Welcome to Southern Maine Rail Pics

1. AEI Readers (interrogators) are installed at strategic points such as plant entrance and/or exit points, railroad junction points etc. to read AEI tags. Also known as Automatic Car Identification or Rail Car Identification tags.
2. AEI tags (transponders) store certain information about the rail car, such as the owner and car number. Tags can be mounted on trailers, railcars, containers and locomotives. As tagged equipment passes a reader, the tag identifies the equipment and the reader relays the time, date and other programmed information to a host computer.

1. Haul a shipment over part of the reverse route the car traveled with the initial load.
2. Shipment hauled back over part of or the entire route of the car.
3. Empty car hauled back over part of or the entire route of the last shipment it had.
4. Shipment moving in the direction of the light flow of traffic
5. Picking up a load in a piece of equipment that normally runs empty. This may also be called filling the back haul.

1. Fireman's shovel. AKA Scoop.
2. Old-style banjo-shaped semaphore signal.
3. Switch handle that has a large flat weight or target at or near the top.

1. A length of track of defined limits.
2. A group of cars classified for movement to the same yard or terminal.
3. To classify a train or trains such that all cars for a particular destination are together.

1. The accumulation and tender of cars for loading or unloading in excess of orders or contrary to customary schedules.
2. In train handling, the accumulation of slack in a train. If an engineer is having trouble getting a heavy train started he may set the brakes on the rear of the train with the caboose valve and push the slack together, then start pulling the train before releasing those brakes.

1. Line haul rate that includes the cost of drayage services and accessorial charges such as "free days" or per diem relief. (Intermodal freight)
2. Line haul rate that includes the combination of rail and transload costs. (Carload freight)
3. Other costs may be included as well (ex. Fueling in Route for refrigerated cars).

• Bobbers (also Bouncers, Buggies, Carts, Go-carts, Hacks, Mudchickens, Mudhens, Shays, Whip Crackers, or Wiebles) were small two axle cabooses used by logging railroads and shortlines and on early branchlines to provide extra braking power when descending hills when speeds were slow or as cheap crew accommodations.
• Transfer Cabooses (also Cabin Cars, Trailers, or Vans) were usually flat cars with part of a boxcar tacked on or converted box cars used for short runs between yards and switching runs and internal accommodations varied by needs.
• Drovers Cabooses were combines with an added cupola in the freight area. The Drovers (Livestock Handlers) had the passenger section and the train crew usually had the freight area. They were also used on narrow gauge and short lines where few passengers were accommodated.
• Bay Window or Side Bay Cabooses had side bay windows instead of a cupola which permitted the train crew to look along the side of a train, especially when rounding curves, for detection of hot boxes or other trouble.
• Other Caboose nicknames: ambulance, anchor, bazoo or brain combined with wagon or box, chariot, clown wagon, crib, cripples' home or house, crumb box, crummy, den, diner, dog house (also used for the cupola), glory wagon (men killed in train wrecks, caboose or otherwise, 'went to glory' and rear end collisions were common early on), gorilla cage, hay wagon, hearse, kitchen, library, louse cage, madhouse, monkey (cage, hut, or house), palace, parlor, parlor shack (rear brakemen were the 'parlor brakemen'), rest room, strawberry patch, temple of knowledge, treasure chest, waycar, or zoo.

1. A train that was shut down in route and left unattended.
2. An employee that was fired or laid off.
3. A train that has been canceled.

1. Switchman, so called because of red lights on switch stands.
2. Any railroad man who is always figuring on the best jobs and sidestepping undesirable ones (based on the old allusion, "Life is a bowl of cherries").
3. A machine with a long boom used for the placing and pick up of ties and other small materials.

1. To uncouple a car.
2. A group of cars coupled together.
3. That part of the right-of-way which is excavated out of a hill or mountain instead of running up over it or being tunneled through it.

• Official
  1. Employee riding on company pass or on company business.
  2. Train and/or engine crew moved without performing service, from one terminal to another at railroad convenience or out to a train for relief and for which they are paid.
  3. Locomotive hauled by another or in a train but not in use for power (Cut Out).
  4. A nonpaying passenger.
• Unofficial
  1. Fireman's or engineer's term for a head end brakeman.
  2. Any employee who is seen as not performing enough of his duties or not doing much work.

