The Language of Railroading

Abstract

WITH THE RECENT CREATION of Railpax, commonly known as Amtrak, a vital and picturesque aspect of American English will inevitably become a part of the past. In another generation, names like the Orange Blossom Special, the Panama Limited, the City of New Orleans, the Hiawatha, the Empire Builder, the Rocky Mountain Rocket, the Golden State, the City of San Francisco, the Super Chief, the Midnight Special, the Ann Rutledge, the James Whitcomb Riley, the Capitol Limited, the Phoebe Snow, the Broadway Limited, and the Twentieth-Century Limited will probably be forgotten, like the trains they once called to mind. But the language of railroading includes far more than the nomenclature of passenger trains, and it seems likely that the language will continue to develop as a healthy means of expression for that part of the American labor force involved in the railroad industry. The subject has not passed unnoticed by scholars.' The typical study is a glossary with brief comment and perhaps a fictionalized account of railroad language. Although this-approach offers an introduction to what railroad language is, it falls short of giving the reader an accurate idea of the large role that railroad language plays in on-the-job communication. What follows is based upon my own experiences as a locomotive fireman on the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad, especially those experiences which involved learning the language of railroad enginemen. In the course of working during the summers from 1965 through 1968, I