My dad was asking what each of these terms meant:
Bumper
Deadhead
Dinger
Goat
High liner
Kick
Paddle
Pig
Pig pen
Rattler
Red ball
I knew a couple, but not all. Anyone know them all?
Kent in SD
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Originally Posted by Two23:
My dad was asking what each of these terms meant:
Bumper End of siding stop.
Deadhead An "off-duty" train crew riding on a train.
Dinger Road crossing audible alarm
Goat Shop engine for moving dead engines in/out of the roundhouse.
High liner Electric engine/train
Kick
Paddle
Pig
Pig pen
Rattler Freight train
Red ball Express freight
I knew a couple, but not all. Anyone know them all?
Kent in SD
I took a shot on a few of these. If I'm wrong, I'm sure we'll hear about it.
Gilly
kick...switching a car whereby locomotive gets up speed, momentary hesitation to free uncoupling lever, then stop locomotive abruptly and freight car moves by itself into siding or yard track.
Walter Matuch
Paddle = Could be an early signal that placed a board ("paddle") above a track where a train was supposed to stop. If a train didn't stop, the board ("paddle") would hit the stack and alert the crew. As trains grew bigger and faster, such signals became downright dangerous and were no longer used.
Paddling could also describe an early locomotive huffing or cruising along, not working hard. Locomotives with no superheaters (the 119 and the JUPITER at the Golden Spike Monument in Utah: David Kloke's LEVIATHAN and the YORK; the WILLIAM MASON at the B&O Museum in Baltimore) use "wet" steam and produce a subdued exhaust. It doesn't have the "bark" of a modern steam locomotive with a superheater (765, 4449, or 261).
Pig and Pig Pen could refer to stock cars and pens for pigs in shipment.
Hog and Hogger were slang terms for a steam locomotive and an engineer. Following that train of thought, Pig could refer to a locomotive; Pig Pen, to an engine terminal.
Pig is a TOFC (piggyback) load. We had a "pig yard" at the SLSF Okla City yard, but nobody called it pigpen.
