Untangling the Mysteries of Railroaders' Slang

Growing up in a small Midwestern town plopped down in the middle of nowhere but linked to everywhere by the Santa Fe freight and passenger trains that ran through our little burg left me with an abiding affection for railroads. Like many a child who heard the whistle blow on a hot, still, sleepless summer night, riding the train smacked of adventure. The local park even featured a big, black, retired locomotive that had been driven to its final destination on makeshift tracks laid down our main street. Whenever my mom took her tomboy to the park -- a rare and special treat since we lived a few miles out in the country -- I'd climb around on that big old hulk and pretend to drive it, pulling an imaginary whistle and shouting whoo, whoo!

But the trains were more than the stuff of make-believe. They provided the livelihood for many relatives and family friends, men who rode the rails as engineers, firemen, brakemen, and conductors, or those who worked in the rail yard and the roundhouse as switchmen, mechanics, car inspectors, and the like. The railroad was (and still is) considered a "good living" in that part of the country. Unlike the farmers who grew the wheat that was ground into flour at the mills, and those who raised the pigs and cows that were slaughtered at the local meat-packing plant, a railroad job provided paid vacations, great health benefits, and the enviable railroaders' pension.

Listening to my dad talk to these men, I would hear words that puzzled me -- "car knocker," "gandy dancer," "red ball." I knew what most of the words meant by themselves, of course, but I couldn't figure out what they meant when joined together, particularly in relation to trains. And as a child living in a 1950s household where interrupting adult conversation was frowned upon, I seldom asked for a definition on the spot. Sometimes I'd pore through the dictionary or our brand-new set of Encyclopaedia Britannica in search of answers. But more often than not, I would go skipping off on my own pursuits and my questions would be forgotten.

Over the years, though, I learned that a car knocker was a much more colorful name for an inspector who knew that a visual check simply wasn't good enough. The sound produced when an experienced hand tapped (or knocked) a car's iron parts with a hammer gave off valuable clues to the condition of the metal.

As for those gandy dancers, my copy of Webster's said they were nothing more than railroad track workers. Too dull and wholly unsatisfying, I thought. Where on earth did that word gandy come from? My curiosity led me to a better explanation involving a special tool and the circular stamping motions workers used to tamp down the gravel and slag put in the road bed to support the rails and cross ties. The men's vigorous actions might have resembled dancing, and some sources said the tool was called a gandy after the company that made it. Not everyone was in agreement about that last bit of trivia, but it suited my imagination and so I found no reason to quibble.

Red ball, railroad slang for a fast freight, turned out to have quite an interesting etymology as well -- and this one undisputed so far as I could tell. Red ball apparently originated from the phrase "highball to speed," meaning a signal to proceed at full tilt. Highball got changed to red ball in recognition of a gate signal system that train crews used at non-interlocking railroad crossings. If a red ball with red lamp attached were raised, the train on a designated line could proceed; if the ball and lamp were lowered, the train on the other line could move ahead.

What prompted me to recall my early curiosity about railroad terminology was a nifty little page on an Amtrak site I discovered that deals with train trivia. For instance, do you know what a "Sperry Car" is? Or a "skunk train"? And what's the longest railroad bridge in the United States? Here's a hint: It's not the Fremont Bridge in Portland, Oregon, as I purely guessed. To check out all 18 questions, just click on The Capitol Corridor: Train Trivia :::.

Besides satisfying any urge you might have to expand your own knowledge of trains and the special argot that goes with them, the site is a great resource for getting the kids excited about your next train trip.

Ruth Hlavacek is a veteran writer and editor whose work has appeared in various national publications.

Talk train trivia at the All Aboard group on Gather, too.