fee family of Bracken County, Kentucky

and Clermont County, Ohio. Fee's father Thomas Sr., brother

Robert, and sister Nancy were also very involved in the

Underground Railroad. (110 Water St., Moscow)

On October 30, 1842, several men broke into the home of Fanny

and Vincent Wigglesworth. They kidnapped Fanny and her four

children and enslaved them. They eventually were taken to Platte

County, Missouri. Robert E. Fee, of Moscow, became the agent of

Vincent Wigglesworth. Fee traveled to Missouri on two occasions

for the purpose of bringing the family back home. Two of the

kidnappers were indicted by the State of Ohio and the Governor

of Ohio executed extradition papers. The two were arrested but

soon released. Unfortunately, the Wigglesworth family did not

return and their fate remains a mystery. (St. Rt. 743, Big

Indian Rd., Washington Township)

The Calvary Methodist Church was once located on this site

before the brick structure was built across the road. On

November 4, 1842, members of the community met at the church to

discus the kidnapping of Fanny Wigglesworth and her four

children by a gang of armed Kentuckians. In attendance at the

meeting were future U.S. Congressman David Fisher and Ohio State

Senator Doughty Utter. The group condemned the act as "a heinous

crime" and petitioned the Governor of the Ohio to intervene on

the family's behalf. The Wigglesworth family was carried off to

Kentucky and eventually to Missouri. (St. Rt. 756, Moscow)

------------------------------------------------------------------

2. The railroad gang of Durchgangslager Westerbork

Under the watchful eye of a collaborating constable this

seemingly happy work crew labors on the railroad that will

ultimately take them to Auschwitz.

http://www.cympm.com/railroad-gang.html

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=9622&sid=

5743bebfc262198404dc46f0e430a06f

The RailRoad Network

I've seen the old Amtrak china on eBay and antique stores. It's

simple crockery from one of the old upstate NY china companies.

Nice to look at, but nothing to write home about. I don't think

it was even exclusive to Amtrak - it looked a lot like what the

crockery in my college dorm looked like.

I suspect they got rid of it because the Corelleware (sp?) is

unbreakable (although the old stuff was pretty tough) and the

old stuff is heavy as hell, which is a concern when you are

lugging them around all day. Or maybe they just stopped making

it. Lots of those china companies have gone out of business.

The more common pattern available from the early days of Amtrak

is a light blue in color and is commonly called Amtrak National.

It was made in the USA by the Hall China company. Mainly

utilitarian(insert cheap) and not fancy, but usually fetches a

few dollars on eBay. I always wonder how the sellers came to

have these items. Currently there is an auction for Amtrak sugar

packets... can you imagine?!?

------------------------------------------------------------------

9. GET MANCHURIAN RAILROAD.; Consuls Report Bolsheviks in Control ...

GET MANCHURIAN RAILROAD. Consuls Report Bolsheviks in Control--

Want China to Oust Them. PEFiIhG, Dec. i4.-Bolshevist forces

have taben over the Chinese .

query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50613FE35...

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.imperialjapansakecups.com/RailroadInsignia.html

There are two main insignia for the Railroad Units that operated

in Manchuria. One has a cross section of the rail itself in the

center and crossed rifles superimposed on it. This insignia

belongs to the Railroad Defense Units, which were assigned to

guard tracks, stations, and perhaps even trains. Oftentimes the

inscription on these will read 'Manchuria Independent Defense Unit',

with variations.

There is a second type, a cross section of the rail with crossed

axes superimposed. This is the Railroad Engineer insignia. These

engineers repaired and constructed tracks and trains. I have put

examples of this insignia on a Railroad Engineer page.

Two photos of soldiers from the 32nd Regiment, which was stationed in

Manchuria. Both have the Railroad Defense collar tabs. Note how the

higher-ranked soldier wears his.

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.filmsite.org/manc2.html

War-shocked, Marco is haunted by his recurring, disturbing

dreams of Shaw calmly murdering two members of their platoon.

Moreover, his position as Public Relations Officer has been a

disaster. Marco defends himself to his Colonel - he suspects

that the honor awarded Shaw was a sham:

I tell ya, there's something phony going on. There's something

phony about me, about Raymond Shaw, about the whole Medal of

Honor business...I said: 'Raymond Shaw is the kindest, warmest,

bravest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life,

and even now I feel that way - this minute. And yet, somewhere

in the back of my mind, something tells me it's not true. It's

just not true. It isn't as if Raymond's hard to like. He's

IMPOSSIBLE to like. In fact, he's probably one of the most

repulsive human beings I've ever known in my whole - all of my

life.

Marco's commanding officer orders him to be placed on forced,

"indefinite sick leave."

In the parlor car of a New York-bound train - on the way to seek

the truth about Shaw - Marco, who is sweating profusely and

trembling, is seated next to a beguiling, mysterious, attractive

Rosie Chaney (Janet Leigh). He cannot light his cigarette due to

his shaking hands. Embarrassed, he hurriedly gets up, tips over

a table with his drink on it, and flees to the space between the

train cars. She follows him to befriend him, and then lights a

cigarette for him and taps him on the shoulder to offer it to

him.

Herein begins an intriguing, off-the-wall scene - filmed almost

entirely as a two-shot without cuts - in which she is the

aggressor and he passively half-listens while self-absorbed by

his own problems. During their weird, oblique conversation

[taken directly from Condon's novel], they talk about four US

states, Columbus' football team, railroad lines,

and her two names (Eugenie and nickname Rosie) - are they speaking

in cryptic code? [is Marco also brainwashed as a Manchurian pawn -

and is Chaney his controlling operative? And is the beguiling

Rosie another agent?]

------------------------------------------------------------------

5. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again

.... train line She said that all the railroad men Just drink up

your blood like wine ... there's only one i met An' he just

smoked my eyelids An' punch my cigarette. .

homepage.mac.com/danielmartin/Dylan/html/songs/S/S...

------------------------------------------------------------------

4. Logo Smackdown: Amtrak, now and then - Smogr

First up is the Amtrak, which is the many-headed hydra

frankenstein of a national railroad:. For passenger train lovers,

May 1, 1971 was a day of reckoning, .

smogr.com/2007/10/logo_smackdown_amtrak_now_and_th...

------------------------------------------------------------------

11. The "Grey Lady" weights in

.... major freight railroads was not a phoenix but a Frankenstein.

Amtrak's one profitable train, the Acela, hasn't run since April

because of .

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,939977

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.trainweb.org/carl/CaliforniaZephyr2004/Pt1.html

Our journey actually began, for me, in Fullerton, California at

12:30 a.m., July 21, 2004. My wife Sue dropped me off at the

Fullerton Amtrak Station after we attended a Linda Ronstadt/

Steve Tyrell concert at Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles

My knees had pretty much locked up so I probably looked like

Frankenstein walking from the bus.

------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Whittaker Chambers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

George Silverman, employed at the Railroad Retirement Board; .....

Witness and Friends: Remembering Whittaker Chambers on the

centennial of his birth. .

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whittaker_Chambers

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles2/ChambersAynRand.htm

Big Sister is Watching You

Whittaker Chambers

The Children of Light are largely operatic caricatures.

All Miss Rand's chief heroes are also breathtakingly beautiful.

So is her heroine (she is rather fetchingly vice-president in

charge of management of a transcontinental railroad). So much

radiant energy might seem to serve an eugenic purpose. For, in

this story as in Mark Twain's, "all the knights marry the

princess"-- though without benefit of clergy.

From almost any page of Atlas Shrugged, a voice can be heard,

from painful necessity, commanding: " To the gas chambers-- go!"

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://mthollywood.blogspot.com/2006/06/i-have-used-batman-last-

week-i-said-my_19.html

A devotion to Ayn Rand isn't the only litmus of emotional,

intellectual, and cultural immaturity, but it sure is an

important one.

All this, it seems to me, is part of what one blogger has called

academic imperialism, a mindset to which he feels economists are

particularly susceptible. In the case of the Superintendent, it

manifests itself in the view that I'm a professor of Economics,

thus I know everything, not just about supply and demand, say,

but about literature. Prof. Karlson won't agree, but I think

outside observers will liken his views on Ayn Rand to the

average English professor's views on welfare economics.

The Superintendent, normally quite the authoritarian in the

matter of railroad rules observance, is silent on basic

questions like what on earth is Dagny Taggart doing in that

peculiar pose? I hate to say it, but is she peeing on the track?

As far as I can see, this piece of "art" depicts several

violations of basic railroad rules, including

1.20 Alert to Train Movement

Employees must expect the movement of trains, engines, cars, or

other movable equipment at any time, on any track, and in either

direction.

Employees must not stand on the track in front of an approaching

engine, car, or other moving equipment.

1.24 Clean Property

Railroad property must be kept in a clean, orderly, and safe

condition. Railroad buildings, facilities, or equipment must not

be damaged or defaced.

1.29 Avoiding Delays

Crew members must operate trains and engines safely and

efficiently. All employees must avoid unnecessary delays.

Whoever wrote the General Code of Operating Rules likely did not

foresee the Vice President of Operations on the John Galt Line

squatting on the track. Ms. Taggart, as far as I can see, may

have stopped the train so she can walk out in front of it simply

to strike a pose, or perhaps even to pee. This is the sort of

thing that usually brings on a reaction resembling a hysterical

Donald Duck on the part of the Superintendent ? not here. It's

an image inspired by the sainted Ayn Rand, apparently. I make

this point partly from lightheartedness, of course, but it's

also worthwhile to point out that in the real world, things don'

t -- or at least ought not to -- come to a halt simply because

someone thinks they'll look good right here. This is something

that the artist, and a good many other people, seem to gloss

over.

------------------------------------------------------------------

54. Ayn Rand, Anti-Communism, & the Left

The Taggart Railroad does not begin, like the Great Northern, in

Minneapolis, ... was the savage review by Whittaker Chambers of

Atlas Shrugged, when it came .

http://www.friesian.com/rand.ht

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/chambers_w.html

Scholars still debate the question of who lied and who told the

truth in the Hiss-Chambers case. Rumors of Chambers'

homosexuality and of an attraction or relationship between

Chambers and Hiss persisted throughout the case and into the

present. The aura of homosexuality in this case helped

perpetuate the connection in the public mind between

homosexuality and treason that was a hallmark of McCarthyism.

Whittaker Chambers was born Jay Vivian Chambers on April 1, 1901

into an aristocratic New York family. His father, also named Jay

Vivian, was a bisexual who kept a second residence apart from

his wife and children so that he could pursue gay relationships.

In 1919, after graduation from high school, Chambers left home.

Seeking experience and adventure, he spent several months

working on railroad crews and in shipyards

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft1s2004h3&chunk.id=0&doc.view=print

The other person, who figured much more directly in the White and Hersey

outcomes, was Whittaker Chambers. He had joined the Time staff in 1939, the

year after his renunciation of the Communist party, and he had become the

Foreign News Editor. By late 1944 the monotone of paranoia he imposed on Time '

s foreign news had begun to alarm not only White in China and me in Moscow

but also Walter Graebner in London, Charles Wertenbaker in Paris, John

Osborne in Rome, and others. "Some recent copies of Time have just reached me,"

I cabled Tom Matthews one week. "In all honor I must report to you that I do

not like the tone of many Foreign News stories. I need not itemize: You know

what I mean . . . for this week, and until I cool off, I shall abstain from

corresponding with Foreign News."

This encouraging picture of active resistance and Chinese-American

cooperation is all the more desirable because of the gloomy news the American

public is now receiving from the rest of China. All that needed elimination

was certain place-names (where he came down and where he crossed railways)

and Baglio's own name if thought advisable because of possible continued duty

in the theater.

Correspondents did go to Yenan. I went to Kalgan by borrowing the jeep from

the American team in Peking and going up to the railhead, then getting on a

flat car and riding up there unannounced. There was not this sort of mobility

in Moscow. And let me illustrate that with an example of one story that Time

really wanted.

There was this Dr. Frumkin- that really was his name. He was a plastic

surgeon who had devised a surgical technique for attaching the penises of

dead Russian soldiers to living soldiers who had had them shot away in battle.

The remarkable thing about these devices was that after a certain period of

recuperation, they would erect. This was a lot better story than an egg that

only stood up on New Year's. They really wanted that story. So your

correspondent could go to a Soviet official and say we would like to talk to

Dr. Frumkin. The difficulty is that Dr. Frumkin works in a military hospital.

The answer is, "Nyet." You write to the chief of the bureau, "Nyet." You

write a letter to Molotov, no answer. You write a letter to Stalin, he doesn'

t answer. Then because you can persuade Ambassador Harriman that you will

write a story that he wants written, he agrees to intervene and you may get

to see Dr. Frumkin. I don't want to run it into the ground, but the

environment was quite different from that in China.

Many trains were derailed and their contents rusted away. We newsmen went on

to Changchun, where we were put in custody for a while and then told to get

out of Manchuria.

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://members.aol.com/lynhistory/lhps/chambers.htm

Joining the Lynbrook National Bank right after graduation,

Chambers once again found he could not cope. A boring routine

and continual quarrels with his co-workers led him to resign.

He entered Columbia University, commuting daily from 228 Earle

Avenue to the Manhattan campus by Long Island Railroad and

subway. Chambers had tried to fit into Lynbrook's middleclass

mold, but he would soon break away from it.

As Chambers put it, "When I entered [Columbia], I was a

conservative in my view of life and politics, and I was

undergoing a religious experience. By the time I left, I was no

longer a conservative and I had no religion."[18] He took a job

at the New York Public Library and began to explore Socialism

and Communism.

His intellectual turmoil and the prevailing gloom at 228 Earle

Avenue enveloped him. Like the downward spiral of a Greek

tragedy, Chambers' life followed a dreadful course. One night,

his brother Richard did not meet him at the Lynbrook railroad

station. Chambers found him dead, a suicide. Chambers came to

believe that the same societal evils of "vulgarity, stupidity,

complacency, inhumanity, power and materialism- a death of the

spirit" which caused millions to die in World War I also existed

in the Long Island villages around him. He believed that this

suffocating "death of the spirit" had killed his brother. One

snowy night at his brothers grave, only a stone's throw from the

house at 228 Earle Avenue, Chamber's composed these lines[21]:

Help me God (if there were God),

Before I die,

In my good time or under the hands of the police,

To make of myself one tiny cell, a bacterium,

To serve the organization of love as hate,

The union of the weak to kill the evil in power,

The outrage and the hope of the world

This was a decisive moment in his life. He wrote, "I now first

became a Communist. I became irreconcilable

------------------------------------------------------------------

55. Buckingham Lining Bar Gang

The Gang members described the way railroad tracks were aligned

and maintained ... Mr. Neighbors described working with a C&O

rail crew near Shadwell, .

scottsvillemuseum.com/transportation/homegang.html

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.amazon.com/Amtrack-Wars-Six-Earth-Thunder/dp/1857236203

Amtrack Wars: Six Earth Thunder (Paperback)

Clearwater has had a child, and Mr Snow and the McCalls have spoken

of a prophecy called Talisman. This is based around a child that is

supposed to be 'thrice gifted'.

A lot is revealed about the relationship between the Mutes and the

First Family, and the horrible things the First Family does to the

Amtrak Federation people, and the secrets they keep.

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.streetsblog.org/2007/08/20/transit-oriented-america-

part-1-eight-thousand-miles/

a family member that travel frequently from Albany to nyc via

amtrack had nothing but expletives to use when the word amtrack

comes up. it is very common if not daily that the trips are

delayed not 5 or 15 minutes but 4 hours on this section of

travel. the prices on amtrack compared to the china town buses,

make it a tough economical comparision $25 rt vrs 190 rt. the

china town buses you can get a bike on. th refusal of amtrack to

carry bikes al natural, is the gap in the intercontinental

bicycle infrastructure.

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://sedition.com/a/963

I am selling a nuclear bomb in good working order

This is a cultural anthropology project I am completing for make-

up credits toward core requirements at my Community College. I

hope to have my Associate's in International Trash Fires this

summer!

Abstract

I will sample the nationalities of individuals trying to obtain

nuclear weapons

The United States should be destroyed. The United States of

America must pay for her crimes. Burn America, burn. Bomb

America. Bomb Washington, DC. Wheee! What are the easiest cities

to bomb in America? Does Amtrak search luggage? Low security

nuclear facilities. Strategic targets on the Eastern Seaboard.

Uranium-235. Heavy water. Make heavy water. Make water. Fluorine

and Uranium Hexafluoride. Plutonium-239; how to avoid oxidizing

Plutonium. Centrifuge enrichment. The ABCs of A-bombs, a step by

step handbook. Nuclear Destruction for Dummies.

Advice from Edward Teller. Soviet yard sale. Ukrainian

government auctions

Magnetic confinement. Tritium. Deuterium. Gatorade. Nuclear

detonator. High explosives. Core. Plutonium and highly enriched

Uranium. I liked Cobalt-60

Experiment results

To be provided after the first sampling period ends?

approximately March 15th, 2004- assuming an augmented version of

the Taepo Dong isn't ready and I'm still here to do it.

03/17/2004 The first report is in.

07/28/2004 The second report is in.

12/17/2004 The third report is skipped for lack of anything

interesting to say about it. We'll try harder for the

anniversary.

6/19/2005 The fourth report- Didn't I say something about trying

harder? Uh, stay in school. That way you can end up like me.

Won't that be nice?

------------------------------------------------------------------

72. Big Money Fuels Scheme to Derail Amtrak for Good

It doesn't take a nuclear physicist to figure out why. The

combination of forces favoring ... These interests have

succeeded in preventing Amtrak from fulfilling the promise made

when .

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0305-01.htm

------------------------------------------------------------------

Notable location: Waco Boys Camp (A). Display/hide its location

on the map

Church in China Spring: Oak Grove Church

homosexual households (counted as self-reported same-sex unmarried-partner households)

Lesbian couples: 0.1% of all households

Median real estate property taxes paid for housing units in 2000:

China Spring: 1.3% ($1,150)

Texas: 1.7% ($1,393)

Estimated median household income in 2005: $53,900

(it was $50,096 in 2000)

China Spring $53,900

Texas: $42,139

Estimated median house/condo value in 2005: $119,100

(it was $90,400 in 2000)

China Spring $119,100

Texas: $106,000

China Spring compared to Texas state average:

Median household income above state average.

Unemployed percentage below state average.

Black race population percentage significantly below state average.

Hispanic race population percentage significantly above state average.

Foreign-born population percentage significantly below state average.

Renting percentage significantly below state average.

------------------------------------------------------------------

COME TO LOVELY CHINA SPRING, TEXAS

In case y'all can't crack the code (wink):

LOW percent of Chinese or foreigners

HIGH property values;

HIGH personal income;

LOW, LOW Taxes

LOW percent of blacks and homosexuals

Got some Hispanics, but hey, 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

Y'all come on down, now, ya hear?

Close to Waco and an Amtrak station, and voted

for George W Bush all the way- YAHOOOOO!!!!

------------------------------------------------------------------

12. CHINESE-AMERICAN CONTRIBUTION TO TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD

.... in mining and agricultural pursuits, than in railroad work. ...

One of their number is selected in each gang to receive all

wages and buy all .

cprr.org/Museum/Chinese.html

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://cprr.org/Museum/Chinese_Syllabus.html

The January 4, 1855, issue of the Oriental contained an

editorial entitled "Laborers for the Pacific Railroad," in which

it was confidently predicted that the time will come when "the

boundless plateaus of the Western half of this continent, now

desolate and almost unpopulated by any but the savage and scarce [

sic] improvable destroyers of the buffalo, will be scattered

with busy lines of Chinese builders of iron roads, that shall

link the two oceans, and add to the wealth and comforts of the

dwellers upon either shore."

"It was contemplated to extend the [California Central Railroad]

to Marysville without any unnecessary delay.... [The contractors]

resorted to hiring Chinamen to fill the places of those who left [

for the gold fields of the Fraser River]; the result is that

they now have some fifty Chinamen employed, and they find them

very good working hands. They do not work as rapidly as the

white men, but they keep constantly at it from sunrise until

sunset. The experiment bids fair to demonstrate that Chinese

laborers can be profitably employed in grading railroads in

California... ."

WHY CHINESE WERE HIRED

Two years after the beginning of construction, the line had

completed less than 50 miles of running track. Central Pacific'

s construction superintendent, J. H. Strobridge, needed 5,000

laborers "for constant and permanent work." But the largest

force that he was able to muster at any time during the spring

of 1865 was 800.