1. Orders, official instructions, or explanations.
2. Waste packing that has been soaked and is ready for use in the journals.
3. Water treatment used to help keep scaling inside the boiler down.

1. Two consecutive tours of duty.
2. To split a train into two parts often done to get a train into a small yard or to get it up a steep grade.

1. Movement of containers on articulated rail cars that enable one container to be stacked on another container for better ride quality and car utilization.
2. Flat cars that enable containers to be stacked one atop another.

1. A portable sensory transmitter unit mounted on the last car of a train that transmits information to a receiver display unit on the engine.
2. A flashing light that can be fixed to the rear of a train when transmitting data is not necessary.

1. A permanent signal or sign indicating a condition affecting train movement. See Wayside Signal.
2. Derisive term for a student brakeman standing on a boxcar with his lamp strait out and a cinder in his eye etc.

1. A non-lighted signaling device. AKA Ribbon if on the front of a train.
2. An assumed name. Many a boomer worked under a flag when his own name was black-listed.

1. The floating or transfer of railroad cars across water.
2. Also the charge for such service.

1. A person or firm engaged in the business of consolidating the shipments of different shippers into carload lots and forwarding them in volume lot service.
2. One who is in the business of clearing and trans-shipping property to and from foreign countries.

1. A switch. Usually one at a gateway (point of interchange).
2. Entry from a passenger terminal to a platform.

1. Fill a steam locomotive tender with water.
2. Fuel a diesel electric locomotive.

1. The weight of an article together with the weight of its container and the material used for packing.
2. As applied to a carload, the weight of a car together with the weight of its contents.

1. A torpedo placed on a rail which will act as a signal warning when it is detonated by a train crossing over it.
2. The injector of a steam locomotive.

1. Retire
2. Boomer term that meant hocking your railroad watch during a slack time.

1. Coupler just behind the head end locomotives.
2. To pull the Head Pin in order to begin switching, or put away locomotives at a terminal.
3. Head Man

1. A vehicle that can be driven on the highway or railroad. Also known as Hi-rail and Hy-rail.
2. The outer or elevated rail of a curved track.

1. The owning road of a railroad car or locomotive.
2. The road that the crew of a train is from.

1. The return route of a foreign car to the owning road.
2. The return route of a foreign crew to their home road.

1. Fast train; frequently a freight made up of merchandise and perishables. Often called a manifest or red-ball run.
2. An official of the railroad who thinks more highly of himself than he ought to.

1. Technical: The actual steel rail which was originally made of iron.
2. Slang: The track, and single iron means single track

1. The connection where two rails are joined together and/or the parts used in the connection.
2. A coupling between two cars. To "ride to a joint" is to ride the rear of a car to bring two cars together so that they are coupled.

1. Last call for duty before retirement or death.
2. Last chance for drinks in the club car etc.

1. Fast freight usually made up of mixed cars of merchandise, perishables or livestock. AKA Hot Shot or Meat Run.
2. A description of the contents of a shipment.

1. Reporting as not available for work.
2. The act of filling out the employee's time slip with the time released from duty.

1. The weight of an article clear of packing and container.
2. As applied to a carload, the weight of the entire contents of the car not including the car.

1. A car without forwarding instructions or an associated waybill.
2. A worker who does not join a union or brotherhood, particularly train or enginemen.
3. A worker who is thought of as not being productive while working.

1. An employee assigned to a train or track car when the Engineer, Conductor or Track Car Driver is not qualified on the physical characteristics or the operating rules of the territory to be traversed.
2. A protective guard at the front of the locomotive to push aside obstructions.

1. Any short stake used to hold a stack of ties or rails in place.
2. Locking item in a coupler.
3. Anchor for an item that must rotate about a fixed position.

1. A port at which foreign goods are admitted into the receiving country.
2. The point at which a shipment of foreign goods entered or is expected to enter a country.

1. A port at which goods shipped to a foreign country are admitted out of a country.
2. The point at which a shipment of goods to a foreign country is expected to exit a country.

