origin of terminology "hot train" for high priority train ?

Hi @ all,

Does anybody know the origin of terminology "hot train", which describe a high priority train ?

Hot Train == Hot (never Cold) Steamengine ?!?

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The origin of "highballing" is the ball signal ?!?
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=242373
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=288071
High Ball == Clear Signal


-- Andre
and sorry if this is the wrong sub-forum

It is simply a logical term that is recognizable to people. WE called 'em "Hot Shots", and usually applied to pig trains.

By the same token, there's a lot of terms that have been applied by train buffs that simply aren't used inside the industry. They seem to have been invented by this group. Like............"Track Speeder". In all my years on the RR, I never heard them called that, and, indeed, such things they might've been called no longer existed. WE called them "Motor Cars", pure and simple. or the formal name: Motor Car, M19, Fairmont. There's no such thing (on my RR) as a "track speeder", and "speeding" is frowned upon and will get you run off!

GF

Any train that was needed at the other end of the railroad was a HOT train on Conrail. Sometimes, if you announced to the dispatcher you had 9 hours on duty, you might become a hot train as you were now a 'short timer.' Short timer meant you were running on your last two hours before you outlawed and had 12 hours and could no longer perform service. A "shooter" was an EL? term that ment you were not working anywhere and your train had a straight shot to the other end,the yard equivilent to a "quit". A yard quit was 4 hours on duty and you went home,got paid for 8 hrs. or a basic yard day. I like these questions, because it reminds me of everyday things tha one tends to forget after you leave the RR.

Gadfly wrote:By the same token, there's a lot of terms that have been applied by train buffs that simply aren't used inside the industry. They seem to have been invented by this group.

GF

One of these 'foamer' terms that isn't used anywhere in the industry is "Lash up" when refering to a locomotive consist. Any of you other rails ever heard that term at work?

CN_Hogger

if i heard some one at work use that term (lashup)we would have laughed at him.

RDGTRANSMUSEUM wrote:if i heard some one at work use that term (lashup)we would have laughed at him.

Some others are "high iron". What's so "high" about it? Another was "on the point"...as if any real railroader gave a tinkers dam WHAT was up there! Most of those terms on NS/Southern would illicit snickers from us. It instantly branded people as 'foamers" as they proudly spewed their "knowledge" to us, eager to fit in!


GF

Same thing as the railroad term "lay off".. I've always known it as "call off".. railroad term or geographical term idk..

Union Pacific's hottest intermodals are sometimes called "birds" (otherwise known as "Z" trains), especially in ex-CNW territory in the midwest. The nickname is derived from CNW's "Falcon" piggyback service from the 1970's, which was a joint operation with UP at the time...

doepack wrote:Union Pacific's hottest intermodals are sometimes called "birds" (otherwise known as "Z" trains), especially in ex-CNW territory in the midwest. The nickname is derived from CNW's "Falcon" piggyback service from the 1970's, which was a joint operation with UP at the time...

The "Birds" nickname is probably only heard on the ex CNW lines. At Fremont NE, the North Platte (original UP) crews call the priority trains "Shooters." They call local trains "pickers" while the CNW side calls them "wayfreights." One exception on the UP/CNW divide is for the RailEx reefer trains from Washington/California to New York. They are symbolled as Z trains, but often called "salad shooters" on the CNW side.

I like the derision given by working or former railroaders thinking that just because they haven't heard, or don't use a term it must be a made up "foamer" thing. Like hand signals, some terms are probably railroad or region specific. I imagine that many may have been common once, but have fallen out of favor over time.

A friend of mine who's retired from the RI/IRRC/IAIS asks me when he sees me if I'm working the extra board or the chain gang. On the railroad I work for, I've never heard anyone use the term chain gang to mean the unassigned freight pool. I knew what he was talking about because I grew up around RI people. Everyone at work just calls it the "Pool." Extra board is another term subject to location. I know some places will (or did) use extra list instead.

Other differences that I've noticed (on the same railroad now, but made up from different properties) is the time you are to report for work is either the time you are "called for" or "ordered for." If you are deadheaded to or from the train you might ride in a "van" or a "wagon." Even though the vehicle is the same for either term.

I have even heard someone say "lash up" at work, but only once and I told him not to use it again or he'll be branded a "foamer." Even though he already had been on the job for 8 years.

Jeff, currently on vacation or as the computer lists the status, LV. Stands for Layed Off-Vacation.