E. B. Crocker, brother of Charles Crocker, was one of the first

to suggest that the way to solve the railroad's manpower problem

was to use Chinese for the construction work.[3] At this time

it was a period of recession in the mines. Chinese ex-miners

were seeking employment in other endeavors in towns and the

countryside at low wages.[4] However, when Central Pacific

General Superintendent Charles Crocker suggested several times

that Chinese be hired, his Irish construction superintendent, J.

H. Strobridge, resisted strenuously: "I will not boss Chinese.

I will not be responsible for work done on the road by Chinese

labor." He just did not think Chinese were fit laborers for

building a railroad.

HOW THE CHINESE WORKED AND LIVED

Chinese railroad workers were divided into gangs of about 12 to

20 each. Each group had a cook who not only prepared their

meals but was required to have a large boiler of hot water each

night so that when the workers came off the grade, they could

take a hot sponge bath, and change their clothes before the

evening meal

Each gang had a "head man" who each evening received from the

foreman an account of the time credited to his gang and he in

turn divided it among the individuals. The head man also bought

and paid for all provisions used by his gang, the amount due him

being collected from each individual at the end of the month.[10]

Hours of work were from sunrise to sunset, six days per week.[10]

Initially, the wages of the Chinese workers were set at one

dollar per day or twenty-six dollars per month. Later this was

raised to thirty dollars and finally to thirty-five dollars per

month, out of which, after deducting their expenses, left $20 to

$30 per man.

CAPE HORN PASSAGE

In the fall of 1865 the Chinese laborers of the Central Pacific,

derisively called by some, "Crocker's pets," came up against

Cape Horn, a nearly perpendicular rocky promontory. At this

point the American River is 1,400 feet below the line of the

road. Chinese workmen were lowered from the top of the cliff in

wicker baskets. The basket men chipped and drilled holes for

explosives, and then scrambled up the lines while gunpowder

exploded beneath. Inch by inch, a road bed was gouged from the

granite

When spring came, Crocker ordered a massive assault on the

summit tunnel. Following is his account on the work of his

Chinese crews:

"We had a shaft down in the center. We were cutting both ways

from the bottom of that shaft ... [We] got some Cornish miners

[from Virginia City] and paid them extra wages. We put them into

one side of the shaft ... and we had Chinamen on the other side.

We measured the work every Sunday morning; and the Chinamen

without fail, always outmeasured the Cornish miners. ... The

Chinese were skilled in using the hammer and drill; and they

proved themselves equal to the very best Cornish miners in that

work. They are very trusty; and they are very intelligent, and

they live up to their contracts."[16] The tunnel was completed,

but before tracks could be laid, winter had closed in again

Strobridge and Crocker drove their men, especially the Chinese,

mercilessly. It is on record that in June 1867, some 2,000

Chinese engaged in tunnel work in the high Sierras went on

strike. However, the Chinese had no support from the other

workers, and the strike collapsed in one week.[18]

The workers asked for a raise to forty dollars per month. They

wanted the workday in the open to be limited to ten hours and

that in the tunnels reduced to eight. As one spokesman put it

"Eight hours a day good for white men, all the same good for

Chinamen." They also objected to the right of the overseers of

the company to either whip them or restrain them from leaving

the road when they desired other employment." This strike so

alarmed the railroad that they wired East for several thousand

Negroes as replacements.

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056218/quotes

The Manchurian Candidate

Eugenie Rose Chaney: Maryland is a beautiful state.

Bennett Marco: This is Delaware.

Eugenie Rose Chaney: I know, I was one of the orginal Chinese

workmen who laid the track on this straight.

Eugenie Rose Chaney: But, em... nonetheless, Maryland is a beautiful state.

Eugenie Rose Chaney: So is Ohio for that matter.

Bennett Marco: I guess so, Columbus is a tremendous football town.

Bennett Marco: You in the railroad business?

Eugenie Rose Chaney: Not anymore. However if you will permit me

to point out, when you ask that question, you really should say:

Are you in the railroad line?

Bennett Marco: What's your name?

Eugenie Rose Chaney: Eugenie.

Bennett Marco: Pardon?

Eugenie Rose Chaney: No kidding, I really meant it. Crazy French

pronounciation and all.

Bennett Marco: You arabic?

Eugenie Rose Chaney: No.

Bennett Marco: No.

Eugenie Rose Chaney: Let me put it another way: are you married?

Raymond Shaw: Senator Iselen is not my father. Repeat: he is not

my father. If you learn nothing else on your visit to this

country, memorize that fact.

Chunjin: I need job.

Raymond Shaw: Job?

Chunjin: Yes Sir, Mr. Shaw.

Raymond Shaw: But my dear fellow, we don't need interpreters

here. We all speak the same language.

Marco: [During the Kung Fu fight with Chunjin] What was Raymond

doing with his hands?

Marco: [During the Kung Fu fight with Chunjin] How did the old

ladies turn into Russians?

Sen. Thomas Jordan: [taken slightly aback] You're joking, of

course?

Mrs. Iselin: Mr. Stevenson makes jokes, I do not.

Sen. Thomas Jordan: You're seriously trying for the nomination for Johnny?

Mrs. Iselin: No, we couldn't make it. But he has a good chance

for the second spot. Now, I've answered your question, but you

haven't answered mine. Will you block us?

Sen. Thomas Jordan: Would I block you? I would spend every cent

I own, and all I could borrow, to block you. There are people

who think of Johnny as a clown and a buffoon, but I do not. I

despise John Iselin and everything that Iselinism has come to

stand for. I think, if John Iselin were a paid Soviet agent, he

could not do more to harm this country than he's doing now. You

have asked me a question. Very well, I shall answer you. If you

attempt a deal with the delegates, or cause Johnny's name to be

brought forward on the ticket, or if, in my canvass of the

delegates tomorrow morning, I find that you are so acting, I

will bring impeachment procedings against your husband on the

floor of the United States Senate. And I will hit him, I promise

you, with everything in my well-documented book.

Bennett Marco: I've been having this nightmare. A real swinger

of a nightmare, too

Bennett Marco: I remember... I remember. I can see that Chinese

cat standing there and smiling like Fu Manchu saying: The Queen

of Diamonds is reminiscent in many ways of Raymond's dearly

loved and hated mother... and is the second key to clear the

mechanism for any other assignment.

Yen Lo: A little humor, my dear Zilkov, always with a little humor

Sen. John Yerkes Iselin: No evasions, Mister Secretary, no evasions

if you please

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://monologues.co.uk/Sketches/Trains.htm

TRAINS

by

Reginald Gardiner

I have a theory about railway engines being bad tempered, well...

when I say bad tempered, that's putting it mildly! They're

actually livid, furious beasts and they loathe humanity.

I'm not a much travelled man but I'm told, this goes on all over

the world, on all the different railways. For instance, in

France... exactly the same thing takes place, only the language

is different: Diddley da... diddley na... diddley da... much the

same thing!

Speaking of France... the first time I ever went there, I

arrived at Calais and very close to the quayside, I came across

my first glimpse of a french engine. I was vastly impressed,

because it seemed to be four times as big and eight times as

livid as any engine I'd ever seen before! To begin with, it had

eight of everything, cow catchers and bells... and everything

but the kitchen stove hanging all over it... added to which, it

had a very bad tempered word written across the front... it just

said 'Nord', which I know is horrid to start with!

And it was a great pleasure to find I was able to do something

in France that I'm not allowed to do in my own country, mainly

that I could walk across the line to get to the platform on the

other side without going over by that maddening bridge!

So I picked up my little bag and walked in front of this monster,

cowering away from it... and suddenly to my amazement, it let

out an extraordinary feminine voice!... it seemed to me to be so

enormously masculine and yet, as it started on it's journey for

Paris, all it managed to summon up was:

'Parp'.

Of course, I may be wrong about that but it really does seem to

me to be a little peculiar!

Now there's one thing I must know before I die... and that's

something that takes place in the tunnel outside Snowhill,

Birmingham. You dash into the tunnel very fast and the brakes go

on and you look out of the window and all down the tunnel at

intervals are a lot of flare lights. And in between these flare

lights are men... standing... they're leaning on shovels, some

on pick-axes and golf clubs... or anything they can get hold of.

And these men, they live there... definitely!... and as you go

slowly through the tunnel, an extraordinary noise starts at the

far end and slowly crashes past the window, something like this:

Durrum... durrum... durrum... lingalingalingalingaling...

I think it's a piece of tin which has been nailed to the side of

the tunnel with some number on it or something that doesn't seem

to mean anything to anybody... and it's too big!... and it

strikes the side of the train as it goes through! And,

presumably, the men are merely there to bend the tin back, ready

for the next train to hit it as it goes through the tunnel! Now,

lastly... I'm going to tell you the one thing that an engine

loathes more than anything else. And that is another engine

coming in the opposite direction. That... it cannot bear! And by

this time, you'll have settled down having got used to the

'diddley dum, diddley dum' and all the other maddening noises,

when suddenly, to your horror this new thing bursts upon you and

nearly knocks you on the carriage floor. It's the most

frightening thing in the world and it goes something like this:

Diddley dum... diddley dum... diddley dum... Shaahhhhh...

HADDLEY DAH... HADDLEY DAH... HADDLEY DAH...

Well folks, that's all... back to the asylum!

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Ordering+Chinese+takeout:+can+far+

east+management+turn+failing+U.S....-a0136343532

Ordering Chinese takeout: can far east management turn failing

U.S. companies around?

When China's third-largest oil producer, CNOOC, made an

unsolicited bid for control of Unocal a few months back, this

great nation found itself plunged into a long-overdue spate of

soul-searching. Though the bid was ultimately withdrawn, its

reverberations will be felt for many years to come, as similarly

hostile takeover bids are now inevitable.

From the moment CNOOC made its bid, it was clear that the U.S.

had entered an era in which the Chinese have the verve, the

gumption GUMPTION - Griffith University Maths and Physics

(Association) and the resources to begin acquiring important

American companies. Frankly, I am disappointed that the bid

failed. For though some may dismiss my view as the witless

yammerings of a multiculturalist pawn, I did not greet CNOOC's

watershed proposal with sorrow, remorse or nostalgia for a more

innocent time when the Chinese economy was a harmless joke.

Instead, I am already looking forward to an Edenic dawn when our

Far East rivals do succeed in acquiring some of the businesses

we simply cannot make a buck on, and usher in a golden new era

for all of us.

Specifically, I would like the Chinese to take over Amtrak;

preferably, by a week from Thursday. For years, Amtrak has been

a national embarrassment: undependable service, surly employees,

spiraling over-head, truly crummy coffee. Amtrak's farcical

Acela upgrade, which was supposed to make traveling from Boston

to Washington an unalloyed pleasure, has disintegrated into the

biggest transportation joke since the White Star Line launched

the Titanic Xpress. (And at least when it sank, the Titanic was

making a vague attempt to stay on schedule.) Taxpayers hate

Amtrak. The government hates Amtrak. Everybody in his right mind

hates Amtrak.

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://irannuclearwatch.blogspot.com/

What do Iran and AMTRAK have in common? Well, nothing until

today. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) went to floor during the

debate of the AMTRAK bill and said he was upset about the

administration's assertions regarding Iran. He said he wanted to

be clear that Congress has not in any way authorized the use of

military force against Iran.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Psycho Daisies: Mixtape: June 2006

Or is it just about Shakespeare, eyelid-smoking railroad men,

stolen post offices, gun-wielding politicians and a mysterious

debutante? ...

http://www.modernpeapod.com/pd2/2006/06/mixtape-june-2006...

------------------------------------------------------------------

.. The Amtrak Wars - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

.... related to the contemporary American railroad system, Amtrak. ...

who somehow found the mental and physical strength to survive

the nuclear winter.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Amtrak_Wars

------------------------------------------------------------------

43. CRA Supports Full Scale Terrorist AMTRAK Exercise in

Washington D.C.

CRA provided a Full Scale Mass Transit Terrorism Exercise for

Amtrak in Washington D.C's ... deal with the use of chemical,

biological, radiological, nuclear

http://www.cra-usa.net/3Transitamtrak.htm

It is more important than ever for jurisdictions to recognize

and assess the WMD threat. Federal, State, local and private-

sector officials in general, and the response community in

particular, must be prepared to recognize and deal with the use

of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive

devices in their jurisdictions. This means planning and training,

as well as testing protocols, procedures, and policies. In this

way, we as a Nation may be able to prevent terrorist attacks,

reduce our vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage

and recover from attacks that do occur.

Amtrak's Operation Code Black, designed and supported by CRA,

was a six-hour multijurisdictional WMD exercise designed to

explore the full range of an interagency, coordinated field

response to a terrorist attack on the Amtrak transit system at

Union Station, Washington, DC.

------------------------------------------------------------------

.. An Evolutionary Theory of Right and Wrong - New York Times

These are known by the moral philosophers who developed them as

"trolley problems"- Suppose you are standing by a railroad track..

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/31/health/psychology/31boo...

Suppose you are standing by a railroad track. Ahead, in a deep

cutting from which no escape is possible, five people are

walking on the track. You hear a train approaching. Beside you

is a lever with which you can switch the train to a sidetrack.

One person is walking on the sidetrack. Is it O.K. to pull the

lever and save the five people, though one will die?

Most people say it is.

------------------------------------------------------------------

2. THIRTY-ONE MEN KILLED; Accident on Big Four Wipes Out Gang of ...

.... train on the Big Four Railroad between Mackinaw and Tremont

this afternoon. ... All the dead and most of the injured members

of the gang on the work .

query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00911F83B...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

.. Gay Orbit " Moral Monday

However, the trolley can be switched to another track, where it

will hit and ... That is a problem with this kind of moral game

playing...you could not possibly

gayorbit.net/?p=7340

------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Gang of Four | BoardGameGeek

Railroad Tycoon: World of Warcraft - The Boardgame: Thebes:

RPGQuest: Greek Mythology ... Gang of Four is an exciting game

of Cunning, Strategy and Power. The game's premise is ...

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/308

------------------------------------------------------------------

66. Railroad Language -- Lingo -- Dictionary

BIG FOUR? The four operating Brotherhoods: Brotherhood of

Railroad Trainmen, Order of Railway Conductors, Brotherhood ...

CHAIN GANG? Crew assigned to pool service, working first .

http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/glossry1.Html

------------------------------------------------------------------

30. The Builders of the Central Pacific Railroad

These were the four men who carried the railroad to completion.

Not being troubled to any great ... The rival railroad gangs had

made successively larger records until the Union .

cprr.org/Museum/Galloway4.html

------------------------------------------------------------------

.. LearnCalifornia.org - Central Pacific Railroad

The Big Four agreed to buy out Judah's interest in the railroad

for $100,000, and in turn offered to let him buy ... Gangs of

surveyors and location engineers ranged out ahead of the ..

http://www.learncalifornia.org/doc.asp?ID=112

------------------------------------------------------------------

71. Yan jun de li cheng (1978)

Plot Outline: The Gang of Four orders a major railroad

disruption. Plot Synopsis: ... for Mao by blaming the Cultural

Revolution on the Gang of Four. .

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0344581/

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/09/010914074303.htm

One dilemma, known as the trolley problem, involves a runaway

train that is about to kill five people. The question is

whether it is appropriate for a bystander to throw a switch and

divert the trolley onto a spur on which it will kill one person

and allow the five to survive.

Philosophers compare this problem to a second scenario, sometimes

called the footbridge problem, in which a train is again heading

toward five people, but there is no spur. Two bystanders are on a

bridge above the tracks and the only way to save the five people

is for one bystander to push the other in front of the train,

killing the fallen bystander.

Both cases involve killing one person to save five, but they

evoke very different responses. People tend to agree that it is

permissible to flip the switch, but not to push a person off the

bridge. People in the study also followed this pattern. This

distinction has puzzled philosophers who have not been able to

find a hard and fast rule to explain why one is right and the

other wrong. For each potential principle, there seems to be

another scenario that undermines it.

------------------------------------------------------------------

11. Single gene is genetic switch for fly sexual behavior

Switch genes that trigger the development of a particular

anatomical feature ... Tirian and Barry J. Dickson: "Neural

Circuitry that Governs Drosophila Male ...

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-06/cp-sgi0527...

------------------------------------------------------------------

14. Refueling machine for a nuclear reactor - Patent 4311557

In operation, to remove a fuel assembly from a nuclear reactor,

both the bridge 20 and the trolley 36 are maneuvered into

position to place the mast 38 .

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4311557.html

Abstract

A refueling machine for inserting and removing fuel assemblies

from a nuclear reactor including a pair of concentrically

disposed stationary masts mounted on a movable bridge which

spans the containment walls of the reactor. The bridge supports

a trolley movable transversely to bridge movement thus providing

an arrangement wherein the masts can be precisely positioned

over a fuel assembly in the reactor core. A hoist mounted on the

outer of the masts supports a vertically movable inner mast of a

size sufficient to enclose a fuel assembly. An actuator tube

inside the inner mast moves gripper fingers on the bottom

thereof into engagement with the top nozzle of a fuel assembly

prior to lifting it upwardly out of the reactor core.

A refueling machine for a nuclear reactor comprising:

a movable bridge arranged for back and forth movement spanning

the containment walls of a nuclear reactor;

a trolley on said bridge movable in a direction transverse to

bridge movement, the arrangement being such that the trolley is

adapted to be positioned in the X-Y position over any one fuel

assembly in a nuclear reactor after the reactor head has been

removed;

a platform on said trolley for supporting a stationary mast

housing and concentrically disposed inner and outer masts in

said housing

A motor driven trolley 36 is mounted on wheels 37 that run on

rails 39 mounted on bridge 20 for horizontal movement in a

direction transverse to bridge movement, the arrangement of

bridge and trolley being such that mast 38 supported from the

trolley, can be positioned over any one fuel assembly in the

reactor or refueling pool to effect either its insertion or

removal from the reactor core. The trolley includes a deck or

platform 40 and handrail 42 together with control console 44

which contains equipment for control of drive motors, hoists and

air compressors, and television and other position readouts 46,

and the like, which are conventional components required for

this kind of operation.

A stationary housing 48 for mast 38 is attached to platform 40

by flukes 50 welded to the housing peripheral surface and bolted

to platform 40. As particularly shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, one end

of the mast housing 48 extends below the trolley platform 40 and

bridge deck 24 while the other end projects upwardly above the

trolley. The upper end of mast housing 48 includes a window 52

for observing the position of the upper end of the masts, and

supports electrical control cabinet 54 welded or otherwise

affixed to the mast housing surface. A stationary plate 56 is

mounted on the upper end of the housing 48 and has an opening

therein through which hoist, electrical and air lines extend.

This opening also serves to permit insertion and removal of the

inner mast 72 for maintenance purposes. Each of housing 60 and

61 respectively enclose reels which support air lines and

electrical cables (not shown) arranged to be paid out or taken

in as the mast is raised or lowered. The reels are spring loaded

in a direction to always bias the air hoses and electric cables

to an up position so that as the inner mast is raised and

lowered, the air hoses and electric cables automatically follow

mast movement. The plate 56 supports hoist 66 mounted on plate

58 through load cell 73 and pivot 75. As described hereafter,

hoist cable 68 supports inner mast 72 which in turn carries the

weight of a fuel assembly. Load cell 73 mounted on plate 56

senses the weight of a fuel assembly which is observed by an

operator through a readout. Depth gage 62 including a tape 65

also is spring loaded in tension and is arranged to display the

level of a fuel assembly through window 64 as it is moved

relative to the reactor.

------------------------------------------------------------------

19. TVA probing crane trolley incident - Nuclear Fuel

- article, demand, ...

TVA probing crane trolley incident Keywords: article, demand,

information, forecast ... 4.95 Publication: Nuclear Fuel

Delivery: Immediate .

construction.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0249-34161/TVA-pr.

------------------------------------------------------------------

23. NOG-1 - 2004 Rules for Construction of Overhead and Gantry Cranes ...

This Standard provides requirements for electric overhead and

gantry multiple girder cranes with top running bridge and

trolley at nuclear .

catalog.asme.org/Codes/PrintBook/NOG1_2004_Rules_C.

------------------------------------------------------------------

5. Mixing Memory : The Influence of Irrelevant Emotions on Moral Judgments

.... associated with emotion, while the trolley problem activates

cognitive areas. ...

