Glossary of North American railway terms


This page contains a list of terms, jargon, and slang used to varying degrees by railfans and railroad employees in the United States and Canada. Although not exhaustive, many of the entries in this list appear from time to time in specialist, rail-related publications. Inclusion of a term in this list does not necessarily imply its universal adoption by all railfans and railroad employees, and there may be significant regional variation in usage.

0–9

; 3-step protection
; 10 wheeler
; 241

A

; A unit
; ACe
; Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System
; Advanced Train Control System
; ALCOhaulic
; Alligator
; Amcan
; Angel seat
; Angle bar
;
; Association of American Railroads
; Automatic equipment identification
;Auto Train
; Autorack or auto carrier

B

; B-Boat
; Baby Boat
; Baby Tunnel Motor
; Bad order
; Bandit
; Baretables
; Beans or Going to Beans
; Big Blue
; Big G
; Big hole
; Big hook
; Big Mac
; Billboard
; Black Widow
; Bloody Nose
; Bluebonnet
; Bluebirds
; Blueliners
; Bolster
; Booster
; Boxcar
; Brakeman
; Brakeman's caboose
; Bright Future
; Buda Car
; Buggy
; Bull
; B unit
; Butthead or Butt Head

C

; Cab car
; Cab unit
; Cabbage
; Cadillac
; Calf
; Can Opener
; Car knocker
; Catfish
; Centennials
; Centipede
; Centralized traffic control
; Cherry
; Ches-C
; Cinder dick
; Circus loading
; Coal drag
; Coal jimmy
; Codebreak/Codebreaking
; Coffin car
; Color position light
;Conductor
; Consist
; Control point
; Cornfield meet
; Coupler
; Covered wagon
; Cow
; Cowl unit
; Critter
; Cross-tie
; Crummy
; Cut

D

; Dark Future
; Dark Territory
; Darth Vader
; Deadheading
; Deathstar
; Diamond
; Dinky
; Distributed power unit
; Double header
; Draper-Taper
; Dynamic braking or dynamics
; Dynamite the train or dynamite

E

; Eight and sand
; Elephant style
; Emeralds
; Emergency
;End-of-train-device or flashing rear-end device
; Engineer
; Espee
; Ex-Con

F

; Fallen flag
; Federal Employers Liability Act
; Federal Railroad Administration
; Filet
; Flares
; Flatcar
; Flatback
; Foamer
; Flying switch or drop
; Foreign power
;Freight
;Freight car
; Frog
; Fucking rail nut

G

; Gandy dancer
; Geep
; Gennie
; Genset
; GEVO
; Ghost
; Goat
; Gold Nose 1 or YN3
; Gondola
;Green Goat
;Guard rail

H

; Hack
; Hammerhead
; Handcar
; Heavy rail
; Heavyweight
; Helper
; High ball
; High cube
; Hog law
; Hogger
; Honorary steam engine
; Hood unit
; Horsehead or 'Mister Ed'
; Horsepower hours
; Hospital train
; Hot box
; Hot rail
; Hotel power
; Hotshot

I

; Interlocking

J

; Jersey Builder
; Johnson Bar
; Joint
; Joint bar
; Juice Train

K

; Knock down
; Kodachrome

L

;Lantern
; Level junction
; Light engine or light power
; Lightning Slinger
; Lineup or lined up
; Local
; Long hood forward

M

; Mainline
; Main rod
; Maintenance of way
; Manifest
; Mating Worms
; Meatball or Swedish Meatball
; Miniquad
; Mother
; Mud hop
; Mud Missile
;Multimark
; Multiple-unit train control

N

; NARP
; NIMBY
; Nose to ass

O

; Office-car special
; One-man operation
; Outlawed
; Overhaul
; Owl-eyed Cars

P

; Pac-Man
; Passenger car
; Patch
; Pennsy Style
; Pepsi Can
; Pig train
; Plate
; Pole switching
; Pooch
; Position light signal
; Private varnish
; Pumpkin

Q

; Q
; Quarterly inspection, Q-inspection, or periodic inspection
; Quiet zone

R

; Racetrack
; Raccoon
; Racks
; Rail sled
; Rainbow consist, Skittles consist, or Skittles lineup
; Rare mileage
; Red Barn
; Reefer
; Rent-a-wreck
; Reporting mark
; Restricted speed
; Right way
; Rhino
; Road engine
; Roll-by or rollby
; Rolling Bomb
; Roster shooter
; Rubies or cherries
; Rule G
; Runaround
; Run through
; Running a red signal
; Running boards or grating

S

; Safety Appliance Act
; Screamer or screaming thunderbox
; Sergeant Stripes
; Shoofly
; Shove
; Shunting neck
;Siding
; Skate
; Slack action
; Slug
; Smokestack or stack
; Snail
; Snake head
; Speeder, motorcar, trackcar, putt putt, or golf cart
;Spur
; Stacks
; Steeplecab
; Subway
; Switch
; Switcher

T

; The T
; T-Hog
; Taco Belle
; Terminal station
; Thunder Pumpkin
; Tie
; Tie down
; Tie plate
; Toaster
; Torpedo
; Toupee
; Trackage rights
; Track warrant or occupancy control system
; Train order
; Trops
; Truck
; Tunnel Motor
; Turn

U

; U-Boat
; Underliers
; UP
; Union station or union terminal

V

; Van
; Vomit Bonnet

W

; Warbonnet
; Washboards
; Water column
;Waybill
A document giving details and instructions relating to a shipment of goods. A waybill is issued by the railroad after receipt of the Bill Of Lading.
;Wet Noodle
; Whiteface
; Wickerliners
; Wings/Flags/Flares
;Wye

X

; X-ing

Y

; Yellowbonnet
; YN1
; YN2
; YN3

Z

; Zebra Stripes
; Z-Train