List of U.S. railfan jargon
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An incomplete list of US railfan jargon.
Contents: Top - 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
[edit] A
- Alligator: ALCO RSD-15 locomotive, so named for its long, low nose.
[edit] B
- B-Unit: A booster locomotive commonly with no cab.
- Baby Boat: GE U18B locomotive.
- Baby Tunnel Motor: EMD GP15-1 or GP15T locomotive, so-called because its low air intakes resemble those of the much larger SD40T-2 and SD45T-2.
- Bandit: Nickname for Milwaukee Road engines after the railroad was sold to the Soo Line. The Soo covered up the Milwaukee Road name and logo on the orange locomotives with black paint, causing them to resemble bandits.
- Big Mac: Nickname given to EMD's SD70MAC, SD80MAC and SD90MAC locomotive models.
- Billboard: Santa Fe locomotive in the pre-1972 blue and yellow scheme
- Black Widow: Southern Pacific Locomotive (All black with some silver)
- Bloody Nose: Southern Pacific Locomotive (Post 1959, grey and red paint scheme)
- Bluebonnet: one of two Santa Fe paint schemes. The standard freight scheme from 1972 until the BNSF merger was dark blue with yellow on the front, with the same color division as the warbonnet scheme. It is also known as Yellowbonnet. Bluebonnet can also mean a warbonnet unit with only the red painted over, resulting in a silver and blue locomotive; this was used on passenger engines transferred to freight service after the formation of Amtrak.
- Brick: GE E44 electric engines used by Pennsylvania, Penn Central and later by New Jersey Transit (called this because the road-switcher style engines were as ugly as a brick compared to the classic PRR GG1s that they worked along side of)
- Bright Future: The middle CSX 3-tone paint scheme (AKA YN2)
- Bull: a railroad police officer.
[edit] C
- Calf: A cabless switcher. Not a slug, it has its own diesel engine.
- Catfish: Norfolk Southern's D9-40CW locomotives
- Ches-C: Chessie System's kitten logo
- Chicken Shit Express: Derogatory nickname given to CSX.
- Coal Drag: A train loaded with coal
- Covered wagon: an EMD E-series or F-series locomotive.
- Cow: a switcher locomotive, when paired with a Calf.
- Crap-9: Another term of derision for Norfolk Southern W9-40C engines
[edit] D
- Dark Future: The new CSX paint scheme (AKA YN3 or GN1)
- Darth Vader: Term used to describe the lens hood on a modern style of railroad signals, due to its visual resemblance to the helmet of Darth Vader from Star Wars. [1]
- Diamond/Diamonds: Level crossing of two railroad tracks, at any angle from 15° to 90°.
- Diet Pepsi: An Amtrak GE Dash 8-32BWH wearing the Phase IV paint scheme. (See Pepsi Can)
- Dirt Dauber: Loaded phosphate train
- Douche-9: Norfolk Southern's D9-40CW locomotives, derogative. (Some railfans who live in or near NS territory find these locomotives to be unwelcome, due to them being very common.)
- Dress Blues: Former Conrail unit, nostalgic.
- Dump Truck: a GE AC6000CW, based at least partially on the fact that these units are almost always covered with dirt and grime.
- Dynamics/dynamic braking: Regenerative braking in which the motors on the locomotive wheels generate electric power off of the momentum of the moving train, and this power is burned off through resistor grids as heat.
[edit] E
- Ex-Con: Former Conrail unit or former Conrail employee
[edit] F
- Fallen flag: a railroad company that no longer operates
- Wings/Flags/Flares (W/F/F): Characteristics used to designate Union Pacific's paint scheme and engine type. Wings = "Wing" Decal on the engine nose, Flags = "American Flag" Decal on engine body, Flares = "Flared Radiators" of certain SD70Ms on the long hood. Some engines have one or more of these UP characteristics.
- Fatheads: Wide-nose (North American Cab) locomotives
- Foamer: a railfan, particularly one whose enthusiasim is excessive.
- Ford Edsel: Amtrak GE Genesis locomotives
- Furball/Furbie: Locomotive owned by First Union Rail (FURX)
- FRN: an acronym for "fucking rail nut", a derogatory term used by some railroaders to describe railfans[1]
[edit] G
- Geep: Nickname for EMD's GP series of locomotives
- Gennie: A MetroNorth or Amtrak GE P32AC-DM locomotive.
- GEVO: Nickname for GE Evolution Series locomotives, in reference to the GEVO-12 engine used in those units.
- GN1: Gold Nose 1, the current CSX paint scheme. Another term for YN3.
- Goat: a locomotive used in yard switching service.
- Greenie Weenie: Leased locomotive, typically of Burlington Northern heritage.
- Guilford Fail System: Guilford Rail System (derogative). Several Guilford locomotives have had the "R" in the word "Rail" vandalized to resemble an "F," thus resulting in this nickname.
[edit] H
- Hammerhead: Norfolk Southern GE (Dash 9, etc) running long hood forward.
- Hogger: locomotive engineer.
- Horsehead: Norfolk Southern's new locomotive livery with a horse's head embedded in the NS Logo. (sometimes also called 'Mr. Ed')
[edit] J
- Jenny (also Jimmy): A 24 ft or 25 ft long ore car.
- Jet: New Haven EP-5 electric locomotive, named for its loud cooling air blower equipment.
- Juice jack: Electric locomotive.
[edit] K
- Kodachrome: Southern Pacific Santa Fe Railroad's red, yellow and black paint scheme, which resembled the packaging of Kodachrome color transparency film. This was the scheme instituted when the merger between Southern Pacific and Santa Fe was assumed to be approved. Hundreds of locomotives were painted in Kodachrome colors before the merger was denied.