Anti-Gay Bigotry Undermines Christian Evangelism?

scienceblogs.com/mixingmemory/2006/09/the_influenc

------------------------------------------------------------------

30. Red Beard (nuclear weapon) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Red Beard weapon on its bomb trolley, fitted with a bomb-

carrier prior to ... Photos of British nuclear tests - includes

Red Beard. v d e .

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Beard_(nuclear_weapon)

------------------------------------------------------------------

3. A Philosophical Discussion of the Basis for Contemporary

Moral Choices

As an example of the application of this approach to the moral

question raised in "Killing, Letting Die, and The Trolley

Problem", one would be justified in

http://www.geocities.com/empmor/Morality.html

------------------------------------------------------------------

35. RABBIT SYSTEM - PNEUMATIC TRANSFER SYSTEMS FOR GLOVEBOXES

transport materials between gloveboxes in lieu of the facility

trolley system. ... Laboratory's (LANL), Nuclear Materials

Science Group (NMT-16) to make the .

http://www.gloveboxsociety.org/files/tech_library/tech-10...

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Nuclear Materials Science, NMT-16

RABBIT SYSTEM - PNEUMATIC TRANSFER SYSTEMS FOR GLOVEBOXES

Abstract: The rabbit system is a pneumatic transfer system

designed to rapidly transport materials between gloveboxes in

lieu of the facility trolley system. Merrick & Company

redesigned an existing system for Los Alamos National Laboratory'

s (LANL), Nuclear Materials Science Group (NMT-16) to make the

system compliant with facility standards and to address

ergonomic/space use issues.

------------------------------------------------------------------

42. Nuclear weapon design - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The first nuclear weapons, though large, cumbersome and

inefficient, provided ... using a funnel by rotating the bomb on

its trolley and raising the hopper.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_design

------------------------------------------------------------------

8. Hop Aboard the DRM's Easter Bunny Express! Ballot Deadline!

Hop Aboard the DRM's. Easter Bunny Express! Special event on

March 31, April 1, 6, & 7 .... Reading Trains and Trolleys, and

San Francisco's

http://www.danbury.org/DRM/newsletter/DRMnslMarch2007.pdf

------------------------------------------------------------------

3. San Francisco Bay Times

.... the rigors of learning to do a choo-choo line, circle dance,

and bunny hop. ... So I take my tutu off to you, oh mighty San

Francisco Lesbian/Gay .

http://www.sfbaytimes.com/index.php?sec=article&article_i...

Of course, with the opening notes of "Dance of the Sugar Plum

Fairy," every fairy and wannabe fairy got up and showed their

stuff. Director Louie then led us volunteer dancers (remember,

they served vodka at this event) in a last minute rehearsal,

where she put us through the rigors of learning to do a choo-

choo line, circle dance, and bunny hop. This would later appear?

thank gawd, after the audience had imbibed a bit?when we danced

divinely (okay, I had indulged in a martini, so I had vodka

goggles on at that point) to a Judy Garland medley beginning at

"The Trolley Song" and ending with "Over the Rainbow."

------------------------------------------------------------------

55. Nuclear Survival - How to Survive a Nuclear Bomb

"Bush's emphasis on nuclear terrorism dates from a briefing in

the Situation Room ... And less than a mile away a trolley car

remained intact and on its tracks. .

http://www.secretsofsurvival.com/survival/surviving_nucle...

------------------------------------------------------------------

.. Comments on the Briefing Paper from the Union of Concerned ...

Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Trolley Drop. On Oct. 29, 2004, NRC

received a copy of a briefing paper by the Union of Concerned.

Scientists (UCS) concerning an

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/for-the-rec...

------------------------------------------------------------------

DOE Document - Multi Canister Overpack (MCO) Handling Machine

Trolley Seismic Upli...

To prevent trolley wheel uplift during a seismic event, passive

uplift ... The MCO Handling Machine (MHM) trolley moves along

the top of the MHM bridge .

http://www.osti.gov/bridge/product.biblio.jsp?osti_id=801...

Subject: 11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; SPENT FUEL

CASKS; DESIGN; MATERIALS HANDLING EQUIPMENT; SEISMIC

EVENTS; EVALUATION; FLANGES; FRICTION; RESTRAINTS;

SAFETY ANALYSIS

Description:

The MCO Handling Machine (MHM) trolley moves along the top of

the MHM bridge girders on east-west oriented rails. To prevent

trolley wheel uplift during a seismic event, passive uplift

constraints are provided as shown in Figure 1-1. North-south

trolley wheel movement is prevented by flanges on the trolley

wheels. When the MHM is positioned over a Multi-Canister

Overpack (MCO) storage tube, east-west seismic restraints are

activated to prevent trolley movement during MCO handling. The

active seismic constraints consist of a plunger, which is

inserted into slots positioned along the tracks as shown in

Figure 1-1. When the MHM trolley is moving between storage tube

positions, the active seismic restraints are not engaged. The

MHM has been designed and analyzed in accordance with ASME NOG-1-

1995. The ALSTHOM seismic analysis (Reference 3) reported

seismic uplift restraint loading and EDERER performed

corresponding structural calculations. The ALSTHOM and EDERER

calculations were performed with the east-west seismic

restraints activated and the uplift restraints experiencing only

vertical loading. In support of development of the CSB Safety

Analysis Report (SAR), an evaluation of the MHM seismic response

was requested for the case where the east-west trolley

restraints are not engaged. For this case, the associated

trolley movements would result in east-west lateral loads on the

uplift constraints due to friction, as shown in Figure 1-2.

During preliminary evaluations, questions were raised as to

whether the EDERER calculations considered the latest ALSTHOM

seismic analysis loads (See NCR No. 00-SNFP-0008, Reference 5).

Further evaluation led to the conclusion that the EDERER

calculations used appropriate vertical loading, but the uplift

restraints would need to be re-analyzed and modified to account

for lateral loading. The disposition of NCR 00-SNFP-0008 will

track the redesign and modification effort. The purpose of this

calculation is to establish bounding seismic loads (vertical and

horizontal) for input into the uplift restraint hardware

redesign calculations. To minimize iterations on the uplift

redesign effort, efforts were made to assure that the final

loading input was reasonable but unquestionably on the

conservative side.

Country of Publication: United States

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millstone_Nuclear_Power_Plant

The power generation complex was built by a consortium of

utilities, using Niantic Bay (which is connected to the Long

Island Sound and Atlantic Ocean) as a source of coolant water.

Although located in Waterford, Millstone is most clearly seen

from downtown Niantic. It is visible from the Niantic Boardwalk

area and from the Niantic River Bridge, and to anyone who

travels on Amtrak through the area, as the train line goes right

along the Niantic Bay and past the plant.

The Millstone site was placed on the NRC Watchlist in 1996, when

it was revealed that employees who had raised nuclear safety

issues had been retaliated against by members of plant

management [1]. All three reactors remained shut down for over

one year until both technical and safety culture issues were

addressed.

Millstone Units 2 and 3, both pressurized water reactors (one

from Westinghouse and one from Combustion Engineering), were

sold to Dominion by Northeast Utilities in 2000 and continue to

operate.

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.moviemistakes.com/film2007

Continuity: As an unconscious member of the captured American

patrol is being carried on a stretcher to a Russian helicopter,

his helmet falls off the stretcher onto the ground. In the very

next shot, the soldier's helmet is now not only on his head, it

is tightly strapped to his chin.

Audio problem: At the end of the movie when the helicopter is

flying into the area where the army team was held, the radio

transmissions you hear are not aircraft pilots or controllers.

You are listening to railroad dispatchers and trackside

detectors.

------------------------------------------------------------------

I've been working on the railroad

All the livelong day

I've been working on the railroad

Just to pass the time away

Can't you hear the whistle blowing

Rise up so early in the morn

Can't you hear the captain shouting

Dinah, blow your horn

Dinah, won't you blow

Dinah, won't you blow

Dinah, won't you blow your horn

Dinah, won't you blow

Dinah, won't you blow

Dinah, won't you blow your horn

------------------------------------------------------------------

.. Baby Won't You Blow

This song is to the tune of "Dinah ". I've been screwing in the

rail car, Ten guys in one day. ... Baby won't you blow, baby

won't you blow, Baby won't you ...

http://www.daytonhhh.org/babyblow.htm

------------------------------------------------------------------

49. Articles tagged with 'Campfire Songs' | Catholic High Scout Group

"Dinah, blow your horn?" Dinah, won't you blow, ... Dinah, won't

you blow, Campfire Songs. Add new comment. Pokare. 20 August

2007 - 12:08am Weiming .

http://www.chsscout.net/library/tags/Campfire+Songs

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://thestruggle.org/june%2025.htm

Ex-Chief Rabbi Uses "Honor Killing" Story to Justify Carpet

Bombing of Gaza

He is sending copies of letter to Israeli synagogues nationwide.

He bases this depraved ruling on a chapter 34 in Genesis which

describes how sons of the biblical patriarch Jacob massacred all

the males in a tribe because their chief "defiled" their sister

Dinah.

Shechem the Prince of the Hivite tribe wanted to marry Dinah and

was willing to pay any dowry price. Dinah's brothers proposed

that all the Hivite males be circumsised and that Jacob's tribe

and the Hivite's become one. When the Hivites complied and were

weak from their injuries Dinah's brothers killed them all,

enslaved their wives and took their property.

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.contemplator.com/america/railroad.html

Dinah may refer to a woman OR a locomotive.

The horn signifies the call to lunch

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/reviews/115571848273097.htm

There are a lot of intriguing plot lines within this tome, but

I think one of my favorites is the relationship triangle between

Jake, Dinah, and Astarte. First of all, I have to commend

Rushkoff for including a pantheon of gods in his story, rather

than the typical two that we see in any Biblical tale.

This shows, in no uncertain terms, that this is a literal

translation of the text, rather than the sanitized version we

normally receive in Sunday school. Anyway, one of the main gods

in Akedah is the goddess Astarte, who represents lust and the

pleasures of the flesh. Two of her first appearances in the

story are in conjunction with fantasies that Jake experiences

concerning a physical desire for the younger Dinah, who he used

to tutor (in fact, his dream sequence is like a scene out of a

Spice TV movie).

Obviously, Astarte has a lot of interest in the connection

between these two young adults and, about halfway through the

trade, we learn why. Dinah is actually the modern manifestation

of Lot's daughter, who was a priestess of Astarte during their

life in Sodom. Various images show that this daughter offered

herself sexually to the men that worshiped at the feet of

Astarte, and she also sleeps with her father, Lot, to continue

his line, "for his god and for ours."

Therefore, the seed that Lot and his daughter produced are, by

birth, servants of God and the flesh, which is a very fitting

description for the human race. Getting back to Dinah, she

definitely starts to have physical feelings for Jake after this

flashback, and we know it is because Jake is the modern Lot

(Bravo to Sharp for making the parallel characters look similar,

which really aids the reader's understanding).

They eventually consummate their mutual desires, just like the

father and daughter of old (A small quote that is really telling

is Jake saying, "God, I've wanted you..."). As they are involved

in the sexual act, Dinah says, "Can't you feel it? Like

something else is working through us." Jake replies, "I can feel

it, Dinah. Something bigger than both of us." It's never made

completely clear what will come of the physical coupling of Jake

and Dinah (or if they even had intercourse at all), but there

are some interesting concepts surrounding this act. First off,

Astarte saves both Jake (twice) and Dinah from certain death,

which shows that she clearly doesn't want anything to happen to

these two agents of humanity.

------------------------------------------------------------------

22. The traffic in men: female kinship in three novels by George Eliot .

Of all the scenes in which Dinah "saves" souls, this one seems

truly authentic. ... it brings Dinah into the bourgeois nuclear

family and unifies the plot. ...

findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2342/is_1_32/ai_54

------------------------------------------------------------------

.. DINAH LORD

.... amid negotiations in Rome on Iran's nuclear programme, on

his return home from Yerevan today. ... and the key talks on the

Iranian nuclear issue in Rome.

http://www.dinahlord.blogspot.com/

------------------------------------------------------------------

9. Top Ten Things to Do in Springfield

Meet Dinah, tell her how much prettier Cassie is than her ...

Enjoy Dinah's inevitable nuclear meltdown. GL Top Ten Index.

GL News & Previews Main Page .

http://www.soap-news.com/gl/tt/tt1.htm

By GL Viewer

Attend Lizzie's tea party. Try not to slurp my fake tea because

it makes her imaginary friend, Carl, angry.

Go to Millenium, try to figure out how many cows gave their

lives for the sake of Drew's leather attire. Watch her cry

hysterically about something or other. Watch Bill paste pictures

of Annie's face over the models faces in the Victoria's Secrets

catalog then stare at it longingly. For fun, run up to Bill and

shout "Oh My God, It's Batman!"

Meet Dinah, tell her how much prettier Cassie is than her

since Cassie doesn't have an ugly scar on her face.

Enjoy Dinah's inevitable nuclear meltdown.

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.mpdailyfix.com/2007/10/advertising_what_happened_to_s.html

The first is story-telling Broadway style. The second recalls the

days when Americans anticipated the new cars and Detroit kept

the styling locked up like nuclear secrets. Note that Dinah and

Pat Boone comment in song on the subtleties in the ad and how

careful Detroit is about sharing only the briefest of glimpses.

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/lginzberg/bl-

lginzberg-legends-2-1f.htm

The tidings of his son's death caused the loss of two members of

Jacob's family. Bilhah and Dinah could not survive their grief.

Bilhah passed away the very day whereon the report reached Jacob,

and Dinah died soon after, and so he had three losses to mourn

in one month.

He received the tidings of Joseph's death in the seventh month,

Tishri, and on the tenth day of the month, and therefore the

children of Israel are bidden to weep and afflict their souls on

this day. Furthermore, on this day the sin offering of atonement

shall be a kid of the goats, because the sons of Jacob

transgressed with a kid, in the blood of which they dipped

Joseph's coat, and thus they brought sorrow upon Jacob.

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=50253

(SOLO) I once did know a girl named Grace--

(QUARTET) I'm wukkin' on de levee;

SOLO) She done brung me to dis sad disgrace

(QUARTET) O' wukkin' on de levee.

------------------------------------------------------------------

28. Think Progress " KATRINA TIMELINE

AFTERNOON BUSH, BROWN, CHERTOFF WARNED OF LEVEE FAILURE BY

NATIONAL HURRICANE ... This is a national disgrace. FEMA has

been here three days, yet there ...

thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline

------------------------------------------------------------------

Away With Words: Drove My Chevy to the Levee

Drove My Chevy to the Levee. Back in the 1950s, singer Dinah

Shore burbled at TV viewers to "see the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet."

For the last month, .

nancyfriedman.typepad.com/away_with_words/2006/10/

------------------------------------------------------------------

.. American Pie

The day the music died So, Bye-bye, Miss American Pie Drove my

Chevy to the levee But the levee was dry Them good old boys were

drinkin' whiskey and rye

solosong.net/pie.html

------------------------------------------------------------------

2. New Orleans Levees Were Blown In 1927 - Were They Blown in 2005?

NEW ORLEANS MAYOR RAY NAGIN: That storm was so powerful and it

pushed so much water, there's no way anyone could have

calculated what levee to dynamite to

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/orleans_levees.html

------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Bigots Gloat over Hurricane Victims; Spew Racist

and Anti-Semitic ...

Also see update: Racists Stir Hate In Katrina Aftermath ...

"This New Orleans Hurricane Katrina is a classic example of true

opportunistic n----r behavior ..

http://www.adl.org/PresRele/Internet_75/4786_41.htm

------------------------------------------------------------------

.. All About Dinahmight - - Christian Members at Praize

All About Dinahmight Off line. Relationship: No relationship

view friends]. First Name:, Dinah. Last Name:, Mack ...

Dinahmight has made 0 forum posts.

http://www.praize.com/cgi-bin/members/moreinfo.cgi?userid...

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://bluenc.com/stopping-a-train

Stopping a train

Submitted by kmr on Thu, 02/01/2007 - 12:42pm.:: marriage

equality state constitution

(Note: One of the biggest concerns I had coming out of the

bloggity conversation the other day in Raleigh is over the idea

that a Marriage Amendment is on its way. To me, this trend of

referendums is the most sick political tactic I've ever

witnessed. They do nothing to "protect" marriage and are solely

a ploy to drive up social conservative voters. This is merely

another use of "the other" for political gain. Wondering when

Democrats are going to draw the line. Also wondering when we'll

see somebody introduce a constitutional amendment to make it

easier for people--all people--to get partner benefits, form

civil unions and enjoy custody rights?)

The worry among those opposed to amending the constitution is

that once the train leaves the station, it's hard to stop.

Virginia and South Carolina had referendums pass with ease in

the last cycle. Even Wisconsin, a progressive bastion, lost the

battle in 2006.

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.wesleyridge.com/docs/glenhistory.pdf

A month later the Executive Committee proposed purchase of the

Virginia Gay property at not more than its appraised $225,000.

Action was taken on May 27, 1965 (after prolonged discussion and

some difference of opinion) to employ Wright, Gilfillen, and

Keske as architects who were advised of the one million dollar

ceiling authorized by the Ohio Conference Board of Hospitals and

Homes. In addition, the Executive Committee took action to

approve acquisition of Virginia Gay for $50,000 cash with

special provisions to provide lifetime care for up to ten

Virginia Gay residents (subject to approval by the Franklin

County Probate Court). Ultimately, negotiations were to take

three years and the cost would be nearly $300,000

The Virginia Gay Home

For many years this location, well outside of the city

of Columbus, was the rural farm home of R. Grosvenor Hutchins,

the son of the pastor of the First Congregational Church.

Hutchins rose from office boy at the Jeffery Manufacturing

Company to Vice President and his marriage into the Jeffery

family secured his prominence in this major manufacturing firm

in Columbus. The farm was sold to Maurice Patrick Murnan, born

in 1866 of Irish extraction. Initially, Murnan was employed as a

fireman on one of the many railroads in Columbus. It is said

that enroute to work daily he passed a house on 11th Avenue

which aroused his curiosity. It was always crowded; he ventured

to enter one evening and discovered it was a gambling house.

With phenomenal beginner's luck he won over $3,000. He bet his

winnings in a game of "showdown"and won the gambling

establishment from the owner! To conceal his new profession from

his straitlaced Irish mother who "would have killed him" if she

knew he was a gambler, each day he would dress in railroad garb,

go to his new business for the evening; then in the morning, he

changed back into railroad garb to return home so his dear

mother would not know. Later his front was a taxi service which

he ran for his customers

------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Railroad Collection introduction

Virginia Tech's Special Collections will continue to be a

significant source of railroad history through the more-than-200

cu. ft. of business records and .

spec.lib.vt.edu/railroad/rrintro.htm

Virginia Tech's Special Collections will continue to be a

significant source of railroad history through the more-than-200

cu. ft. of business records and drawings, photographs, personal

papers and publications relating to various regional railroads

from the 1840s to the 1980s acquired through other donations and

purchases. More than 12,000 scanned images from NS and other

sources will continue to be available through the VT ImageBase,

one of our most popular online resources.

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.conwayscenic.com/pubs/Frankenstein_Trestle.pdf

The History of Frankenstein Trestle

Following the end of the American CivilWar in 1865, ideas on how

to expand this great nation began to surface. The feasibility of

a railroad connecting New England with the Great Lakes had been

explored earlier in the century; however, the idea was always

dismissed because it seemed too difficult and much too costly.

In 1867, a group of Maine businessmen, including a former

governor, formed the Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad Company

for the purpose of building a rail line from Portland, Maine, to

Ogdensburg, New York, hoping to connect the profitable seacoast

of New England with the growing industrialized mid-western

region of the country.

In 1860, much of Crawford Notch was owned by Dr. Samuel Bemis,

who was considered an eccentric recluse, very much into naming

places in the area at the time. Frankenstein Cliff (and later

its neighbor, the Trestle) was named after Godfry Nicholas

Frankenstein, who was born in Germany in 1820 and immigrated

with his family to the United States in 1831. An artist of

considerable acclaim, his favorite subject was Niagara Falls,

which he painted in all seasons and from all angles. One of his

largest works was a panorama of the Falls on canvas: 1,000 feet

in length and 900 feet high. While on tour with this canvas, he

visited Boston. Here he met Dr. Bemis, and the meeting afforded

him the opportunity to visit and paint in New Hampshire's White

Mountains, beginning in 1847. He painted the Cliff and the river

which flowed below, and his work was used by the P&O Railroad to

advertise the beautiful Crawford Notch scenery to bolster

tourism to the region. Frankenstein also painted a portrait of

Dr. Bemis, which still hangs over the fireplace in the music

room of Dr. Bemis' stone cottage, now known as the Notchland Inn.