1. Removal of a car from a particular location, usually a spot at an industry.
2. To leave or to give up a job.

1. Uncouple a car by pulling up the coupling or knuckle pin.
2. An expression meaning to resign or leave a job.

1. Team leader responsible for seeing that work gets done on schedule.
2. A locomotive used to help trains up steep grades by pushing from behind.

Straight and flat stretch of track upon which an engineer can safely make unusually high speed. Also parallel stretches of track of two competing railroads upon which rival trains race one another (contrary to company rules but much to the delight of enginemen, trainmen, and passengers, and perhaps to the secret delight of some officials).

Rigby yard gets this designation for the former Rigby Trotting Park in South Portland. It was the site of the 1896 New England Fair. The track was known for the fastest horse racing in the United States at the time and operated from 1893-1898.

In the 1920's the park was purchased by the Maine Central Railroad and became the Rigby Railway Yard. Some of the engineers will announce their readiness by saying they are in the starting gate.

1. An unmanned engine situated within the train consist, separated by cars from the lead unit, but controlled from it by radio signals.
2. A switching engine controlled by a hand held radio control unit a conductor wears.

1. A length of track, usually 39 feet long.
2. One side of the track. An east-west railroad will have a north rail and a south rail.
3. A railroad employee.

• noun
  1. A track or set of tracks made of steel rails along which passenger and freight trains run. "His uncle works on the railroad." AKA Railway, Pike, or Line or Streak O' Rust.
  2. A system of tracks with the trains, organization, and personnel required for its working: "the Union Pacific Railroad."
• verb
  1. Press (someone) into doing something by rushing or coercing them: "she hesitated, unwilling to be railroaded into a decision".
  2. Cause (a measure) to be passed or approved quickly by applying pressure: "the Bill had been railroaded through the House".
  3. Send (someone) to prison without a fair trial or by means of false evidence: "they know I was railroaded and falsely accused".

Rawhiders were a rough-hewn class of frontier itinerants who gathered cow or buffalo hides for sale. Rawhide was an all-purpose material. Frontier folk used it for just about anything from wire and gate hinges to mending a broken rifle stock. The term referred to someone always on the move or to a small cow outfit. A “Rawhide Texan” meant one tough hombre. A “Rawhide Job” meant a tough job. A “Rawhide Outfit” was a tough one to work for. So you can see it had a lot of meanings, all of them rough and rawhide tough.

On the railroad it took the meaning of an official, or any employee, who is especially hard on men or equipment, or both, with which he works. A rawhider, like a slave driver, delights in causing someone to do more than his share of work. Running too fast when picking up a man on the footboard, or making a quick stop just short of him when he is expecting to step on, so that he has to walk back, are two ways it is done; but there are almost as many ways of rawhiding as there are different situations.

1. Control the movement to permit stopping within one half the range of vision short of:
   1. Other trains or railroad equipment occupying or fouling the track,
   2. Obstructions,
   3. Switches not properly lined for movement,
   4. Derails set in the derailing position,
   5. Any signal requiring a stop.
AND
2. Look out for broken rail and misaligned track.
AND
3. Do not exceed 20 MPH outside interlocking limits and 15 MPH within interlocking limits. This restriction applies to the entire movement, unless otherwise specified in the rule or instruction that requires Restricted Speed.

1. Passed a more favorable fixed signal, or
2. Entered non-signaled DCS territory.

1. The the legal right, established by usage or grant, to pass along a specific route through grounds or property belonging to another, usually granted to a railroad by a state charter, over which tracks have been laid.
2. Also, the area four to six feet from the nearest rail on both sides and between the rails.

Employees must report for duty at the required time.

Employees subject to call must not leave their usual calling place without notice to those required to call them.

Employees must not absent themselves from duty or leave their assignment or engage a substitute to perform their duties without permission of a designated officer.

Employees must give immediate written notice of change in residence or telephone number to a designated officer.

1. To move the engine(s) from one end of a train to the other.
2. A track siding specially designed to allow for engines to move from one end of the train to the other.
3. If an employee is not called for work in turn, he/she may claim pay for the run which he/she missed. In such cases, it is said he has been given a "run-around."