[edit] M
- Manifest: A freight train with a mixture of car types and cargos.
- Mate: See Mother.
- Mating Worms: Penn Central logo
- Meatball/Swedish Meatball: Amtrak EMD AEM-7 / ABB ALP-44 electric locomotives; so named for their design being based on the Swedish Rc4.
- Miniquad: Four ore cars (jennies) permanently coupled.
- Mop, the: the Missouri Pacific Railroad (MoPac).
- Mother: The locomotive that is paired with a slug.
- Mud Missile: Derogatory nickname given to GE Genesis locomotives, in reference to their involvement in the 1993 Big Bayou Canot train disaster.
[edit] N
[edit] O
- Orange: One of Tropicana Orange Juice Company's Bright Orange boxcars.
[edit] P
- Pac-Man: A nickname for Canadian Pacific's 1968-1996 logo featuring a black triangle within a white half-circle, which resembles the main character of the video arcade game Pac-Man. It was CP's corporate logo for all business aspects - railway (CP Rail), shipping (CP Ships), telecommunications (CNCP), trucking (CP Express) and airline (CP Air).
The CP Rail "Pac-Man" logo. - Patch: A locomotive wearing a new reporting mark and/or number on a "patch" over existing paint, usually of the former owner's.
- Pepsi Can: An Amtrak GE Dash 8-32BWH, in reference to the units' original paint scheme with large red and blue stripes.
- Pig train: a train devoted exclusively to intermodal traffic, generally trailers on flatcars (TOFC) or containers on flatcars (COFC).
- Private varnish/PV: privately owned passenger cars.
- Pumpkin: BNSF Railway's current paint scheme, CSX's maintenance-of-way paint scheme. Formerly also ICG's all-orange scheme.
[edit] R
- Racetrack: Nickname for a stretch of Metra Commuter Rail line where commuter trains commonly attain high speeds.
- Red Barns: Canadian Pacific's SD40-2F locomotives
- Rent-a-Wreck: Locomotive owned by a leasing company
[edit] S
- Screamer: EMD F40PH locomotive, in reference to it operating in a constant state of full throttle (in order to provide head-end power to passenger cars). Coined by MBTA railfans.
- Screaming Thunderbox: EMD F40PH locomotive, particularly while in Amtrak service.
- Sergeant Stripes: a Canadian National locomotive in the 1970s-1980s paint scheme featuring light grey stripes on the locomotive's long hood.
- Slug: A locomotive, with or without an operator's cab, which lacks a diesel engine, and draws power for its traction motors from a normal locomotive, known as a "mate" or "mother."
- Slushbucket: SD26 locomotive. So named for their muffled-sounding turbochargers.
- Speeder: a small, motorized track inspection vehicle. Also called motorcar, trackcar, putt-putt, or golf cart.
- Space Age Noodle: Another name for the current Canadian National logo.
- Speedo: a track speed restriction (slow order).
- Stealth Unit: The early CSX grey & blue paint scheme. So named for their virtual invisibility in poor light. Also used to describe NS D9-40CWs in light gray primer paint, and a scheme used on some Metro-North locomotives.
[edit] T
- Toaster: Amtrak AEM-7/ALP-44 or GE P42DC locomotives. Also used to refer to any GE locomotive, due both to their tendency to shoot flames out of the exhaust stack during Turbo Lag and to General Electric's historic involvement in the manufacture of household appliances.
- Tunnel Motor: Southern Pacific EMD SD40T-2 / EMD SD45T-2. Named for the lower-located air intakes to prevent the locomotive from pulling diesel exhaust in with the clean air while traveling through a tunnel.
- Turbo Lag: Characteristic of older Alco locomotives (and in more modern times, GE locomotives), where the turbocharger lags behind the throttle-up of the diesel, shooting dense clouds of black smoke and/or flames from the exhaust stack when initially throttling up.
[edit] U
- U-Boat: GE Universal Series locomotive.
[edit] V
- Vomit Bonnet: BNSF's first attempt at a paint scheme
[edit] W
- Warbonnet: Santa Fe's red and silver paint scheme (less common since the BNSF Railway merger in 1995)
- Wet Noodle: Canadian National's stylized CN logo, in use since 1961.
- Window train: a passenger train.
- Winnebago: Nickname for Metra's fleet of EMD F40PHM-2 locomotives, in reference to that model's resemblance to the popular recreational vehicle.
[edit] Y
- Yellowbonnet: one of two Santa Fe paint schemes. The standard freight scheme from 1972 until the BNSF merger was dark blue with yellow on the front, with the same color division as the warbonnet scheme. It is also known as Bluebonnet. Yellowbonnet can also mean a warbonnet unit with only the red painted over, resulting in a silver and yellow locomotive; this was used on passenger engines transferred to freight service after the formation of Amtrak.
- YN1: CSX's first yellow-nose paint scheme; gray overall with dark blue on the top half of the cab and yellow on the front of the nose; blue "CSX" lettering
- YN2: CSX's second yellow-nose paint scheme; more yellow on the nose; the whole cab is dark blue, along with a stripe on the side; blue or yellow "CSX" lettering
- YN3: CSX's third yellow-nose paint scheme; dark blue overall with a yellow nose; yellow "CSX" lettering
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Kisor, Henry (1994). Zephyr: Tracking a Dream Across America. Adams Publishing, Holbrook, Massachusetts, p 6. ISBN 1-55850-477-X.