Today, the historic and magnificent Frankenstein Trestle still

makes observers gasp with wonder.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Chorus:

I been wukkin' on de railroad

All de livelong day,

I been wukkin' on de railroad

Ter pass de time away.

Doan' yuh hyah de whistle blowin'?

Ris up, so uhly in de mawn;

Doan' yuh hyah de cap'n shouin',

"Dinah, blow yo' hawn?"

------------------------------------------------------------------

26. The Story of Dinah, a fallen woman of the Bible

THE STORY OF DINAH, A FALLEN WOMAN OF THE BIBLE ... There is no

further word on the fate of Dinah. Her name is never mentioned

again in the Bible

http://www.ishipress.com/dinah.htm

------------------------------------------------------------------

19. village voice > film > Horns and Halos; Bolivia by Michael Atkinson

Blow By Blow. The Devil in the Details. by Michael Atkinson ...

self-rationalization, here is a David fable told by the

barbarians at the Bush dynasty gate.

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0309/atkinson.php

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Official Home of the 450th BG Association

450th Bombardment Group (Heavy) The Cottontails. A tribute and

permanent record of the men and aircraft of the 450th BG (H)

http://www.450thbg.com/real/aircraft/dinahmight.shtml

Dinah Might

723rd Squadron

------------------------------------------------------------------

11. It's official: Iraq war a train wreck

Oakland Tribune - Find Articles

Its official: Iraq war a train wreck from Oakland Tribune

in Array provided free by LookSmart Find Articles

findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20061004/

------------------------------------------------------------------

Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah

Someone's in the kitchen I know

Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah

Strumming on the old banjo, and singing

Fie, fi, fiddly i o

Fie, fi, fiddly i o

Fie, fi, fiddly i o

Strumming on the old banjo

------------------------------------------------------------------

17. Skeptic Friends Network - New Conspiracy Theories

Dueling Banjo: I was their top nuclear physicist.

I knew all their secrets. I had total access to the Administrator

and the President.

http://www.skepticfriends.org/forum/showquestion.asp?faq=...

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.p2pays.org/ref/16/15968.htm

Banjo Tone Ring

The same Oak Ridge technology and skills developed for producing

nuclear weapons components are helping Crafters of Tennessee

produce banjos that pickers say ring true to their heritage.

The key is the banjo tone ring, which secures the head across

the frame of the banjo to create the sound chamber and produce

the instrument's distinctive ringing sound. Crafters of

Tennessee wanted to recreate the precise, bell-like sound of pre-

World War II banjos, but needed some technical expertise in

metallurgy and precision machining to accomplish the task.

The company provided a sample tone ring design to the Y-12

National Security Complex for machining from a specific metal

alloy. The piece was then tested and the metal evaluated to

compare its composition with a pre-war alloy. After prototypes

of the ring were machined, they underwent an ultrasound spectrum

analysis to test the harmonics. The resulting Tennessee 20 ring

has what Mark Taylor of Crafters of Tennessee calls the "Y-12

dinner bell recurved tone chamber," a machined configuration

that gives it a tonal quality superior to other tone rings

against which it has been tested.

------------------------------------------------------------------

8. Banjo's World

.... learning on a scale compared to fear as a nuclear explosion

to a firecracker. ... Posted by Banjo at 1:30 AM 10 comments

Links to this post. Labels: .

banjosworld.blogspot.com/

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/REPORTS/salm_2002010.pdf

Mr. Harold W. Keiser

Chief Nuclear Officer and President

PSEG Nuclear LLC - N09

P. O. Box 236

Hancocks Bridge, NJ 08038

SUBJECT: SALEM GENERATING STATION - NRC SPECIAL INSPECTION REPORT

50-272/02-010, 50-311/02-010

The Salem Generating Station (SGS) emergency diesel generators

(EDGs) experienced a number of fuel oil leaks from the injection

pump inlet fittings. These fittings are often referred to as

"banjo bolts" due to their physical configuration resembling a

bolt through the body of a banjo. The 1C EDG suffered four

separate leaks on the 1R cylinder banjo bolt during the time

period from April 2002 through September 2002 (April 15, July 8,

September 2, September 7).

All Salem Unit 1 EDG banjo bolt gaskets were replaced with the

concentric grooved design in 1999. Based on field observations

and work order reviews, PSEG believes that the Salem 2 EDGs have

the original design flat gaskets installed. Since 1999, the

Salem 1 EDGs have experienced 20 banjo bolt fuel oil leaks. The

Salem 2 EDGs have experienced 1 such leak

This inspection was conducted in accordance with NRC Inspection

Procedure (IP) 93812, "Special Inspection," to assess PSEG's

response to a continuing problem of fuel oil leaks from the fuel

injector pump inlet fitting (banjo bolt) on the 1C EDG 1R

cylinder.

The team assessed PSEG's actions and evaluation of the banjo

bolt fuel oil leaks as they apply to all the Salem Generating

Station EDGs. The team reviewed applicable sections of the

Updated Final Safety Analysis Report (UFSAR), Technical

Specifications (TS), engineering evaluations of previous events,

and held discussions with various engineering disciplines,

maintenance, operations, and site managers to determine the

technical and regulatory aspects of the banjo bolt fuel oil leaks.

Banjo Bolt Fuel Oil Leaks and Turbocharger Issues

1987 - 1998 Corrective action documents revealed various banjo

bolt fuel leaks at Salem.

Examples include the following:

EDG 2C - Cylinder 9R Fuel Oil Leak, Replaced Fuel Pump.

EDG 2B - Fuel Oil Leaks

EDG 2C - Fuel Leak on an Injector

1991 Vendor specifies banjo bolt torque value of

Unknown Vendor changed banjo bolt torque value from 225 to 125

ft/lbs.

1998 Vendor changed banjo bolt torque value from 125 to 150 ft/

lbs.

EDG 1B - Fuel oil leak was noted on the 9L cylinder.

9/11/02 PSEG ran EDG 1C for approximately 2.5 hours to obtain

engine operating data for use in root cause determination. No

leakage or banjo bolt movement was noted during run.

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.3ammagazine.com/short_stories/fiction/calliopes_boy/

page_1.html

The same rough iron soot was accumulating on the skin head of

his instrument, gradually making it, too, look more appropriate.

Underneath all that authentic soot was a fabulous banjo, an

Epiphone, custom-made extra large and fine especially for Sam.

It was eight hundred dollars, much better quality than any other

busker's instrument (poor slobs), and he flaunted it high upon

his gut. It had been a present from his mom on his tenth

birthday, way back in his boyhood's America.

After ten years she still had fresh in mind the sad hours she'd

spent nursing her huge, lipless infant through a syringe,

shedding tears because Nature had deprived her boy of the one

activity which babies love most. And, of course, in her view,

she'd been partly responsible: she'd helped Nature along by

allowing gestation to take place downwind of nuclear testing

sites. Unworthy is what Sam's mom sometimes felt in certain

moods: generalized unworthiness. Sammy was her only weak point,

and music her only field of ignorance

The clerk, evidently hung over, had looked slowly up and down at

the six foot-tall child delivered up before him, and had mumbled,

"Banjo."

If banjo it was, then fabulous banjo it had to be: customized

with inappropriate mother-of-pearl squiggles and squirrels all

up and down everywhere, and real secret Freemason symbols on the

neck. It was almost physically painful to look at, it was so

beautiful. Nevertheless, part of the obligatory game had been

for Sam to pretend all these fifteen years that he hated his

banjo. He'd left it behind at home. A cousin had secretly

shipped it to him once he'd gotten situated at Herne Hill in

unfashionable and perilous Brixton.

Somehow, from the way he made his banjo ring through the yellow

tile tunnels of London's underground transit system, it was

evident that this was exactly where this music belonged, as it

were, and Samuel Edwine with it, evident that he'd taught

himself to think and to feel and to play inextricably, all at

once, down inside of another, similar place underground.

In a basement dug in a salt desert somewhere remote, pipes and

heating ducts dangling like stalactites overhead. On a street

called Dimple Dell Drive, where he'd spent his formative years

lying flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling, and thinking

persecution thoughts about the polygamist cultists who

surrounded him.

And now he did not fail to notice the secret undergarments of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. It seemed, to

his curdled corneas, that more than two thirds of his passing

audience wore them, showing white and peculiar through the

fabric of their dresses and shirts. London, as far as he was

able to ascertain, was becoming a city of Mormon converts.

They wore the stretchy see-through things against their bodies,

the original design, right down to the hamstring-gash still

bestowed by fundamentalist overseas branches of the faith as a

reminder of the things Moloch has in store for his Moronic

Myrmidons who fail to bend their knees in submission and prayer.

Yes, even through the thick tweeds, one's corneas could plainly

see that the limeys' long-legged garments had slits in back,

brown with dried femoral blood.

One could see why these lapsed Anglicans, each of whom took

pains definitely not to gawk at him, must hanker, deep in their

sunless souls, for a shot of New World zeal to liven up their

polite and stagnant lives. And, of course, recent converts are

always highly orthodox in their approach to the newly embraced

delusion. They surely declined to remove their official garments,

even keeping them hanging from one toe while procreating more

pallid limeys; for the Prophet Father Brigham Young had long ago

warned his children that it might be fatal to remove them

completely under any circumstances.

They provide prophylaxis from the infections of the Devil; and

true Mormons not only fuck and suck, but shower and swim and

patronize Turkish baths with these gauzy eye-catchers swathed

around them, these conspicuously pious, whole-body scum-bags,

which have pin-holes over each nipple so the soul may exit upon

death or baptism by proxy, not unlike those poked with sewing

needles in cellophane-packaged Trojans by counter help at Mini

Marts all across the Far West, and beyond.

When Sam saw this salt-color glowing under the clothes of the

sons and daughters of the thunderous Thames, he realized

something about the ubiquity of cultural and moral and political

and religious and sexual and aesthetic compromise. It was

something so big and sweeping that he couldn't come close to

articulating it, not even in the reasonably manic mood he was in

these days.

So he decided to pack up his banjo and withdraw, to take a bath,

for he felt besmirched with compromise. It would be his first

and last bath this side of the Atlantic.

------------------------------------------------------------------

55. Protests Urge Stop Nukes, Bring Troops Home

Annan Seeks Iran Nuclear Arms Restraint. Go to Original ... Bush

masks; a marching band featuring a banjo and led by a majorette

with green .

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/050205C.shtml

------------------------------------------------------------------

12. Banjo - The Banned Joes play Nuclear Breakdown

.... (banjo) and Gary Joe (guitar) play their original

composition - Nuclear Breakdown. ... Frame Expand Frame Remove

Frame. Banjo - The Banned Joes play Nuclear Br.

video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2351890964860474

------------------------------------------------------------------

49. Interests

Enjoy the free worship of our most holy Banjo. Oh yea, you other

fans can join too. ... Nameless Nuclear Night Ninja Number Nine.

Journal: brought to life ..

http://www.livejournal.com/interests.bml?int=banjo

------------------------------------------------------------------

PNAS Classics -- Nuclear Transfer

Illustrated article ... technique, successful nuclear transfer

thwarted scientists ... and earned money as a banjo player

before becoming a scientist (3) .

http://www.pnas.org/misc/classics4.shtml

------------------------------------------------------------------

13. The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ...

For soon arrives the bridal train, And with it brings the

village throng. In sooth, deceit maketh no mortal gay,

For lo! Baptiste on this triumphant day,

http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/poetry/T...

===============================================================

Engine Engine Number Nine Coming Down That Railroad Line

Gb7

How Much Farther Back Did She Get Off

Old Brown Suit Case That She Carried

I've Looked For It Everywhere

Don't Think She Loves Me Any More

C

I Warned Her Of The Dangers - Don't Speak To Strangers

If By Chance She Finds A New Romance

G7

Warmer Lips To Kiss Her - Arms To Hold Her Tighter

Stirring New Fires Inside Her

(C - C#dim) (Dm - G)

How I Wish That It Was Me In-stead Of He That Stands Be-side Her

C

Engine Engine Number Nine Coming Down The Railroad Line

Gm C7 (F - Am) Dm

I Know She Got On In Balti-more

F C

A Hundred And Ten Miles Ain't Much Distance

But It Sure Do Make A Diff'rence

G C

I Don't Think She Loves Me Any More

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.ibew.com/articles/07daily/0709/070916_railroad.htm

IBEW Approves National Contract with

Railroad Owners

September 16, 2007

Nearly 3,000 members of the IBEW voted on September 14

to ratify the first national contract with the

freight railroad carriers in over three years.

Over 65 percent of members who voted supported

the deal, with 1896 voting for ratification

and 1009 against.

Read the Full Agreement Here...

------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Crash at Crush -- 1896

By 5 p.m. the afternoon of September 15, 1896,

nearly 50000 people had ... George B. Ward,

The Crash at Crush: Texas' Great Pre-arranged Train Wreck, ...

http://www.lsjunction.com/facts/crush.htm

By 5 p.m. the afternoon of September 15, 1896, nearly 50,000

people had gathered anxiously on a wide stretch of

Texas prairie near Waco. Moments later, they watched

two 35-ton locomotives, each pulling seven boxcars,

collide head-on at a combined speed of 120 miles per hour.

The publicity spectacular was staged at Crush, Texas,

a short-lived town established just for the occasion.

Organizer for the event (and namesake for the town)

was William George Crush, a passenger agent for the Missouri,

Kansas & Texas Railway Company, commonly known as "the Katy."

The collision, intended as publicity for the railroad,

was planned and promoted for months in advance.

The locomotives, Old No. 999 and Old No. 1001,

were displayed prominently during tours throughout

the state.

As a promotional stunt, however, the Katy's well laid plans

turned sadly sour. At the instant of impact, one of the

boilers unexpectedly exploded.

------------------------------------------------------------------

1. The Train Messenger!

Steam Engine 1009 - This powerful steam engine was used

to help build the National Transcontinental Railroad and

other important railroad lines throughout ...

http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/Exhibitions/Message/messenger...

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.lac-bac.gc.ca/canvers-bin/entry

?entry_nbr=347&l=0&page_rows=10&clctn_nbr=1

The hunger of some wakeful hour like this,

The flowers, the myrtles, the gay bridal train,

The flutes and pensive voices, the white robes,

The shower of sweetmeats, and the jovial feast,

The bride cakes, and the teeming merriment,

Most beautiful of all, most sweet to name,

The good Lysippe with her down-cast eyes,

Touched with soft fear, half scared at all the noise.

Whose tears were ready as her laughter, fresh,

And modest as some pink anemone.

Lampman, Archibald (1861-1899)

------------------------------------------------------------------

22. Alabamans vote to keep segregationist language in their state ...

You know, like how some good bills are defeated because of a bad

rider, or how Bush rode that gay marriage train all the way back

to the White House.

http://www.prince.org/msg/105/123824?pr

------------------------------------------------------------------

Arise, prepare the bridal train, arise!

A just applause the cares of dress impart,

And give soft transport to a parent's heart.

Haste, to the limpid stream direct thy way,

When the gay morn unveils her smiling ray;

Haste to the stream! companion of thy care,

Lo, I thy steps attend, thy labours share.

A cruse of fragrance, form'd of burnish'd gold;

Odour divine! whose soft refreshing streams

------------------------------------------------------------------

26. Should Gay Couples Raise Children?

Mitt Romney Says "That's Fine" - The Brody File...

Mitt Romney has made his support for traditional

marriage a major talking point ...

The Romney train has been chugging down

the track with this for awhile now. ...

http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/172449.asp

------------------------------------------------------------------

.. RH&DR - The Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway

The Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway (RHDR).

A 15-inch gauge working railway with a fine fleet

of one-third scale steam and diesel locomotives.

http://www.rhdr.org.uk/

------------------------------------------------------------------

33. Romney looks to Iowa and beyond - USATODAY.com

.... serious peril heading into next year, and

Mitt Romney plainly knows it. ... "Washington

is broken," Romney declared as freight trains

whistled by just a few ...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-0...

------------------------------------------------------------------

23. Comments on: Romney Train Wreck Roundup

.... the only way to reconcile Romney's two positions,

then he's in a great deal ... Romney is just

warming up. He does not have the name ...

http://www.anklebitingpundits.com/content/?feed=rss2&p=13..

------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Cross & Crescent . International Art Dealer

I am now Curator of the Railroad and Transportation

Museum of El Paso, and I wonder how many

gay railroad men are reluctant to reveal

their orientation ...

http://www.crossandcrescent.com/2007/01/international-art...

------------------------------------------------------------------

12. TRUTH, TOLERANCE AND THE THREAT OF RELATIVISM

Bishop Paul S. C ...

We can easily see the train wreck that is waiting

just around the bend! ... In the secular form of

relativism, tolerance has trumped truth. ...

http://www.salinadiocese.org/WhatsNew/090707Turth_Toleran

------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Relativity Train

The Relativity Train is a realization of the famous

Einstein gedanken experiments involving traveling trains

carrying clocks and meter sticks. ...

http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~scidemos/QuantumRelativity/Re...

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17422378

&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=

we-plant--bomb--on-nuke-train-name_page.html

'THE GATE WAS OPEN, THERE WERE NO SECURITY GUARDS..

I WALKED UP TO THE TRAIN AND PLANTED MY BOMB'

NUKE WASTE TRAIN FIASCO THE MIRROR INVESTIGATES

IT looks like an ordinary freight train.

Drab, workmanlike and uninteresting.

But it carries a lethal nuclear cargo that could cause

untold deaths if targeted by terrorists. Once a week the

diesel-powered locomotive goes unnoticed as it pulls

four trailers hundreds of miles around our rail network.

------------------------------------------------------------------

17. The Great Relativity Bomb Plot

.... is a bomb, carefully timed to go off as the train

passes the plant. ... to 1:30, the very moment the train

is scheduled to pass the nuclear power plant. ...

http://www.physics.brown.edu/physics/userpages/students/M...

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://vzaczipzqxlp.cn/1009.html

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Don't prompt amtrak death thunderbirds reunion amtrak cio denese

If you find out amtrak discount taoism definition religion

religion hinduism reformed amtrak monthly pass northeast corridor

We can get amtrak tickets to virginia beach from rocky mount, nc

da entourage- bunny hop

Searching after the discount train fares amtrak flu clinics in

boston amtrak discount codes spirit album

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.osti.gov/accomplishments/fermi.html

Enrico Fermi was born in Rome, Italy, on September 29, 1901.

The son of a railroad official, he studied at the University of

Pisa from 1918 to 1922 and later at the universities of Leyden

and Gottingen. He became professor of theoretical physics at

the University of Rome in 1927.

Fermi moved to the University of Chicago to be in charge of the

first major step in making feasible the building of the atomic bomb

------------------------------------------------------------------

22. 30-MAY-02 | Explore Explosive History

Behind Splitting the Atom

On Dec. 2, 1942, the son of a railroad worker,

Enrico Fermi, unleashed the first laboratory-made,

self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction upon the world...

goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-1709865/Explore-E...

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/3/1/8/13185/13185.htm

All things are fair that are not dark;

Yet all are dark that are not fair.

And the same cat that slays the lark,

Itself is often killed by care.--BOHER.

SONOGUN had seen a notice in a railway-carriage. "Beware of

card-sharpers" was printed upon it, and it flashed upon him, with

the force of a revelation, that it must be meant for him. Once more

he made up his mind. He would fly. Fear lent him a spare pair of

second-hand wings. He whistled to his dog _Stray_, and having thrown

HAECKEL and RENAN out of the window, he flapped twice, and then soared

up, _Stray_ following as best he could. It was very dark, and the

clouds were threatening. For a long time he avoided them, but at

length he fell into a particularly damp one, and would inevitably

have been drowned, had not the sagacious _Stray_ brought men to his

assistance. And thus SONOGUN, the scoffer, the agnostic, the moody,

gloomy, morose, cast-iron, Roman-faced misanthrope, got home. That

same evening he changed his clothes and his character, and on the

following day married GLADYS.

We found he was the better at a _Strike_,

Brave boys!

Fhwisk! He hit us _such_ a wallop with his ta-a-a-il.

