Railroad slang query

I wonder whether anyone on this group would be able to help a steam
railfan in South Africa, where I'm a fireman (stoker?) on heritage
steam locos?

A couple of years ago I found on a US railroad humor website an article
about railroad slang which included a piece purporting to be an old
railroadman giving evidence before a judge or investigator about a
train wreck he had witnessed. He launched into several paragraphs of
serious railroad lingo which were totally incomprehensible. Fortunately
it included a translation for us lesser mortals.

Foolishly I failed to save that page. I've been Googling for it
recently to share with some of my South African railfan colleagues but
can't find it anywhere. I wonder if any of you are aware of it and can
point me towards it?

Thanks in advance.

There is a post a little further down the list in this forum about RR slang,it has a link to a site with about every bit of verbage you may here out here.

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



There it is.

I know what story your talking about. The con was in the shack flippin the tissue eagles eye was down oiling the pig tallowpot was cracking diamonds the hind man was cooling a hot hub and I was bending the iron when she hit us. Am I close??
Check on ebay for the book treasury of railroad folklore. It and many others are in there. Also old Railroad magazines ( pre 40's are the best) tell some more awesome stories.
And yes John your a fireman! Welcome to the greatest job in the world!! Dealing with a snorting monster feeding her and making her run long after some first generation diesels ( even second) are long gone is a great calling. You ever get across the pond come on up and fire for me . Nice little 1912 Heisler.

Thanks very much, route_rock. That's exactly the piece I was looking for. I've now found that book online and ordered a copy by mail order. I look forward to reading it.

And you're dead right about firemen! Here in South Africa there's still a fair bit of heritage steam around and I feel privileged to be a part of it all.

We have a small glossary here:

http://railroad.net/articles/railfannin ... /index.php

-otto-

Thanks. I like the way this glossary is laid out under headings rather than simply alphabetically. Short, but user-friendly!

johnthefireman wrote:Thanks. I like the way this glossary is laid out under headings rather than simply alphabetically. Short, but user-friendly!

I agree John!

route_rock, I finally got a copy of the book A Treasury of Railroad Folklore edited by B A Botkin and Alvin F Harlow - it came surface mail from UK to South Africa which took a while. Haven't found that particular piece in it yet, but it's a truly superb book and I'm really enjoying delving into it. Thanks for the tip!

Glad you enjoy it.I cant remember where it is in the book right off hand I do believe its in the section about working on the railroad.
The whole book has some neat stories. The Walla Walla train that used dogs to scare cattle off the tracks ( Washingotn state supposedly still has it on the books that a dog must ride on the trains in said state to scare cattle)Also check e bay for old railroad stories under pulp magazines.

Here's another compilation of slang, from the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen:
http://www.brs72.org/BRS-RRTALK.html

Australian railway slang: http://dbromage.omni.com.au/slang.html

British signalling slang: http://www.signalbox.org/branches/jh/index.htm

The latter is called, "Standing at the peg, Bobby", which translates as, "I'm standing at the signal, signalman".