1. A walkway along the locomotive to facilitate inspection and maintenance.
2. A walkway along the tops of cars allowing brakemen to pass over them to access the brake wheels.

1. A track designated in the timetable upon which movements may be made subject to prescribed signals and rules, or special instructions.
2. A track reserved for movement through a yard. Also called an alley.

1. A track adjacent to the main track for purposes other than for meeting and passing trains.
2. To switch a car onto a railroad side track.
3. To turn aside or deflect from a purpose or to prevent action on by diversionary tactics.

1. Trainman who calls out the distance to a spot for coupling, aligning a door to a platform etc.
2. Spy, company man assigned to snoop around and check on employees.

1. Pole used in dangerous and now rare method of switching. A cut of cars was shoved by a stake attached to the car immediately in front of the engine. This method was supposed to be superior to the normal method of "batting them out" because there was less wear and tear on drawbars and less damage to freight (debatable); but the human casualties that resulted gave more than one yard the nickname "slaughterhouse."
2. The money a boomer saved on a job so he could resign and continue eating regularly while looking for another job.

1. Space inside a mail or baggage car containing mail or parcels consigned to a certain destination and separated from other shipments by removable steel posts.
2. Space inside a roundhouse or engine house reserved for an engine needing storage or repair.

1. Any geared locomotive that uses a driveshaft or stem to transfer power between its wheels and trucks.
2. A trolley car without air brakes because of the motion of its hand brake handle.
3. A watch wound by means of a stem, as opposed to the older method of winding with a key

1. A 33 foot long piece of rail.
2. Staff used on certain stretches of track to control the block. It is carried by engine crews from one station to another. Now out of use.

1. Passed a more favorable fixed signal, or
2. 2. Entered non-signaled DCS territory.

• Noun: A device consisting of two movable rails, necessary connections, and operating parts designed to turn a locomotive or car from the track on which it is running to another track. AKA Gate.
• OR Verb: To move cars from one place to another, usually within a defined territory.

1. A list of freight cars in track standing order showing cars by initial, number, type of car, and showing where cars are to be switched as required by local practice.
2. Menu at railroad eating house.

1. Train service employee responsible for aligning tracks for engine and car movements by throwing switches. AKA Switchman or Switch Monkey.
2. Building housing controls for remotely throwing switches.

1. Classification: The process of putting cars in a specific order.
2. Industrial: placing cars for loading or retrieving empties.
3. Train: adding or removing cars from a train at an intermediate point.
4. Intermediate: Service performed by a carrier who neither originates nor terminates the shipment.
5. Inter-plant: Movement of a car from one track to another within the shipper's or receiver's yard, or an intermediate terminal.

1. The weight of a container and the material used for packing.
2. The weight of any empty freight car.

1. A facility owned by a railroad on it's line for the handling of freight and for the breaking up, making up, forwarding, and servicing of trains.
2. An input/output (I/O) device connected to a computer.
3. Point where train and engine employees originate and/or terminate their tour of duty.
4. A designated area within a metropolitan area where one or more rail yards exist.
5. Railway Post Office unit, usually at or near the railroad station, where mail is removed from sacks, sorted, and forwarded to its ultimate destination.

1. A request to trace a shipment for the purpose of expediting its movement or establishing delivery.
2. A request for an answer to a communication.

1. Permit given by a railroad allowing an employee to use passenger services to get to his next place of employment on the railroad.
2. Permit given by a railroad Brotherhood to a man in search of employment.

1. For freight, empty a car of its freight.
2. For hobos, get off train hurriedly so as not to get caught by the crew or the Bulls.

1. A box car from which LCL shipments are loaded and unloaded at various towns.
2. A Caboose when it is preforming the same task.

1. Loading or unloading a storage mail car
2. Sorting mail and parcel packages into slots and bags on an RPO (Railway Post Office) car.

1. Crew assigned to the duties of rerailing and cleanup after a wreck.
2. Relief crew. Derogatory term derived from the difficulty first crews sometimes experienced in rearranging a caboose after it has been used by a relief crew. Relief crews would often ride in the caboose until their turn to operate the train, then the first crew would take it up.