With my hook, sprat, tackle too

He just vanished from our view.

So--_we haven't yet caught that Whale_,

Brave boys!

No,--_we haven't yet caught that Whale!_

[Footnote 1: Supposed to be rival whaling captains.]

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.--The name of the "unknown steamer laden with

gums and ivory," reported as having passed down the Congo last week,

has been discovered to be _The Dentist_.

------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.libertyworld.org/

The historian Clinton Rossiter describes this as

the period of "the great train robbery of A

merican intellectual history." Conservatives -

or better, pro-corporate apologists - hijacked the

vocabulary of Jeffersonian liberalism and turned words

like "progress", "opportunity", and "individualism"

into tools for making the plunder of America sound

like divine right. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution

was hijacked, too, so that conservative politicians,

judges, and publicists promoted, as if it were,

the natural order of things, the notion that progress

resulted from the elimination of the weak and the

"survival of the fittest."

------------------------------------------------------------------

Sen. Larry Craig, who pled guilty to soliciting sex

at an airport, is now being accused of having oral sex

at a train station. When asked about it, Craig said,

'What can I say? I love public transportation.'"

--Conan O'Brien

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.japaneserailwaysociety.com/jrs/members/

naito/rnbc/niji.htm

This is Niji-no-sato (Rainbow Country) that offers

six parks in a vast area, comprising a British Village,

a Canadian Village, Craftsmen's Village, a Fairy Village,

an Izu Village and a Japanese Garden, where one can

enjoy various seasonal flowers through the year.

Roster of the Shuzenji Romney Railway

Name Builder Year Built

Steam Locomotives

#1 Northern Rock II The Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway,

UK 1989

#2 Ernest W. Twining G & S Co. UK 1949

#4 Cumbria The Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway, UK 1992

C11 328 Kanazawa Industrial College, Japan 1995

If you are interested in the Izu-Shuzenji version

of British 15-inch steam trains, try to stop by the

park one day during your stay in Japan.

By Hiroshi Naito

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.bobdylan.com/etc/coyote.html

She said that all the railroad men

Just drink up your blood like wine.

An' I said, "Oh, I didn't know that,

But then again, there's only one I've met

An' he just smoked my eyelids

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.jonesbahamas.com/?c=128&a=8010

Her eyelids were drawn up, showing black holes where the eyes

had been burned out. . . . She had probably looked square

into the flash and gotten her eyeballs burned"

In both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, about 47 percent of the cities

were destroyed both in structures and plants and human life.

Does that world willing to experience this incident again?

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2005-08/2005-08-05-voa38.cfm

Finally, Ms. Morimoto says she found a bridge she and her

classmates could cross safely - a railroad bridge.

She recalls looking down through the spaces between

the railroad ties. Normally, one would see the river flowing

there underneath. But she says, instead she saw

"a sea of dead people. There was not one space for the water,

just people lying there and dead."

------------------------------------------------------------------

.. Amazon.com: "railroad gang": Key Phrase page

Excerpt - on Page 18 : " ... say only one thing before I end

this meeting and that is that your best chance of stopping this

ruthless railroad gang is to work well together.

http://www.amazon.com/phrase/railroad-gang

------------------------------------------------------------------

POET'S POSTSCRIPT - RAILROAD RELATIVISM

I don't know what Bob Dylan meant when he said that

railroad men "smoked his eyelids". I suppose that he was

just painting a picture of existential despair, commenting

about the insane world in which we live, expressed with a

dark sense of humor, as the only relief from life's otherwise

meaningless and hellish qualities.

Sometimes, I suspect that song-writers, cartoonists, etc, are

just faking it, with contrived weirdness that really does not

mean anything at all.

Other times, though, I like to think that artists might be tapping

into some deeper cosmic vibration. Perhaps even the

artists themselves are not fully aware of what they say,

and why they say it.

I got into the railroad business last week, when I impulsively

wrote a short satire about a proud mother who completely

blew the cover of her CIA trainee son, with her public bragging.

At random, I invented the name "James Graebner".

Then I wondered- this name that I invented at random-

did it mean anything? You know- that strange vibration.

I Googled the name, and did find something related to

Amtrack trains and terrorism. I said, "Nah- that is not very

interesting or meaningful".

Then, later that same day, someone posted something to the same

CIA newsgroup about Amtrack and terrorism.

A sign from the Gods of Google, I thought. Maybe it did mean

something.

Edgar Allan Poe can't be blamed for not coming up with anything

better than Ravens, Pits, and Pendulums. After all, we have many

advantages in horror, these days, living in times of terror and

nuclear threats that Poe could scarcely have conceived.

My short essay was vaguely describing a train wreck, using

lots of railroad slang. I appended a glossary, below.

I find something poetic about the kind of slang used in the

military, the navy, the railroad, etc- very descriptive, colorful and

cynical. It is language invented by people in bleak circumstances,

and coping with dark humor.

I did not want simply to paint a picture of existential despair,

using railroad terminology and snippets of popular song.

I thought it a good opportunity to contemplate moral

decision-making in the world of madness in which we live.

Scientists seem to love trains in physics experiments and in

morally-themed game-theory experiments. You know:

having a choice to pull a switch and kill one person on

one track, to save 20 on the other track, etc, etc.

There is so much blather , these days, on the political Right

about the straw-man of "moral relativism." It is peculiar, that

on the Left, I have never actually seen anyone who declared

themselves to be a "moral relativist." I'm not sure that the term

is really defined with any precision. You can generally infer

a meaning, but I imagine that any exact definition would be a

matter for debate. The kinds of people who use such a

phrase seem not to be the most picky about defining terms,

clearly.

My personal opinion is that "moral values" are personal

opinions, in the same category of statements such as

"I like spaghetti."

There is no source of credible authority, no supernatural Entity,

no set of values so supposedly "natural" or "universal" that they

should carry any particular compelling weight for a person who

does not subscribe to them.

I would agree with the Right, on one point. That is a perfectly

horrible philosophy. The only thing that you can say in its

defense is that it is the truth, much more so than their supposed

"absolutes".

It is not terribly difficult to see that Nature is an existential

horror-show, where life matters, not at all. In a place like

New Orleans, it is not just the homosexuals or merry-makers

who suffer - it is everyone, including churches that are

buried in mud and rotting in mold. It requires selective blinders

to think that this is "punishment", because the damage and

pain are far more promiscuous and indiscriminate than the

most shameless street-walker in the city.

It requires mental gymnastics to try to dismiss this reality,

to neatly separate the "ways of Nature" from the

"ways of God". God, if anything, is the thing that

created Nature, and gave Nature its nature.

It is clear that Nature not only lacks any demanding,

precise moral code, but has no moral code, whatsoever.

If you killed a thousand babies, to make Vienna sausages,

and did so for the reason that their flesh was so sweet

and tender, you would still be more moral than Mother Nature.

Mother Nature, in flood, or drought, or earthquake,

or mud-slide, would kill many thousands of babies for

absolutely no reason at all - not even for a bad reason,

like making Vienna sausages.

It is an irony that people who blow the loudest about

"absolute" morality tend to make the greatest mockery

of their own supposed beliefs.

They preach love, yet often become the most hateful.

This is natural, in a world-view where some people

are so elevated that they deserve an eternity of harps

and fluffy clouds, while others are so degraded that they deserve

an eternity of burnt flesh. This attitude encourages people

to take an inflated and flattering view of themselves, while

justifying their contemptuous indifference to the "Other".

They preach humility, yet often become the most arrogant,

precisely because they believe in "absolutes". With convenient

absolutes, there is no reason for compromise, no reason for

self-doubt or self-examination, no reason to be tactful with

opponents whom you regard as "evil".

They preach moral values, yet often will become the most

war-mongering and aggressive, because they are trained

to see in black-and-white, because they demonize opponents,

because they have a dangerous sense of their own supernaturally

guaranteed destiny for victory. Because they are so

convinced that they represent all that is "right", they also

develop a sense of invincibility in the tradition of

Hollywood-movie happy endings.

I understand the other side of the coin. A happy atheist

is like a happy hooker. They are only happy because they

have not yet discovered how terrible is the pension plan.

Philosophers, e.g., Voltaire, sometimes seemed almost to

acknowledge that if we did not have religion, we would

lose any compulsion to behave "morally", and would

just do whatever we wanted.

Other philosophers, like Bertrand Russell, have disputed

that, saying that enlightened self-interest could be a fine basis for

what we think of as "morality". The emphasis is on the word

"enlightened". That means the long-term benefit of social

cooperation, not short-term, selfish interest that leads into

long-term destruction.

Heaven and Hell are a "Santa Claus" story for adults,

with stakes raised, to try to make adults behave like good,

little boys and girls. I cannot help but feel, though, that a

world supported only by fictions and fairy-tales is more

horrifying than the moral jungle that might be the alternative.

If what Reality has to offer us is not good enough for

a basis to build a world, then maybe better not to have a

world, at all. For better or worse, personally, I would

rather take a chance on that course.

I have a theory about the railroad switch-throwing,

moral-decision experiments. Probably, if you carried

this to an extreme, you would find a phenomenon of

"moral burnout", regardless of whether the test subject

started out with secular-based morality, or religious,

"absolute" morality.

At first, give them easy decisions that nearly all

philosophies could agree upon- say, sacrifice one life

to save 10 million.

Then, start changing the parameters, to find the completely

ambiguous boundaries - more people sacrificed,

fewer saved, less and less certainty about either outcome,

higher and higher stakes, less and less time to make decisions.

Add in a small army of critical second-guessers who

howl in outrage, no matter which decision that you make.

Like a doctor performing triage on a battlefield- how long

can you view the gore, make decision after decision, without

throwing up your hands in utter disgust, in rage against

Reality, or becoming an unfeeling shell? Probably, many

people would bristle and be ready to take by the throat,

anyone who had the gall to second-guess the completely

impossible judgments that they were being forced to make.

The attitude would be "I will do whatever I damned well please!

Anybody with better hindsight or brilliant, know-all philosophies

about it can just go to hell."

I tend to view morality in pragmatic terms, thinking that

philosophers like Immanuel Kant are absurd when they suggest

that pragmatic results are irrelevant to the moral qualities of

a decision. If you don't believe that the Universe itself very

likely has absolute values carved on stone tables, then the

pragmatic outcomes become the very key to a sound

moral decision.

The existence of stone tablets seems doubtful, when

Nature's own moral code seems to be somewhere below

baby-flesh-for-Vienna-sausages. The problem is not that

we are unable to locate the lost, stone tablets.

There are no such stone tablets.

In this wilderness, to even try to make decisions, you

try to evaluate what would likely happen under each

alternative, then ask yourself, "Which do you most prefer

to see?"

Which is the next point, in the story of morality as

viewed by railroad engineers. Those pragmatics outcomes,

which are the key on which everything depends-

They are typically unprovable, incalculable, unknowable .

Yet, we are held accountable for them.

We live not only in a universe that is amoral at its core, but

one rife with uncertainty, where our predictive power is

grossly inadequate.

This is why railroad men tend to become very cynical, and

tell you that they will smoke your eyelids, if you preach to

them too much, and think that you can get away with

keeping them in oppressed condition because of your own

superior religious and moral values.

True morality is managing to coexist without killing

each other - a goal for which "absolute" morality tends

to be a detriment.

===========================================================

------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/glossry1.Html

This page originally appeared on Thomas Ehrenreich's Railroad Extra Website

Click the logo above to return to the Archive homepage

This Glossary of Railroad Lingo is from:

Railroad Avenue, by Freeman H. Hubbard, 1945

Designates Contributed by BW Allen...BNSF Locomotive Engineer

# Designates Contributed by FW Smoter...Web Master Johnstown Flood Page

AGE : Seniority, length of service

AIR MONKEY : Air-brake repairman

ALL DARKIE, NO SPARKY : (Hi-Ball on a roll by)

ALLEY : Clear track in railroad yard

ANCHOR THEM : Set hand brakes on still cars; the opposite is

release anchors

ARMSTRONG : Old-style equipment operated by muscular effort,

such as hand-brakes, some turntables, engines without automatic

stokers, etc.

ARTIST : Man who is particularly adept, usually with prefix such

as brake, pin, speed, etc.

ASHCAT : Locomotive fireman

BACK TO THE FARM : Laid off on account of slack business. When a

man is discharged he is given six months twice a year

BAD ORDER : Crippled car or locomotive, often called cripple.

Must be marked at night by a blue light when men are working

around it

BAIL IT IN : Feed the locomotive firebox

BAKE HEAD : Locomotive fireman. Also called bell ringer, blackie,

and many other names scattered throughout this glossary

BALING-WIRE MECHANIC : A man of little mechanical ability

BALL OF FIRE : Fast run

BALLAST : Turkey or chicken dressing

BALLAST SCORCHER : Speedy engineer

BAND WAGON : Pay car or pay train from which wages were handed

out to railroad employees

BANJO : Fireman's shovel; old-style banjo-shaped signal

BAREFOOT : Car or engine without brakes. (Many locomotives built

in the 1860's and 1870's were not equipped with brakes except on

the tank)

BARN : Locomotive roundhouse, so-called from the building in

which streetcars are housed

BAT THE STACK OFF OF HER : Make fast time, work an engine at

full stroke

BATTING 'EM OUT : Used generally by switchmen when a yard engine

is switching a string of cars

BATTLESHIP : Large freight engine or interurban car, or a coal

car. Also a formidable female, such as the landlady or a

henpecked man's wife

BEANERY : Railroad eating house. Beanery queen is a waitress

BEANS : Meet orders; lunch period

BEAT 'ER ON THE BACK : Make fast time; work an engine at full

stroke

BEEHIVE : Railroad yard office

BELL RINGER : Locomotive fireman

BEND THE IRON : Change the position of the rust a switch. Also

called bend or bend the rail

BIG BOYS : Special trains for officials

BIG E : Engineer, so called from the large initial on membership

buttons of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers

BIG FOUR : The four operating Brotherhoods: Brotherhood of

Railroad Trainmen, Order of Railway Conductors, Brotherhood of

Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, and Brotherhood of Locomotive

Engineers

BIG HOLE : Emergency application of air-brake valve, causing a

quick stop. Big-holing her, the same as wiping the clock, is

making an emergency stop

BIG HOOK : Wrecking crane

BIG O : Conductor; so named from first initial in Order of

Railway Conductors. Sometimes called big ox and less

complimentary terms

BIG ROCK CANDY MOUNTAINS : Hobo's paradise, as described in song

by Harry K. McClintock. (See Indian Valley Line)

BINDERS : Hand brakes

BINDLE STIFF or BLANKET STIFF : Hobo who totes a blanket and

uses it wherever night finds him. (Bindle is a corruption of

"bundle")

BIRD CAGE : Brakeman's or switchman's lantern

BLACK DIAMONDS : Company coal. Diamond cracker is a locomotive

fireman

BLACK HOLE : Tunnel

BLACK ONES : Railway Express refrigerator or boxcars having no

interior illumination pressed into mail service during the

Christmas rush

BLACK SNAKE : Solid train of loaded coal cars

BLACKBALLED : black-listed, boycotted

BLACKJACKS : Fifty-ton Santa Fe coal cars painted black

BLAZER : Hot journal with packings afire

BLEED : Drain air from. Bleeder is valve by which air is bled

from auxiliary reservoir of a car

BLIND BAGGAGE : Hobo riding head end of baggage car next to

tender, where no door is placed; commonly called riding the

blinds

BLIZZARD LIGHTS : Originally the lights on either side of the

headlight that served in emergency when the oil-burning

headlight blew out. Now they indicate the train is nonschedule

or extra

BLOOD : Old-time engine built by Manchester Locomotive Works. Mr.

Aretas Blood being the builder's name

BLOW 'ER DOWN : Reduce water in a locomotive boiler when

carrying too much

BLOW SMOKE : Brag

BLOW UP : Use the blower to increase draft on the fire and

thereby raise the steam pressure in the boiler. Also quit a job

suddenly

'BO : Hobo. 'Bo chaser is freight brakeman or railroad policeman

BOARD : Fixed signal regulating railroad traffic, usually

referred to as slow board., order board., clear board (for clear

tracks) or red board (stop). Do not confuse this with extra

board or spare board, colloquially known as slow board or

starvation list, usually containing names of qualified train or

enginemen not in regular active service who are called to work

in emergencies. These names are listed in order of seniority,

the man hired most recently being the last one called to service

BOBTAIL : Switch engine

BOILER ASCENSION : Boiler explosion

BOILER HEADER : Man riding in engine cab

BOILER WASH : A high-water engineer

BOOK OF RULES : Examination based on facts in rulebook

BOOKKEEPER : Trainman who makes out reports; flagman

BOOTLEGGER : Train that runs over more than one railroad

BOOMER : Drifter who went from one railroad job to another,

staying but a short time on each job or each road. This term

dates back to pioneer days when men followed boom camps. The

opposite is home guard. Boomers should not be confused with

tramps, although they occasionally became tramps. Boomers were

railroad workers often in big demand because of their wide

experience, sometimes blackballed because their tenure of stay

was uncertain. Their common practice was to follow the "rushes"-

that is, to apply for seasonal jobs when and where they were

most needed, when the movement of strawberry crops, watermelons,

grain, etc., was making the railroads temporarily short-handed.

There are virtually no boomers in North America today. When men

are needed for seasonal jobs they are called from the extra board

BOUNCER : Caboose

BOWLING ALLEY : Hand-fired coal-burning locomotive. (A fireman

throwing in the lumps of coal goes through motions that resemble

bowling)

BOXCAR TOURIST : Hobo

BRAIN PLATE : Trainman's cap or hat badge

BRAINS or THE BRAINS : Conductor; sometimes called brainless

wonder, a term also applied to any train or engineman or

official who does things his fellows consider queer

BRAKE CLUB : Three-foot hickory stick used by freight trainmen

to tighten hand brakes. Sometimes called sap or staff of

ignorance

BRASS : A babbitt-lined blank of bronze that forms the bearing

upon which the car rests. To brass a car is to replace one of

those bearings

BRASS BUTTONS : Passenger conductor on railroad or streetcar line

BRASS COLLAR or BRASS HAT : Railroad official. Term may have

originated from gold-braided collar of conductor's uniform and

brass plate on his cap

BRASS POUNDER : Telegraph operator

BREEZE : Service air

BRIDGE HOG : Bridge and building carpenter of the old school

antedating steel and concrete

BROKEN KNUCKLES : Railroad sleeping quarters

BROWNIES : Demerits. This system is traced back to George R.

Brown, general superintendent of the Fall Brook Railway (now

part of the New York Central) in 1885. He thought the then

current practice of suspending men for breaking rules was unfair

to their families and substituted a system of demerit marks. Too

many demerits in a given period resulted in dismissal. The Brown

system, with many variations, has since been widely adopted by

the railroad industry. A superintendent's private car is called

brownie box or brownie wagon

BUCK THE BOARD : Working the extra board. (See board)

BUCKLE THE RUBBERS : Connect air, steam, or signal hose

BUG : Telegraph instrument or trainman's or switchman's light,

which is also called bug torch. Bug may also be a three-wheeled

electric truck that carries mail and baggage around terminals

BUG LINE : Telephone connection between engine house and yard or

telegraph office

BUG SLINGER : Switchman or brakeman

BUGGY : Caboose; rarely applied to other cars

BULL : Railroad policeman. Also called flatfoot or gumshoe, but

the distinctive railroad terms are cinder dick and 'bo chaser

BULL PEN : Crew room

BULLGINE : Steam locomotive

BULLNOSE : Front drawbar of a locomotive

BUMP : Obtain another man's position by exercising seniority.

When a crew is deprived of its assignment, as when a train is

removed from the timetable, its members select the jobs they

wish from those held by others with less whiskers

BUMPER : Post at end of spur track, placed there to stop rolling

stock from running onto the ground

BUNCH OF THIEVES : Wrecking crew

BUST UP A CUT : To separate the cars in a train, removing some

that have reached their destination, assigning others to through

trains, etc.

