We have (had) a real "gem" in our class, that we just finished in Wilmington. He is now called "Lumpy" or "Lumpy-Doodles". That name will unfortunately (for him) stick with him for the rest of his railroad career, however short that is. Railroaders are a cunning, sadistic, antagonistic and vicious lot. (but enough about their good traits) The weakest are immediately singled out, and are unfortunately (sometimes) fodder for the rest of the pack. UP tells it like it is, while not even scratching the surface. SooLineRob, we all know what
Final
Terminal
Delay is really called, right.....
(woof-woof). We got a thread about barking turbos on the EMD Forum. It's the giant "burp" it makes, when the bearings and/or impeller get coked up. It blasts a big bark, then freezes up again, until the pressure busts it loose again, with another bark, a ball of fire, and a huge plume of thick black smoke. This might repeat itself two or three times a minute, under a heavy load, in the 8th.
Railroaders are very "cliquish", someplaces might never accept an outsider, even after years and years of working with him. People can, and do sometimes get "blackballed" even though most folks wouldn't know what that really means. Railroaders do. Of course railroaders know what a hotbox means, as well as a tramp, and a lot of other terms and words, that would make a normal person scratch their head. Trying to force railfan created/accepted terms into mouths of railroaders isn't going to cut it. This isn't a "slam" against whoever posted this, but you can't honestly talk the talk, unless you are walking the walk. Stuff you want to have from trackside is great. I'm trackside myself, whenever the mood strikes. You won't know me, and you certainly won't know I'm a railroader. I might get as much fun watching and listening to you, as you do watching, and listening to us. You won't have me coming to work, talking about "elephant style" though, no matter how proper a term YOU might think it is. I'll bet you would snag any railroad "slanguage" you overheard, and would find a way to work it into a conversation, with your fellow buffs at trackside. That's the difference. We have our slanguage, and even though it might have regional variations to it, it's still ours. Just a thought. Regards.....