Originally Posted by Number 90:
Laming, your personal record has been awarded ten merits for your photo of the KC&G Nw2, for modeling the KC&G NW2, and for including authentic crew member names. (The Rock Island BLHW S12 was appreciated, too!)
"Garsh... thank'ya... thank'ay... thank'ya vury much."
Nicknames:
As you know, Tom, nicknames are a long time tradition in railroading. Among the characters I work around/with on a daily basis, here's just some of the nicknames:
"Junior": I gave him that shortly after he hired out because he reminded me of the Hee Haw personality Junior Samples on account of his extreme country dialect and looks.
"Big Head": A Mech. Dept guy gave him that label because Big Head thought he was God's gift to railroading. He's no longer employed here.
"Steeltrap": When he was a new hire, almost everything he was being taught sailed over his head. One day after explaining some moves to be made, I saw that thoughtful "huh?" look on his face and made the good-natured sarcastic humor comment "your mind is like steeltrap, isn't it? Catches something and won't let go!" He's been "Steeltrap" ever since.
"Opie": "Cause he looks like Ron Howard when Ron played "Opie" on the Andy Griffith show!
"Hollywood": I ended up calling this fellow that one on account of his white rimmed safety glasses he wore for a while.
"Troll": Somebody gave him that name because he was from lower Michigan and I understand those from lower Michigan are "Trolls" and those from upper Micchigan are "Eupers". ??
As for my nickname... long time ago it was "Coonskin" because of my admiration for the Frisco RR, the herald of which was derived from a stretched coonskin. However, now that I'm the oldest in Train Service on the railroad I work, no telling what my nickname is that's floating around that I haven't heard!
Other nicknames of guys I've known/worked with/etc:
"Highball" Hall
"Dingle" (Last name was Christenberry... you can figure out what "Dingle" replaced!)
"Goob"
"Gomer"
"Detroit"
"Slo-mo"
"Flash" (Sarcasm for sure, he was slow as molasses.)
"Fat Dog" Duncan. His initials is F.D.
"Big Dog" Anderson. A gruff, old head Conductor that pulled his final pin a long time ago and is no longer with us.
"Sarge". 6'5" and 300+ pounds of Hog Head. Had a loud booming voice and worked on the RR forever. Knew his stuff and didn't have much patience for those that didn't!
There's more, but these the ones that quickly come to mind.
Model figures:
I'm gonna' haf'ta get off my tuckus and paint up some more... those three are gettin' a mite tired posing in a lot of my quickie pics.
Andre