BUTTERFLY : Note thrown (or handed) from train by an official to

a section foreman or other employee, so called because it may

flutter along the track, although it is usually weighted down

when thrown from a car

BUZZARDS' ROOST : Yard office

CABOOSE BOUNCE, CABOOSE HOP : Early term for a train composed

only of an engine and caboose

CAGE : Caboose

CALLER : One whose duty is to summon train or engine crews or

announce trains

CALLIOPE : Steam locomotive

CAMEL or CAMELBACK : Engine with control cab built over middle

of boiler, suggesting camel's hump. Also called Mother Hubbard

type

CAN : Tank car

CANNED : Taken out of service

CAPTAIN : Conductor; often called skipper. This title dates from

Civil War days when some railroads were run by the Army and the

conductor was in many cases a captain

CAR-CATCHER : Rear brakeman

CAR KNOCKER : Car inspector or car repairer-from the early

custom of tapping the wheels to detect flaws. Also called car

whacker; and car toad (because he squats while inspecting), car

tink, and car tonk

CAR-SEAL HAWK : Railroad policeman

CARD : Credentials showing Brotherhood or Union membership

CARHOUSE CAR : Covered cement car

CARRY A WHITE FEATHER : Show a plume of steam over the safety

valves of the engine

CARRYING GREEN : Train whose engine displays green flags by day

or green lights by night to indicate that a second section is

following closely. Carrying white in the same manner signifies

an extra train

CARRYING THE BANNER : Flagging. Also wearing ostentatious

Brotherhood emblems, frequently done by 'bos in working the main

stem for a handout

CARRYING THE MAIL : Bringing train orders

CASEY JONES : Any locomotive engineer, especially a fast one.

Name derived from John Luther (Casey) Jones

CATWALK : Plank walk on top of boxcars; sometimes called the

deck from which comes the word deckorate

CHAIN GANG : Crew assigned to pool service, working first in,

first out

CHAMBERMAID : Machinist in roundhouse

CHARIOT : Caboose, or general manager's car

CHASING THE RED : Flagman going back with red flag or light to

protect his train

CHECKER : A company spy, particularly one checking up on loss of

materials or of the receipts of an agent or conductor

CHERRY PICKER : Switchman, so called because of red lights on

switch stands. Also any railroad man who is always figuring on

the best jobs and sidestepping undesirable ones (based on the

old allusion, "Life is a bowl of cherries")

CHEW CINDERS : Engines do this when reversed while running and

while working quite a bit of steam

CHIP PIES : Narrow-gauge cars

CINDER CRUNCHER : Switchman or flagman. Cinder skipper is yard

clerk

CINDER DICK : Railroad policeman or detective

CINDER SNAPPER : Passenger who rides open platforms on

observation car

CIRCUS : Railroad

CLAW : Clinker hook used by fireman

CLEARANCE CARD : Authority to use main line

CLOCK : Steam gauge. (See wiping the clock; don't confuse with

Dutch clock). Also fare register

CLOWN : Switchman or yard brakeman. Clown wagon is caboose

CLUB : Same as brake club. Club winder is switchman or brakeman.

A brakeman's club was usually his only weapon of defense against

hoboes

COAL HEAVER : Fireman, sometimes called stoker

COCK-LOFT : Cupola of a caboose. Also called crow's nest

COFFEE : Respite period enjoyed by baggagemen while awaiting

arrival of the next train. Also called spot

COFFEEPOT : Little, old, steam locomotive

COLLAR AND ELBOW JOINT : Boardinghouse. (There isn't too much

room at dinner table)

COLOR-BLIND : Employee who can't distinguish between his own

money and the company's

COMPANY BIBLE : Book of rules

COMPANY JEWELRY : Trainman's hat, badge, and switch keys

COMPANY NOTCH or WALL STREET NOTCH : Forward corner of the

reverse gear quadrant. It is called the company notch because an

engine exerts full pulling power when worked with a full stroke

CONDUCER : Conductor

CONSIST : Contents or equipment of a train. Report form sent

ahead so yardmaster can make plans for switching the train. The

report is usually dropped off to an operator; this is dropping

the consist

COOL A SPINDLE : Cool a hotbox by replacing the brass or putting

water on the bearing

COON IT : Crawl

CORNERED : When a car, not in the clear on a siding, is struck

by a train or engine

CORNFIELD MEET : Head-on collision or one that is narrowly

averted

COULDN'T PULL A SETTING HEN OFF HER NEST : Derogatory

description of old-fashioned locomotive

COUNTING THE TIES : Reducing speed

COW CAGE : Stock car. Also called cow crate

COWCATCHER : Pilot. The old term was discarded by railroad

officials, probably because it was a butt for jokesters. You've

often heard about the passenger on a slow local train

complaining to the conductor, "I don't understand why you have

the cowcatcher on the front of the engine. This train can never

overtake a cow. But if you'd attach it to the rear of the train

it might at least discourage cows from climbing into the last

car and annoying the passengers"

CRADLE : Gondola or other open-top car

CRIB : Caboose

CRIPPLE : See bad order

CROAKER : Company doctor

CROWNING HIM : Coupling a caboose on a freight train when it is

made up

CRUMB BOSS : Man in charge of camp cars

CRUMMY : Caboose. Also called crum box, crib and many other

names. Innumerable poems have been written about "the little red

caboose behind the train"

CUPOLA : Observation tower on caboose

CUSHIONS : Passenger cars. Cushion rider may be either a

passenger or member of passenger-train crew. (See varnished cars)

CUT : Several cars attached to an engine or coupled together by

themselves. Also that part of the right-of-way which is

excavated out of a hill or mountain instead of running up over

it or being tunneled through it

CUT THE BOARD : Lay off the most recently hired men on the extra

list. (See board)

DANCING ON THE CARPET : Called to an official's office for

investigation or discipline

DEADBEAT : is defined by Webster as "one who persistently fails

to pay his debts or way." The word was coined in the late 1800's

when railroad workers noticed that loaded freight cars made a

different beat over the track-joints than cars that weren't

carrying a load. The empty cars made a "dead beat" which meant

they weren't paying their way. By the beginning of the 20th

century "deadbeat" came to encompassed people who failed to

carry their share of the load also.

DEAD IRON and LIVE IRON : The two sets of tracks on a scale

DEAD MAN'S HOLE : Method of righting an overturned engine or car.

A six-foot hole is dug about forty feet from the engine or car,

long enough to hold a large solid-oak plank. A trench is then

dug up to the engine and heavy ropes laid in it, with a four-

sheave block, or pulley, at the lower end of the engine and a

three-sheave block at the top of the boiler. Chains are fastened

to the underside of the engine and hooked to the three-sheave

block. The free end of the rope is then hooked to the drawbar of

a road engine. The hole is filled-packed hard to hold the "dead

man" down against the coming pull. When the engine moves up the

track she pulls ropes over the top of the boiler of the

overturned locomotive on the chains that are fastened to the

lower part, rolling the engine over sidewise and onto her wheels

again

DEAD MAN'S THROTTLE : Throttle that requires pressure of

operator's hand or foot to prevent power shut-off and

application of brakes. An engine so equipped would stop

instantly if the operator fell dead. Also called dead man's

button

DEADHEAD : Employee riding on a pass; any nonpaying passenger.

Also fireman's derisive term for head brakeman who rides engine

cab. Also a locomotive being hauled "dead" on a train

DECK : Front part of engine cab. Also catwalk on roofs of boxcars

DECKORATE : Get out on top of freight cars to set hand brakes or

receive or transmit signals. Derived from deck

DEHORNED : Demoted or discharged

DETAINER or DELAYER : Train dispatcher

DIAMOND : Railroad crossover. Black diamonds is coal

DIAMOND CRACKER or DIAMOND PUSHER : Locomotive fireman

DICK SCRATCHER : Dispatcher

DIE GAME : Stall on a hill

DING-DONG : Gas or gas-electric coach, usually used on small

roads or branch lines not important enough to support regular

trains; name derived from sound of its bell. Sometimes called

doodlebug

DINGER : Conductor (man who rings the bell)

DINKY : Switch engine without tender, used around back shop and

roundhouse, or any small locomotive. Alsoa four-wheel trolleycar

DIPLOMA : Clearance or service letter; fake service letter

DIRTY CAR : Storage car containing a varied assortment of mail

and parcels that demand extra work in separating

DISHWASHERS : Engine wipers at roundhouse

DITCH : That part of the right-of-way that is lower than the

roadbed. A derailed train is "in the ditch"

DOGCATCHERS : Crew sent out to relieve another that has been

outlawed-that is, overtaken on the road by the sixteen-hour law,

which is variously known as dog law, hog law, and pure-food law

DOGHOUSE : Caboose or its cupola

DONEGAN : Old car, with wheels removed, used as residence or

office. Originated about 1900, when a Jersey Central carpenter

and two foremen, all named Donegan, occupied three shacks in the

same vicinity. People were directed to the Donegans so often

that the shacks themselves came to be known by that name. The

name stuck, even after the men had passed on and the shacks had

been replaced by converted old cars

DONKEY : Derisive term for section man; small auxiliary engine

DOODLEBUG : Rail motorcar used by section men, linemen, etc.

Also called ding dong

DOPE : Order, official instructions, explanation. Also a

composition for cooling hot journals

DOPE IT : Use compound in the water to keep it from boiling when

working an engine hard

DOPE MONKEY : Car inspector

DOUBLE : In going up a hill, to cut the train in half and take

each section up separately

DOUBLE-HEADER : Train hauled by two engines

DOUSE THE GLIM : Extinguish a lantern, especially by a sudden

upward movement

DRAG : Heavy train of "dead" freight; any slow freight train, as

contrasted with manifest or hotshot

DRAWBAR FLAGGING : Flagman leaning against the drawbar on the

caboose, or standing near the caboose, to protect the rear end

of his train, instead of going back "a sufficient distance" as

rules require. Such a man is taking a chance, due maybe to

laziness, exhaustion, severe cold, fear of the train leaving

without him, etc.

DRIFTING THROTTLE : Running with steam throttle cracked open to

keep air and dust from being sucked into steam cylinders

DRILL CREW : Yard crew. (See yard)

DRINK : Water for locomotive

DRONE CAGE : Private car

DROP : Switching movement in which cars are cut off from an

engine and allowed to coast to their places. (See hump)

DROP A LITTLE RUN-FAST : Oil the engine

DROP 'ER DOWN : Pull reverse lever forward. Drop 'er in the

corner means to make fast time, figuratively dropping the

Johnson bar in one corner of the cab

DROPPER : Switchman riding a car on a hump

DROWNING IT OUT : Cooling an overheated journal

DRUMMER : Yard conductor

DRUNKARD : Late Saturday-night passenger train

DUCATS : Passenger conductor's hat checks

DUDE : Passenger conductor

DUDE WRANGLER : Passenger brakeman

DUMMY : Employees' train. Dummy locomotive is a switcher type

having the boiler and running gear entirely housed, used

occasionally for service in public streets

DUST-RAISER : Fireman (shoveling coal into firebox)

DUSTING HER OUT : Putting sand through the firedoor of an oil

burner while working the engine hard; this cuts out the soot in

the flues and makes the locomotive steam. Also known as giving

the old girl a dose of salts

DUTCH CLOCK : Speed recorder

DUTCH DROP : Rarely used method of bringing a car onto the main

line from a spur. The engine heads into the spur, couples head-

on to the car, and backs out. When the car is moving fast enough

the engine is cut off, speeds up to get back on the main line

before the car, then moves forward ahead of the junction between

the main line and the spur so the car rolls out behind the engine

DYNAMITER : Car on which defective mechanism sends the brakes

into full emergency when only a service application is made by

the engineer. Also, a quick-action triple valve

EAGLE-EYE : Locomotive engineer

EASY SIGN : Signal indicating the train is to move slowly

END MAN : Rear brakeman on freight train

ELECTRIC OWL : Night operator

ELEPHANT CAR : Special car coupled behind locomotive to

accommodate head brakeman

EXTRA BOARD : See board

EYE : Trackside signal

FAMILY DISTURBER : Pay car or pay train

FAN : Blower on a locomotive boiler

FIELD : Classification yard

FIELDER or FIELD MAN : Yard brakeman

FIGUREHEAD : Timekeeper

FIRE BOY : Locomotive fireman

FIRST READER : Conductor's train book

FISH WAGON : Gas-electric car or other motorcar equipped with an

air horn (which sounds like a fishmonger's horn)

FISHTAIL : Semaphore blade, so called from its peculiar shape

FIST : Telegraph operator's handwriting. This script, in the

days before telephones, typewriters, and teletypes, was

characterized by its swiftness, its bold flowing curves which

connected one word with another, and its legibility. Ops were

proud of their penmanship

FIXED MAN : Switchman in a hump yard assigned to one certain

post from which he rides cars being humped

FIXED SIGNAL : Derisive term for a student brakeman standing on

a boxcar with his lamp out and a cinder in his eye

FLAG : Assumed name. Many a boomer worked under a flag when his

own name was black-listed

FLAT : Flatcar. Also called car with the top blowed off

FLAT WHEEL : Car wheel that has flat spots on the tread. Also

applied to an employee who limps

FLIMSY : Train order. (Standard practice is to issue these on

tissue paper to facilitate the making of carbon copies)

FLIP : To board a moving train. The word accurately suggests the

motion used

FLOATER : Same as boomer

FLY LIGHT : Miss a meal. Boomers often did that; hoboes still do

FLYING SWITCH : Switching technique in which the engine pulls

away from a car or cars she has started rolling, permitting them

to be switched onto a track other than that taken by the engine.

The switch is thrown instantly after the engine has passed it

and just before the cars reach it. This procedure, common in

bygone days, is now frowned upon by officials

FOG : Steam

FOOTBOARD : The step on the rear and front ends of switch or

freight engines. Many casualties were caused in the "good old

days" by switchmen missing these steps on dark slippery nights

FOOTBOARD YARD MASTER : Conductor who acts as yardmaster in a

small yard

FOREIGN CAR : Car running over any railroad other than one that

owns it

FOUNTAIN : That part of a locomotive where steam issues from the

boiler and flows into pipes for lubrication, injection, etc.

FREEZE A HOB or A BLAZER : Cool a heated journal

FREEZER : Refrigerator car. Also reefer or riff

FROG : Implement for rerailing cars or engines. Also an X-shaped

plate where two tracks cross

FUSEE : Red flare used for flagging purposes. Its sharp point is

driven into the right-of-way and no following train may pass as

long as it is burning, although on some roads it is permissible

to stop, extinguish the fusee, and proceed with caution in

automatic block-signal limits

GALLOPER : Locomotive, the iron horse

GALLOPING GOOSE : A shaky section car

GALVANIZER : Car inspector

GANDY DANCER : Track laborer. Name may have originated from the

gander-like tremulations of a man tamping ties, or from the old

Gandy Manufacturing Company of Chicago, which made tamping bars,

claw bars, picks, and shovels

GANGWAY : Space between the rear cab post of a locomotive and

her tender

GARDEN : See yard

GAS HOUSE : Yard office

GATE : Switch

GAY CAT : Tramp held in contempt by fellow vagrants because he

is willing to work if a job comes along

GENERAL : Yardmaster, abbreviated Y.M.

GET THE ROCKING CHAIR : Retire on a pension

GET YOUR HEAD CUT IN : Boomer slang for "wise up"

GIRL or OLD GIRL : Affectionate term for steam engine. The

locomotive, like the sailing ship, is often called "she" instead

of "it"

GIVE HER THE GRIT : Use sand

GLASS CARS : Passenger cars

GLIM : Switchman's or trainman's lantern

GLIMMER : Locomotive headlight

GLORY : String of empty cars. Also death, especially by accident

GLORY HUNTER : Reckless, fast-running engineer

GLORY ROAD : Sentimental term for railroad

GOAT : Yard engine. (See yard)

GOAT FEEDER : Yard fireman

GO HIGH : Same as deckorate

G.M. : General manager. G.Y.M. is general yardmaster

GODS OF IRON : Huge, powerful locomotives

GON : Gondola, or steel-sided, flat-bottom coal car

GONE FISHING : Laid off

GOO-GOO EYE : Locomotive with two firedoors

GOOSE : To make an emergency stop

GOOSE HER : Reverse a locomotive that is under headway

GO-TO-HELL SIGNAL : Signal given with violent motion of hand or

lantern

GRAB IRON : Steel bar attached to cars and engines as a hand bold

GRABBER : Conductor of a passenger train. (He grabs tickets)

GRAMOPHONE : Obsolete term for telephone

GRASS WAGON : Tourist car. (Tourists like scenery)

GRASSHOPPER : Old type of locomotive with vertical boiler and

cylinders

GRAVE-DIGGER : Section man

GRAVEYARD : Siding occupied by obsolete and disused engines and

cars; scrap pile

GRAVEYARD WATCH : 12.01 A.M. to 8 A.M., or any midnight shift,

so called because that shift includes the quietest hours of the

day

GRAZING TICKET : Meal book

GREASE MONKEY : Car oiler

GREASE THE PIG : Oil the engine. (See hog)

GREASY SPOON : Railroad eating house. Bill of fare is

colloquially known as switch list, fork is hook, butter is

grease pot, hotcakes are blind gaskets, and beans are torpedoes

GREENBACKS : Frogs for rerailing engines or cars

GREENBALL FREIGHT : Fruit or vegetables

GREEN EYE : Clear signal. (At the time Cy Warman wrote his

celebrated poem, "I Hope the Lights Are White," the clear signal

was white and green meant caution. This was changed years ago

because of the fact that when a red or green signal lens broke

or fell out it exposed a white, thus giving a clear board to

engineers even though the signal itself was set to stop or go

slow)

GREETINGS FROM THE DS : Train orders from the dispatcher

GRIEVER : Spokesman on grievance committee; Brotherhood or Union

representative at an official investigation

GRIND : Shay-geared engine

GROUNDHOG : Brakeman, yardmaster, or switch engine

GRUNT : Locomotive engineer. Traveling grunt is road foreman of

engines (hogs). Grunt may also be a lineman's ground helper;

grunting is working as a lineman's helper

GUN : Torpedo, part of trainman's equipment; it is placed on the

track as a signal to the engineer. Also the injector on the

locomotive that forces water from tank to boiler. To gun means

to control air-brake system from rear of train

GUNBOAT : Large steel car

GUT : Air hose. Guts is drawbar

HACK : Caboose

HALF : Period of two weeks

HAM : Poor telegrapher or student

HAND BOMBER or HAND GRENADE : Engine without automatic stoker,

which is hand-fired

HAND-ON : Train order or company mail caught with the hoop or

without stopping

HANGING UP THE CLOCK : Boomer term that meant hocking your

railroad watch

HARNESS : Passenger trainman's uniform

HASH HOUSE : Railroad restaurant or lunch stand

HAT : Ineffectual railroad man. (All he uses his head for is a

hat rack)

HAY : Sleep on the job; any kind of sleep. Caboose was sometimes

called hay wagon

HAY BURNER : Hand oil lantern, inspection torch. Also a horse

used in railroad or streetcar service

HEAD-END REVENUE : Money which railroads receive for hauling

mail, express, baggage, newspapers, and milk in cans, usually

transported in cars nearest the locomotive, these commodities or

shipments being known as head-end traffic

HEAD IN : Take a sidetrack when meeting an opposing train

HEAD MAN : Front brakeman on a freight train who rides the

engine cab. Also called head pin

HEARSE : Caboose

HEEL : Cars on end of tracks with brakes applied

HERDER : Man who couples engines and takes them off upon arrival

and departure of trains

HIGHBALL : Signal made by waving hand or lamp in a high, wide

semicircle, meaning "Come ahead" or "Leave town" or "Pick up

full speed." Verb highball or phrase 'ball the jack means to

make a fast run. Word highball originated from old-time ball

signal on post, raised aloft by pulley when track was clear. A

very few of these are still in service, in New England and

elsewhere

HIGHBALL ARTIST : A locomotive engineer known for fast running

HIGH-DADDY : Flying switch

HIGH IRON : Main line or high-speed track (which is laid with

heavier rail than that used on unimportant branches or spurs)

HIGH LINER : Main-line fast passenger train

HIGH-WHEELER : Passenger engine or fast passenger train. Also

highball artist

HIKER : A lineman who "hikes sticks" instead of prosaically

climbing poles

HIT 'ER : Work an engine harder. (Probably a variation of "hit

the ball," which means "Get busy-no more fooling!")

HIT THE GRIT or GRAVEL : Fall off a car or locomotive or get

kicked off

HOBO : Tramp. Term is said to have originated on Burlington

Route as a corruption of "Hello, boy!" which construction

workers used in greeting one another

HOG : Any large locomotive, usually freight. An engineer may be

called a hogger, hoghead, hogmaster, hoggineer, hog jockey, hog

eye, grunt, pig-mauler, etc. Some few engineers object to such

designations as disrespectful, which they rarely are. For

meaning of hog law see dogcatchers. Hoghead is said to have

originated on the Denver & Rio Grande in 1887, being used to

label a brakeman's caricature of an engineer

HOLDING HER AGAINST THE BRASS : Running electric car at full

speed

HOLE : Passing track where one train pulls in to meet another

HOME GUARD : Employee who stays with one railroad, as contrasted

with boomer. A homesteader is a boomer who gets married and

settles down

HOOK : Wrecking crane or auxiliary

HOOK 'ER UP AND PULL HER TAIL : To set the reverse lever up on

the quadrant and pull the throttle well out for high speed

HOPPER : Steel-sided car with a bottom that opens to allow

unloading of coal, gravel, etc.

HOPTOAD : Derail

HORSE 'ER OVER : Reverse the engine. This is done by compressed

air on modern locomotives, but in early days, manually operated

reversing equipment required considerable jockeying to reverse

an engine while in motion

HOSE COUPLER : Brakeman who handles trains by himself with the

road engine around a big passenger terminal

HOSTLER : Any employee (usually a fireman) who services engines,

especially at division points and terminals. Also called ashpit

engineer

HOT : Having plenty of steam pressure (applied to locomotives)

HOT-FOOTER : Engineer or conductor in switching service who is

always in a hurry

HOT JEWEL : Same as hotbox

HOT-WATER BOTTLE : Elesco feed water heater

HOT WORKER : Boilermaker who repairs leaks in the firebox or

flue sheet while there is pressure in the boiler

HOTBOX : Overheated journal or bearing. Also called hub. This

was a frequent cause of delay in the old days but is virtually

nonexistent on trains that are completely equipped with ball-

bearings. Trainmen are sometimes called hotbox detectors

HOTSHOT : Fast train; frequently a freight made up of

merchandise and perishables. Often called a manifest or redball

run

HOW MANY EMS HAVE YOU GOT : : How many thousand pounds of

tonnage is your engine pulling : (M stands for 1,000)

HUMP : Artificial knoll at end of classification yard over which

cars are pushed so that they can roll on their own momentum to

separate tracks. (See drop.) Also the summit of a hill division

or the top of a prominent grade. Boomers generally referred to

the Continental Divide as the Hump

HUMPBACK JOB : Local freight run. (Conductor spends much time in

caboose bending over his wheel reports)

HUT : Brakeman's shelter just back of the coal bunkers on the

tender tank of engines operating through Moffat Tunnel. May also

refer to caboose, locomotive cab, switchman's shanty, or

crossing watchman's shelter

IDLER : An unloaded flatcar placed before or after a car from

which oversize machinery, pipe, or other material projects

IN : A trainman who is at the home terminal and off duty is in

IN THE CLEAR : A train is in the clear when it has passed over a

switch and frog so far that another train can pass without damage

IN THE COLOR : Train standing in the signal block waiting for a

clear board

IN THE DITCH : Wrecked or derailed

IN THE HOLE : On a siding. (See hole.) Also in the lower berth

of a Pullman, as contrasted with on the tot, in the upper berth

INDIAN VALLEY LINE : An imaginary railroad "at the end of the

rainbow," on which you could always find a good job and ideal

working conditions. (Does not refer to the former twenty-one-

mile railroad of that name between Paxton and Engels, Calif.)

Boomers resigning or being fired would say they were going to

the Indian Valley. The term is sometimes used to mean death or

the railroader's Heaven. (See Big Rock Candy Mountains)

IND ICATORS : Illuminated signs on the engine and caboose that

display the number of the train

IRON or RAIL : Track. Single iron means single track

IRON HORSE : Academic slang for locomotive

IRON SKULL : Boilermaker. (Jim Jeffries, one-time champion prize

fighter, worked as an iron skull for years)

JACK : Locomotive. (A term often confused with the lifting

device, hence seldom used)

JACKPOT : Miscellaneous assortment of mail and parcels piled in

the aisle of a baggage car and requiring removal before the mail

in the stalls can be "worked"

JAILHOUSE SPUDS : Waffled potatoes

JAM BUSTER : Assistant yardmaster

JAM NUTS : Doughnuts

JANNEY : To couple; derived from the Janney automatic coupler

JAWBONE SHACK : Switch shanty

JAY ROD : Clinker hook

JERK A DRINK : Take water from track pan without stopping train.

From this came the word jerkwater, which usually means a

locality serving only to supply water to the engines of passing

trains; a Place other than a regular stop, hence of minor

importance as jerkwater town, jerkwater college, etc.

JERK-BY : See flying switch

JERK SOUP : Same as jerk a drink

JERRY : Section worker; sometimes applied to other laborers

JEWEL : Journal brass

JIGGER : Full tonnage of "dead" freight

JIMMIES : Four-wheel coal or ore cars

JITNEY : Four-wheel electric truck that carries baggage around

inside a terminal. Also unregulated private automobile that

carried passengers on public highways for 5-cent fare in direct

competition with trolley cars

JOHNSON BAR : Reverse lever on a locomotive. (See drop 'er down)

JOIN THE BIRDS : Jump from moving engine or car, usually when a

wreck is imminent

JOINT : A length of rail, generally 33 or 39 feet. Riding to a

joint is bringing cars together so that they couple

JOKER : In dependent or locomotive brake, part of E-T (engine-

train) equipment

JUGGLER : Member of way-freight crew who loads and unloads LCL

freight at station stops

JUGGLING THE CIRCLE : Missing a train-order hoop

JUICE : Electricity. Juice fan is one who makes a hobby out of

electric railways (juice lines)

JUNK PILE : Old worn-out locomotive that is still in service.

KANGAROO COURT : An official hearing or investigation, so named

because it may be held wherever most convenient, anywhere along

the road, jumping around like a kangaroo, to act on main-line

mixups or other urgent problems

KEELEY : Water can for hot journals or bearings. Nickname

derived from "Keeley cure" for liquor habit

KETTLE : Any small locomotive, especially an old, leaky one.

Also called teakettle and coffeepot

KEY : Telegraph instrument

KICK : See drop

KICKER : Triple valve in defective order, which throws air

brakes into emergency when only a service application is

intended, or sometimes by a bump of the train

KING : Freight conductor or yardmaster. King snipe is foreman of

track gang. King pin is conductor

KITCHEN : Caboose; engine cab. Firebox is kitchen stove

KNOCK HER IN THE HEAD : Slow Down

KNOCKOUT : Same as bump

KNOWLEDGE BOX : Yardmaster's office; president of the road

LADDER : Main track of yard from which individual tracks lead

off. Also called a lead. (See yard)

LAPLANDER : Passenger jostled into someone else's lap in crowded

car

LAST CALL, LAST TERMINAL, etc : Death

LAY-BY : Passing track, sidetrack. Layed out is delayed

LAY OVER : Time spent waiting for connection with other train

LCL : Less than carload lots of freight

LETTERS : Service letters given to men who resign or are

discharged. Applicants for railroad jobs are usually asked to

present letters proving previous employment. In the old days,

when these were too unfavorable, many boomers used faked letters

or would work under a flag on somebody else's certificates

LEVER JERKER : Interlocker lever man

LIBRARY : Cupola of caboose. Trainman occupying it was sometimes

known as a librarian

LIFT TRANSPORTATION : Collect tickets

LIGHT ENGINE : An engine moving outside the yard without cars

attached

LIGHTNING SLINGER : Telegraph operator

LINER : Passenger train

LINK AND PIN : Old-time type of coupler; used to denote

oldfashioned methods of railroading

LIZARD SCORCHER : Dining-car chef

LOADS : Loaded freight cars

LOCAL LOAD : A truckload of mail in sacks and parcels sent from

the storage car direct to a car on a local train, containing

mail for towns along the route of the train

LOUSE CAGE : Caboose

LUNAR WHITE : The color of white used on all switches except on

main line

LUNCH HOOKS : Your two hands

LUNG : Drawbar or air hose

LUNG DOCTOR : Locomotive engineer who pulls out drawbars. Also

lung specialist

MADHOUSE : Engine foreman; scene of unusual activity or

confusion MAIN IRON-Main track. Also called main stem MAIN PIN-

An official MAKE A JOINT-Couple cars MANIFEST-Same as hotshot

MARKERS-Signals on rear of train, flags by day and lamps by

night MASTER MANIAC-Master mechanic, often abbreviated M.M. Oil

is called master mechanic's blood

MASTER MIND : An official

MATCHING DIALS : Comparing time

MAUL : Work an 'engine with full stroke and full throttle

MEAT RUN : Fast run of perishable freight, hotshot

MEET ORDER : Train order specifying a definite location where

two or more trains will meet on a single track, one on a siding,

the others on the high iron

MERRY-GO-ROUND : Turntable

MIDDLE MAN, MIDDLE SWING : Second brakeman on freight train

MIKE : Mikado-type engine (2-8-2), so named because first of

this type were built for Imperial Railways of Japan. (Because of

the war with Japan, some railroads rechristened this type

MacArthur)

MILEAGE HOG : Engineer or conductor, paid on mileage basis, who

uses his seniority to the limit in getting good runs, which

younger men resent

MILK TRUCK : Large hand truck with high cast-iron wheels used to

transfer milk cans around in a terminal

MILL : Steam locomotive, or typewriter

MIXED LOAD : Truckload of mail sacks and parcels for many

destinations sent from storage car to the yard (an outside

platform) for further separation before forwarding

MONKEY : When a crew has been on duty sixteen hours and is

caught out on the road, the monkey gets them and they are

required by ICC rules to tie -up until a new crew comes. (See

dogcatchers)

MONKEY MONEY : The pass of a passenger who is riding free

MONKEY MOTION : Walschaert or Baker valve gear on locomotive.

Monkey house is caboose. Monkey suit is passenger trainman's

uniform or any other smart-looking uniform. Monkey tail is back-

up hose

MOONLIGHT MECHANIC : Night roundhouse foreman

MOPPING OFF : Refers to escaping steam

MOTHER HUBBARD : See Camelback

MOTOR : Electric locomotive

MOUNTAIN PAY : Overtime

MOVING DIRT : Fireman shoveling coal into firebox

MOVING SPIRIT : Train dispatcher, more often called DS

MTYS : Empty cars

MUCKERS : Excavators in construction work

MUD CHICKENS : Surveyor. Mudhop is yard clerk, mudshop his office

MUD SUCKER : A nonlifting injector

MUDHEN : A saturated locomotive, one that is not superheated

MULE SKINNER : Driver of mule cart

MUSIC MASTER : Paymaster

MUTT AND JEFF PUMP : Denver & Rio Grande locomotive with big air

pump on right and small one on left

MUZZLE LOADER : Hand-fired locomotive

NEWS BUTCHER : Peddler who sells magazines, candy, fruit, 'etc.,

in trains. Usually employed nowadays by Union News Co. Thomas A.

Edison, the inventor, was a news butcher in his youth and became

deaf when a conductor boxed his ears for accidentally starting a

fire while experimenting in a baggage car near Smith Creek, Mich.

NICKEL GRABBER : Streetcar conductor

NIGGERHEAD : Turret at top of locomotive boiler, over crown

sheet, from which saturated steam is taken for operation of

pumps, stoker, injectors, and headlight turbine

19 ORDER : Train order that does not have to be signed for.

Operator can hand it on a hoop or delivery fork as the train

slows down. (See 31 order)

99 : Failure to protect your train or to flag it

NO-BILL : Nonunion or nonbrotherhood railroad worker. Also

called nonair

NOSE ON : Couple on with head end of engine

NOSEBAG : Lunch carried to work. Put on the nosebag means to eat

a meal

NUMBER DUMMY : Yard clerk or car clerk; also called number

grabber

NUT SPLITTER or NUT BUSTER : Machinist

OILCAN : Tank car

OLD GIRL : Affectionate term for steam engine

OLD HAND : Experienced railroader. Also called old head

OLD HEAD : Lots of Seniority

OLD MAN : Superintendent or general manager

OLE HOSS : Salvage warehouse, or freight on hand

ON THE ADVERTISED : According to schedule; right on time. Often

called on the card (timecard) and sometimes on the cat hop

ON THE CARPET : Commoner version of dancing on the carpet

ON THE GROUND : On the ties, as a derailed train

ON THE SPOT : See spot

OP : Telegraph operator

OPEN-AIR NAVIGATOR : Hobo riding freight on top

OPEN THE GATE : Switch a train onto or off a siding. Close the

gate means to close the switch after the train has passed it

O.R.C. : Conductor. (See big O)

ORDER BOARD : See board

OS : On (train) sheet; to report a train by to dispatcher

OUT : When a trainman is at a point other than his home terminal,

either on or off duty, he is out

OUTLAWED : See dogcatchers

OVER THE KNOLL : Getting up the hill

OVERLAP : Where two block signals control the same stretch of

track OWL-Streetcar or train that runs late at night; almost

anything having to do with night

PADDLE : Semaphore signal

PADDLE WHEEL : Narrow-gauge locomotive with driving boxes

outside of the wheels

PAIR OF PLIERS : Conductor's punch

PALACE : Caboose

PAPER CAR : Baggage car for the transportation of newspapers

exclusively

PAPERWEIGHT : Railroad clerk, office worker. Also called pencil

pusher

PARLOR : Caboose. Parlor man or parlor maid is hind brakeman or

flagman on freight train

PASSING THE CROAKER : Being examined by company doctor

PEAKED END : Head end of train. Also pointed or sharp end

PEANUT ROASTER : Any small steam engine

PECK : Twenty minutes allowed for lunch

PEDDLE : To set out freight cars

PEDDLER : Local way-freight train

PELICAN POND : Place outside a roundhouse (down South) where

there is much ooze and slime, caused by the fact that many

locomotives are run thirty days without the boilers being washed

out. The boilers are kept clean by blowing them out with blowoff

cocks

PENNSYLVANIA : Coal

PERSUADER : Blower (for locomotive fire)

PETTICOAT : Portion of the exhaust stack that guides exhausted

steam into the stack proper. When this becomes displaced, the

spent steam goes back through the flues, cutting off the draft

from the fire

PIE-CARD : Meal ticket. Also called grazing ticket

PIG : Locomotive. Pig-mauler is locomotive engineer; pigpen

locomotive roundhouse. (See hog)

PIKE : Railroad

PIN AHEAD AND PICK UP TWO BEHIND ONE : Cut off the engine, pick

up three cars from siding, put two on the train, and set the

first one back on the siding

PIN FOR HOME : Go home for the day

PINHEAD : Brakeman. Pin-lifter is yard brakeman. Pinner is a

switchman that follows. Pin-puller is a switchman that cuts off

cars from a train. The old-style link-and-pin coupler (now

rarely used) was called Lincoln pin

PINK : Caution card or rush telegram

PLANT : Interlocking system

PLUG : "One-horse" passenger train. Also throttle of old-style

locomotive; hence engineers were known as plug-pullers. Plugging

her means using the reverse lever as a brake instead of the air.

Local passenger trains are sometimes referred to as Plug runs

PLUSH RUN : Passenger train

POCATELLO YARDMASTER : Derisive term for boomers, all of whom

presumably claimed to have held, at some time, the tough job of

night yardmaster at Pocatello, Idaho

POLE : To run light. (See light)

POLE PIN : Superintendent of telegraph

POP : To let safety valve on boiler release, causing waste of

steam, making a loud noise, and, when engine is working hard,

raising water in boiler, thereby causing locomotive to work water

POP CAR : Gasoline car or speeder, used by section men, linemen,

etc.; so called because of the put-put noise of its motor exhaust

POPS : Retainers

POSITIVE BLOCK : Locomotive engineer

POSSUM BELLY : Toolbox under a caboose or under some wrecking

cars

POUND HER : Work a locomotive to its full capacity

POUNDING THEIR EARS : Sleeping, making hay

PUD : Pick up and delivery service

PULLER : Switch engine hauling cars from one yard to another at

the same terminal. Also the operator of an electric truck that

transfers baggage and mail around a terminal

PULL FREIGHT : To leave or to give up a job

PULL THE AIR : Set brakes by opening conductor's valve or angle

cock

PULL THE CALF'S TAIL : Yank the whistle cord

PULL THE PIN : Uncouple a car by pulling up the coupling pin. A

boomer expression meaning to resign or quit a job

PURE-FOOD LAW : See dogcatchers

PUSHER : Extra engine on rear of train, usually placed there to

assist in climbing a grade

PUSSYFOOTER : Railroad policeman

PUT 'ER ON : Make a reduction in air in the train's braking

system. Put 'er all on means apply emergency brake, more

commonly described as big-holing her

PUT ON THE NOSEBAG : Eat a meal

QUILL : Whistle (term used especially in the South)

QUILLING : Personalized technique of blowing a locomotive

whistle, applicable only in the days before the whistles became

standardized

RABBIT : A derail; an arrangement for preventing serious wrecks

by sidetracking runaway trains, cars, or locomotives on a

downgrade. Unlike regular sidetracks, the derail ends relatively

abruptly on flat trackless land instead of curving back onto the

main line. The term rabbit is applied to this device because of

the timidity involved

RACE TRACK : Straight and flat stretch of track upon which an

engineer can safely make unusually high speed. Also parallel

stretches of track of two competing railroads upon which rival

trains race one another (contrary to company rules but much to

the delight of enginemen, trainmen, and passengers, and perhaps

to the secret delight of some officials)

RAG-WAVER : Flagman

RAIL : Any railroad employee

RAILFAN : Anyone who makes a hobby of railroading

RAP THE STACK : Give your locomotive a wide-open throttle, make

more speed. Rapper is an engineer who works his engine too hard

RATTLE HER HOCKS : Get speed out of an engine

RATTLER : Freight train

RAWHIDER : Official, or any employee, who is especially hard on

men or equipment, or both, with which he works. A rawhider, or

slave driver, delights in causing someone to do more than his

share of work. Running too fast when picking up a man on the

footboard, or making a quick stop just short of him when he is

expecting to step on, so that he has to walk back, are two ways

it is done; but there are almost as many ways of rawhiding as

there are different situations

REAL ESTATE : Poor coal mixed with dirt or slag. When mixed with

sand it is called seashore

RED BOARD : Stop signal

REDBALL, BALL OF FIRE : Fast freight train,

REDCAP : Station porter. Term coined about 1900 by George H.

Daniels, New York Central publicist

RED EYE : Same as red board; also liquor

RED ONION : Eating house or sleeping quarters for railroad men

REEFER or RIFF : Refrigerator car

REPTILE : See snake

RETAINER : Small valve located near brake wheel for drawing off

and holding air on cars. (Retainers often figure prominently in

true tales and fiction stories about runaway cars on trains)

RIDIN' 'EM HIGH : Traveling on tops of boxcars

RIDIN' THE RODS : An old-time hobo practice, now virtually

obsolete. The hobo would place a board across truss rods under a

car and ride on it. This was very dangerous even in pleasant

weather, and the possibility was ever present that you might

doze, get careless, become too cramped, or lose your nerve-and

roll under the wheels

RIDING THE POINT : Riding a locomotive, point referring to shape

of pilot

RIGHT-HAND SIDE : Engineer's side of cab (on nearly all North

American roads). Left-hand side is fireman's side. When a

fireman is promoted he is set up to the right-hand side

RINGMASTER : Yardmaster

RIPRAP : Loose pieces of heavy stone or masonry used in some

places to protect roadbeds from water erosion

RIP-TRACK : Minor repair track or car-repair department. RIP

means repair

RIVET BUSTER : Boilermaker

ROAD HOG : Any large motor vehicle on a highway, especially

intercity trailer trucks and busses that cut into railroad

freight and passenger revenue

ROOFED : Caught in close clearance

ROOF GARDEN : Mallet-type locomotive or any helper engine on a

mountain job. Sometimes called sacred ox

ROUGHNECK : Freight brakeman

RUBBERNECK CAR : Observation car

RULE G : "The use of intoxicants or narcotics is prohibited" :

one of twelve general rules in standard code adopted by

Association of American Railroads, based upon previous

regulations made by individual companies. Countless thousands of

railroad men, especially boomers, have been discharged for

violation of Rule G; not because of railroads' objection to

liquor itself but because a man under the influence of liquor is

not to be trusted in a job involving human lives and property

RUN : The train to which a man is assigned is his run

RUN-AROUND : If it is a man's turn to work and he is not called,

he may claim pay for the work he missed. He has been given the

run-around

RUN-IN : A collision; an argument or fight

RUN LIGHT : For an engine to run on the tracks without any cars

RUNNER : Locomotive engineer

RUNT : Dwarf signal

RUST or STREAK O' RUST : Railroad

RUST PILE : Old locomotive

RUSTLING THE BUMS : Searching a freight train for hobos. In

bygone days it was common practice for trainmen to collect money

from freight-riding 'bos, often at the rate of a dollar a

division

SADDLE : First stop of freight car, under the lowest grab iron

SANDHOG : Laborer who works in a caisson tunneling under a river,

boring either a railroad tunnel, subway, or highway tunnel

SAP : Same as brake club; also called the staff of ignorance. To

set hand brakes is to sap up some binders

SAWBONES : Company doctor

SAW BY : Slow complicated operation whereby one train passes

another on a single-track railroad when the other is on a siding

too short to hold the entire train. Saw by is applied to any

move through switches or through connecting switches that is

necessitated by one train passing another

SCAB : Nonunion workman; also car not equipped with automatic

air system. (See nonair)

SCIZZOR-BILL : Uncomplimentary term referring to yard or road

brakemen and students in train service

SCOOP : Fireman's shovel. Also the step on front and rear ends

of switch engines

SCOOT : Shuttle train

SCRAP PILE : Worn-out locomotive that is still in service

SEAT HOG : Passenger who monopolizes more than one seat in a car

or station waiting room while others are standing. Such pests

usually spread luggage, packages, or lunch over adjacent seats

SEASHORE : Sand used in sand dome. Also applied to coal that is

mixed with sand

SECRET WORKS : Automatic air-brake application. Also the draft

timbers and drawbar of a car, when extracted by force. If only

the drawbar is pulled out, you say, "We got a lung," but if the

draft timbers comewith it, you say, "We got the whole damn

secret works"

SENIORITY GRABBER : Railroad employee who is glad when someone

above him dies, gets killed, is fired, or resigns, so he can

move up the seniority list to a better job

SEPARATION : The sorting of mail sacks and parcels within the

storage car before transferring to trucks

SERVICE APPLICATION : Gradual speed reduction, as contrasted

with emergency stop caused by wiping the clock

SETTING UP : Loading a baggage car with mail and parcels

according to a prearranged plan to facilitate rapid unloading at

various stations along the line

SETUP : Four to six hand trucks placed in formation beside the

door of a storage car to facilitate the separation of the mail

and parcels being unloaded. Each truck is loaded with matter to

be transferred to other trains or to the R.P.O. (Railway Post

Office) terminal office

SHACK : Brakeman, occupant of caboose. Shacks master is a

conductor SHAKE 'EM UP-Switching

SHAKING THE TRAIN : Putting on air brakes in emergency

SHANTY : Caboose

SHINER : Brakeman's or switchman's lantern

SHINING TIME : Starting time (probably from old Negro spiritual

"Rise and Shine")

SHOO-FLY : Temporary track, usually built around a flooded area,

a wreck, or other obstacle; sometimes built merely to facilitate

a rerailing

SHORT FLAGGING : Flagman not far enough from his train to

protect it. (See drawbar flagging)

SHORT LOADS : Cars consigned to points between division points

and set out on sidings at their destinations. Also called shorts

SHORT-TIME CREW : Crew working overtime but not yet affected by

the sixteen-hour law. (See dogcatchers)

SHUFFLE THE DECK : Switch cars onto house tracks at every

station you pass on your run

SHUNTING BOILER : Switch engine

SIDE-DOOR PULLMAN : Boxcar used by hobos in stealing rides

SKATE : Shoe placed on rail in hump yard to stop cars with

defective brakes

SKIN YOUR EYE : Engineer's warning to man on left side of cab

when approaching curve

SKIPPER : Conductor

SKYROCKETS : Red-hot cinders from smokestack

SLAVE DRIVER : Yardmaster. Also any rawhider

SLING MORSE : Work as telegraph operator

SLIPS, CAR OR TRAIN OF : Car or train of bananas

SLOW BOARD : See board

SLUG : Heavy fire in locomotive firebox

SLUGS : A shipment of magazines, catalogues, or automobile-

license plates in small mail sacks weighing approximately 100

pounds each

SMART ALECK : Passenger conductor

SMOKE or SMOKE AGENT : Locomotive fireman. Smoker is engine or

firebox. Smoking 'em or running on smoke orders is a dangerous

method, now obsolete, of running a train from one station or

siding to another without orders from the dispatcher. You moved

cautiously, continually watching for the smoke of any train that

might be approaching you on the same track

SNAKE : Switchman, so named from the large serpentine letter S

on membership pins of the Switchman's Union of North America.

Sometimes called reptile or serpent

SNAKEHEAD : A rail that comes loose from the ties and pierces

the floor of a car; a fairly common accident with the strap-iron

rails of a century ago

SNAP : Push or pull with another engine. Snapper is the engine

that does the pulling

SNIPE : Track laborer. His boss is a king snipe

SNOOZER : Pullman sleeping car

SNUFF DIPPERS : Coal-burning engines that burn lignite (which,

on the Missouri Pacific at least, is the same color as snuff)

SOAK : Saturated locomotive

SODA JERKER : Locomotive fireman

SOFT BELLIES : Wooden frame cars

SOFT-DIAMOND SPECIAL : Coal train

SOFT PLUG : Fusible plug in crown sheet of locomotive that is

supposed to drop when water gets below top of sheet

SOLID CAR : A completely filled storage car containing sixty

feet of mail and parcels, equal to a 100 per cent load

SOLID TRACK : Track full of cars

SPAR : Pole used to shove cars into the clear when switching.

(See stake)

SPEED GAUGER : Locomotive engineer

SPEEDER : Same as pop car

SPEEDY : Callboy

SPIKE A TORCH : Throw a fusee

SPOT : To place a car in a designated position. Also sleep, rest,

or lunch period on company time. On the spot means an

opportunity for railroad men to "chew the rag" or swap

experiences. Unlike the same underworld term, on the spot has no

sinister implication in railroad slang

SPOTBOARD : Guide used by section men in surfacing or ballasting

track in order to obtain an even bed.

SPOTTER : Spy, company man assigned to snoop around and check on

employees

SQUEEZERS : Car-retarding system used in some railroad yards

SQUIRRELING : Climbing a car

STACK O' RUST : A locomotive that has seen better days

STAKE : Pole used in dangerous and now rare method of switching.

A cut of cars was shoved by a stake attached to the car

immediately in front of the engine. This method was supposed to

be superior to the ordinary method of "batting them out" because

there was less wear and tear on drawbars and less damage to

freight; but the human casualties that resulted gave more than

one yard the nickname "slaughterhouse." Another meaning of stake

is the money a boomer saved on a job so he could resign and

continue eating regularly while looking for another job

STAKE DRIVER : Any engineering-department man

STALL : Space inside a mail or baggage car containing mail or

parcels consigned to a certain destination and separated from

other shipments by removable steel posts

STARGAZER : Brakeman who fails to see signals

STARVATION DIET : See board

STEM : Track or right-of-way

STEM-WINDER : Climax type of geared locomotive. Also applied to

trolley car without brakes because of the motion of its brake

handle

STICK : Staff used on certain stretches of track to control the

block. It is carried by engine crews from one station to another.

Now rare

STIFF BUGGY : Specially designed four-wheel truck used for

transferring coffins and rough boxes inside a station

STINGER : Brakeman. Derived from initial B(ee) of Brotherhood of

Railroad Trainmen, or perhaps from some brakemen's habit of

arousing hobos by applying a brake club to the soles of their

shoes

STINK BUGGY : Bus

STINKER : Hotbox

STIRRUP : First step of freight car, under the lowest grab iron

STOCK PEN : Yard office

STOCKHOLDER : Any employee who is always looking out for the

company's interests

STOPPER PULLER : Member of the crew that follows the engine in

switching

STORAGE CAR : Baggage car or (in rush periods) Railway Express

car containing a mixed shipment of parcels and mail sacks

consigned to a certain terminal for sorting and rerouting to

various destinations via other trains

STRAW BOSS : Foreman of small gang or acting foreman

STRAW-HAT BOYS : Railroad men who work only in pleasant weather

STRAWBERRY PATCH : Rear end of caboose by night; also railroad

yard studded with red lights

STRETCH 'EM OUT : Take out slack in couplings and drawbars of

train

STRING : Several cars coupled together; also a telegraph wire

STRUGGLE FOR LIFE : Existence in railroad boardinghouse

STUDE TALLOW : Student fireman

STUDENT : Learner in either telegraph, train, or engine service;

an apprentice

SUCK IT BY : Make a flying switch

SUGAR : Sand

SUPER : Superintendent

SWELLHEAD : Conductor or locomotive engineer

SWING A BUG : Make a good job of braking. (See bug)

SWING MAN : Same as middle man

SWITCH LIST : Bill of fare at railroad eating house

SWITCH MONKEY : Switchman

TAIL OVER HER BACK : Engine with full head of steam, with plume

resembling a squirrel's tail from her safety valve

TAKE THE RUBBER OUT OF THEM : Disconnect the air hoses on a train

TAKING YOUR MINUTES : Stopping for lunch

TALLOWPOT : Locomotive fireman, so called from melted tallow

used to lubricate valves and shine the engine

TANK : Locomotive tender. Tanker is tank car used in hauling oil,

water, milk, chemicals or some other liquid

TEAKETTLE : See kettle

TEASE THE BRUTE : Follow the engine

TELLTALES : Any device that serves as a warning. Specifically

the row of strips hanging down a short distance in front of a

tunnel or low bridge to inform trainmen who are riding car tops

that they'd better duck

TEMPLE OF KNOWLEGE : Term for caboose

TERMINAL : Railway Post Office unit, usually at or near the

railroad station, where mail is removed from sacks, sorted, and

forwarded to its ultimate destination

TERMINAL LOAD : A shipment of mail consigned to a certain R.P.O.

terminal office for sorting and reshipment in other sacks

THE BISCUITS HANG HIGH : There's a scarcity of food handouts in

that locality

THIRTY : Telegraphic term for "that's all-no more"

31 ORDER : Train order that must be signed for; the train must

stop to pick it up. (See 19 order)

THOUSAND-MILER : Black satin or blue percale shirt worn by

railroaders, expected to last 1,000 miles between washings. (The

usual basis of a day's work was about 10 0 miles, so two shirts

could easily last from one pay day to the next)

THREE-BAGGER : Train pushed or pulled by three engines. (No

doubt originated by a baseball fan)

THROTTLE-JERKER : Engineer

THROTTLE GOD : Loc.Engineer)

THROW AWAY THE DIAMONDS : Term applied to locomotive fireman

missing the firedoor with a shovelful of coal and spilling some

THROW OUT THE ANCHOR : Done for the Day

TIE 'EM DOWN : Set handbrakes

TIE ON : Couple on. Tie 'em together is to couple cars

TIE UP : Stop for a meal or for rest

TIER : Pile of mail sacks or parcels occupying the full width at

each end of a car

TIMKENIZED : Equipped with Timken roller bearings

TIN LIZARD : Streamlined train

TING-A-LING : Small engine with "tinny" bell

TISSUE : Train order. (See flimsy)

TOAD : Derail. (See rabbit)

TOEPATH or TOWPATH : Running board of locomotive or catwalk on

top of boxcars, or that part of railroad embankment lying

between end of ties and shoulders of fill

TONK : Car repairer

TONNAGE HOUND : Trainmaster or other official who insists upon

longer or heavier trains than the crew and motive power can

handle efficiently

TOP DRESSER DRAWER : Upper bunk in caboose

TOWER BUFF : Railfan so zealous that he disregards signs such as

"Private," "No Admittance" and "Stay Out" on interlocking towers

and other railroad structures

TRAIN LINE : Pipe that carries compressed air to operate air

brakes

TRAMPIFIED : The way a boomer looked after being out of work a

long time. His clothes were "ragged as a barrel of sauerkraut"

and he needed a "dime's worth of decency" (shave)

TRAVELING CARD : Card given by a railroad Brotherhood to a man

in search of employment. Also an empty slip bill

TRAVELING GRUNT : Road foreman of engines, traveling engineer.

Sometimes called traveling man

TRICK : Shift, hours of duty

TRIMMER : Engine working in hump yard that goes down into yard

and picks out misdirected cars and shoves them to clear. (See

yard and hump)

TWO-WHEELER : Two-wheeled hand truck for transferring baggage

and mail around in a station

UNCLE SAM : Railway Post Office clerk

UNDER THE TABLE : Just as a man who "can't take his liquor" is

sometimes actually under the table, so, figuratively, is a

telegraph operator when messages are being sent to him faster

than he can receive

UNDERGROUND HOG : Chief engineer

UNLOAD : Get off train hurriedly

VARNISH : Passenger train. Also called varnished shot, varnished

job, varnished boxes, string of varnish, varnished wagons, etc.

These nicknames are rarely applied to modern streamliners

VASELINE : Oil

VOODOO BARGE : Updated Heavy,Slow Freight

WABASH : To hit cars going into adjacent tracks. (See cornered)

Also refers to the officially frowned-upon practice of slowing

up for a stop signal at a crossing with another railroad instead

of stopping. The engineer would look up and down to make sure

everything is safe, then start up again, having saved several

minutes by not stopping entirely. Wabash may also mean a heavy

fire in the locomotive firebox

WAGON : Railroad car. (English term)

WALK THE DOG : Wheel a freight so fast as to make cars sway from

side to side

WALK UP AGAINST THE GUN : Ascend a steep grade with the injector

on

WALL STREET NOTCH : Forward corner of reverse lever quadrant in

engine cab (more commonly called company notch). Called Wall

Street notch because engine pays dividends when heaviness of

train requires engine to be worked that way

WASHOUT : Stop signal, waved violently by using both arms and

swinging them in downward arc by day, or swinging lamp in wide

low semicircle across tracks at night

WATCH YOUR PINS : Be careful around stacks of ties, rails, etc.

WAY CAR : Caboose, or car of local freight

WEARING THE BLUE : Delayed by car inspectors. A blue flag or

blue light is placed on cars thus delayed and being worked on

WEARING THE GREEN : Carrying green signals. When trains run in

more than one section, all except the last must display two

green flags

WEED BENDER : Railroaders' derisive term for cowboy, other such

terms being hay shaker, clover picker, and plow jockey.

Commonest term for cowboy is cowpuncher, which is of railroad

origin. Cowboys riding stock trains prod the cattle

WEED WEASEL : Company Official Spying on Crews

WESTINGHOUSE : Air brake, also called windjammer

WET MULE IN THE FIREBOX : Bad job of firing a locomotive

WHALE BELLY : Steel car, or type of coal car with drop bottom.

Also called sow belly

WHEEL 'EM : Let a train run without braking. Wheeling means

carrying or hauling at good speed; also called highballing. You

say wheeling the berries when you mean hauling the berry crop at

high speed

WHEEL MONKEY : Car inspector

WHEN DO YOU SHINE : : What time were you called for :

WHISKERS : Quite a bit of seniority

WHISTLE OUT A FLAG : Engineer blows one long and three short

blasts for the brakeman to protect rear of train

WHITE FEATHER : Plume of steam over safety valves, indicating

high boiler pressure

WHITE RIBBONS : White flags (an extra train)

WHITEWASH : Milk

WIDEN ON HER : Open the throttle, increase speed

WIGWAG : A grade-crossing signal

WILLIE : Waybill for loaded car

WIND : Air brakes

WING HER : Set brakes on moving train

WISE GUY : Station agent

WOLF or LONE WOLF : Nonbrotherhood man

WORKING A CAR : Unloading a storage mail car

WORKING MAIL : Mail in sacks and pouches consigned to R.P.O.

(Railway Post Office) cars to be "worked" or sorted in transit

WORK WATER : Some old-time engineers preferred to work the water

(operate the injector and watch the water glass or gauge cocks).

On most roads the fireman now works the water

WRECKING CREW : Relief crew. Derogatory term derived from the

difficulty regular men sometimes experience in rearranging a car

after it has been used by relief men

WRONG IRON : Main track on which the current of traffic is in

the opposite direction

WYE : Tracks running off the main line or lead, forming a letter

Y; used for turning cars and engines where no urntable is

available

X : Empty car

XXX : Same as bad order

YARD : System of tracks for making up trains or storing cars.

(Boomer's version: "System of rust surrounded y fence and

inhabited by a dumb bunch of natives who will not let a train in

or out.") Also called garden and ield. Yard geese are yard

switchmen. Y.M. is yardmaster. Yard goat is switching engine

ZOO KEEPER : Gate tender at passenger station

ZULU : Emigrant family with its household goods and farm

equipment traveling by rail; sometimes included even livestock

crowded into the same boxcar. Zulu can mean only the car, or the

car and all its contents. This ethod of travel was not uncommon

in homesteading days on Western prairies. Origin of term is

obscure. May have some connection with the fact that British

homesteaders in Africa fled in overfilled farm wagons before

Zulu marauders

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.railroad.net/articles/railfanning/slanguage/index.php

Any Railroad employee Rail

Boomer A railroader who restlessly changes jobs.

Brakeman Roughneck, Shack, Ground hog, Smokestack, Fielder, Car catcher, stinger

Car Inspector

Car whacker

Clerk

Paper weight, Pin head, Pencil pusher

Conductor Big O, The brains, The skipper, Bake head

Engineer Hog Head, Fog Eater, Hogger, Eagle eye, Speed gager, Throttle puller, Positive block

Enginehouse foreman Madhouse

Extra gang laborer

Gandy Dancer

Fireman

Diamond Pusher, Smoke Agent, Tallow pot, Fire boy, Coal heaver

General manager Whiskers

Master Mechanic Master maniac

Non-union employee Short tail

Railway Policeman

Gum shoe, Cinder dick

Section Foreman King Snipe

Section Laborer

Jerry, Snipe

Superintendent Old man

Switchman

Snake, Dolly Flapper

Telegraph Operator Lightning slinger, Brass pounder, Ham, Owls (3rd), Op.

Yard Clerk Number grabber

Yardmaster

Dinger, Switch hog

Any car

Wagon, Buggy

Box car

Side door Pullman

Business car

Drone cage, Brain box

Caboose

Crumb box, Dog house, Hut, Crummery

Coal car

Gon, Hopper

Empty coach

Bull fighter

Locomotive Hog, Mill, Kettle, Lion, Teapot

Locomotive with large drivers

High boy

Locomotive with small drivers

Ground hog

Mallet Locomotive

Sacred ox

Observation car

Rubberneck

Passenger car

Varnish box

Pay car

Band wagon, Family disturber

Pullman Car

Snoozer

Refrigerator cars

Freezers, Reefers

Steel car

Whale belly

Switching locomotive

Goat

Switching locomotive with sloping tender

Bob tail

Tank car

Can

Trouble car

Dynamiter

Miscellaneous Equipment

Derail

Hop toad

Heated journal water car

Keeley

Impact register

Damn liar

Journal brass

Jewel

Lamp

Hayburner

Lantern

Shiner

Semaphore light

Red eye, Green eye

Semaphore signal

Paddle, Bug, Board

Switch

Gate

Telegraph instrument

Bug

Telegraph wires

Strings

Tool box under caboose

Possum belly

Torpedoes

Guns, caps

Train order

Flimsey, Tissue

Typewriter

Mill, Threshing machine

Trains

Emigrant train Zulu

Employees' Train Modoc

Extra fare train Due train

Fats freight train Hot shot, Red ball

Freight train Rattler

Relief train The hook

Slow freight train drag

Slow passenger train plug

General

Anyone riding on a pass Deadhead

Arrival Blow in

Boasting Blowing smoke

Commuter's train Jit

Crew working 16 hours Caught by the monkey

Emergency air application Big hole

L.C.L Less than carload freight

Making a good run Hitting the ball

Meal ticket Pie book

Miss a meal Fly light

Proceed signal Highball

Relieving a crew after 16 hours Dog-catching

Run without orders Run on smoke

Rush telegram Pink

Sixteen hour law Bear

Third trick Graveyard watch

Throw a switch Bend the iron

To be disciplined Called on the carpet

To cool a hotbox Freeze a hub

To die Join the birds

To leave the service Pull the pin

Trip pass Monkey money

Work train Mud hen

Yardmaster's office Knowledge box

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