Railway slang

[towerman]

Thought the Alps were at Ealing Common,are you thinking of Klondyke?

[Deleted]

Both are mentioned in The Railway Dictionary [The A-Z of railway terminology] and Neaseden is the first listed.

[c5]

towerman said:

Thought the Alps were at Ealing Common,are you thinking of Klondyke?

There are The Alps at Ealing Common.
And at Northfields you have The Pictures.

[railtechnician]

towerman said:

Screw it down-apply the handbrakes(amazing the amount of T/Ops on the Jubilee who don't know this term)
Doubling back(An Irishman's return)-mainly used in fleet maintenance for short rest periods between duties eg:finishing 23:00 Saturday returning 09:00 Sunday or finishing 07:30 Monday returning 16:30 Monday,fortunately these shifts finished in the early 80's,but there were still some old timers who complained about it.

Doubling back was well practiced on Engineering for many years until the rules about working hours changed following edicts from Brussels.

Also practiced was the back-to-back i.e. two consecutive shifts without a break e.g 1500-2300 and 2300-0700 although there was always opportunity for a rest in the depot waiting for traffic to finish as long as there were no signal failures.
Indeed in the good old days there were cases of continuous working. Following some resolved signal failures likely to re-occur or unresolved failures it has always been the custom for a lineman to standby on site until relieved by the following shift.
In the annals of LT signalling history there is the case of a lineman who was told to standby in an IMR following rectification of a failure that was expected to re-occur. No-one told him to leave and he was forgotten about for several days, dedicated he remained at his post until remembered and earned a nice few quid too!

[Deleted]

towerman said:

Screw it down-apply the handbrakes(amazing the amount of T/Ops on the Jubilee who don't know this term)

Screw it down would simply be to fully secure the train.....after all modern stocks don't have handbrakes.

Have we mentioned wrong-side failure yet? Another term I'm surprised by how many people don't know it. A wrong side failure would be where a system fails unsafe (normally they should fail safe so if a signal fails it will remain at danger) eg. a signal failing to green - which would also be known as a signal irregularity.

Leading on to irregularity, again I'm surprised how many people don't understand this one. A signal or door irregularity is a wrong side i.e. unsafe failure on these systems. I had a driver recently call up to tell me he had a door irregularity, however on further questions from me he just had doors failing to close, which is not an irregularity because the systems were working as they should (the doors weren't closed so he couldn't get a pilot light, exactly what's supposed to happen).

[Colin]

Another commonly mis-understood phrase is 'in advance of' or 'in rear of' when talking about the train position in relation to a signal.

If the signal is in front of you (ie, you have not passed it), you are in rear of it; if it's behind you (ie, you have passed the signal), you are in advance of it.

[railtechnician]

colin said:

Another commonly mis-understood phrase is 'in advance of' or 'in rear of' when talking about the train position in relation to a signal.

If the signal is in front of you (ie, you have not passed it), you are in rear of it; if it's behind you (ie, you have passed the signal), you are in advance of it.

I think you'll find the same failings apply when it comes to section ahead and section in rear TT Plungers!

Another misunderstood item was the station to station phones which were regularly reported as out of order by station staff and DSMs because apparently no-one had told them how to operate them correctly! This is one of the reasons that auto telephones began to be installed at headwalls.

Mind you over the years I came across operating staff all over the combine who couldn't use telephone systems properly. I didn't mind on days as I spent a lot of time riding trains and completing 'right when tested' reports but it was a real pain in engineering hours when I had all the hassle of driving around town and accessing stations walking down and back up escalators for nothing.

[railtechnician]

I note that no one yet has mentioned 'setting back' perhaps because it isn't strictly legal although it is sometimes the most expedient way to get out of trouble.

Then there's 'collaring' the route, button or lever as a reminder not to use it.

More slang from engineering

'spacing' = not thinking properly
'space cadet' = someone who is 'spacing'

[towerman]

Off on a slight tangent,re door irregularities,I've actually been on two trains where we could get the defect.First one was a 62TS half a set of double doors open with a pilot light,second was a 72Mk1TS operated No2 side door open buttons and No1 side opened,on the whole train!!!

[Deleted]

When I was at Golders Green, we used to call a runs-when-required stock move from Golders to Kennington and back to turn a unit around an "Anthea" (as in Turner) ;D

[Deleted]

stanmorek said:

Job and knock: Complete your tasks as quickly as possible so that everyone can end the shift early.

"Job & Knock" has always been a favourite of mine. When I was a DMT, I used to say to spare drivers when I was letting them cut away "next pick up driver". Though some would argue that I didn't say it often enough!

[Deleted]

railtechnician said:

I note that no one yet has mentioned 'setting back' perhaps because it isn't strictly legal although it is sometimes the most expedient way to get out of trouble.

Then there's 'collaring' the route, button or lever as a reminder not to use it.

More slang from engineering

'spacing' = not thinking properly
'space cadet' = someone who is 'spacing'

Setting back seems to have some official status these days. I've seen it mentioned in the T/C twice in the last few months as the preferred option.

[Deleted]

tunnelrat said:

When I was at Golders Green, we used to call a runs-when-required stock move from Golders to Kennington and back to turn a unit around an "Anthea" (as in Turner) ;D

Haven't heard that one before, but I like it ;D

A couple of Cobourg St ones - Kennington loop trains are referred to as "loopers" which confused me when I first went there (I thought a looper was a crazy person, which of course would apply to most of us in the control room).

Train 111 is always referred to as "Nelson" as in "Nelson to Colly please" (reverse T111 at Colindale)

[c5]

Oh!!! Named Trains!

007 - James Bond
111- Nelson
212 - Maureen

Errrr...... Tries to think of some more!

[Deleted]

I get the others but why is 212 Maureen? Or am I being dense?

[c5]

tfc said:

I get the others but why is 212 Maureen? Or am I being dense?

Ohh!!!! She's Goood!!
;D ;D ;D


www.hellomaureen.co.uk/
It's the 118 number run by Independent Radio News ;D ;D ;D

[stanmorek]

Juice Mat - plastic/fibreglass moulded guard that can be placed around live conductor rails whenever work is to be carried out close to a live rail.

However, I don't recall seeing track staff using this much though.

[stanmorek]

colin said:

P Way - the permanent way; the track.

Just a note - although P-Way is normally associated with all things track, it is literally everything found between the boundary fences (except for all signalling and lineside electrical equipment) although earthworks, vegetation, drainage, structures, etc are considered to be in the domain of civil engineering.

Well at least that was LUL's P-Way Engineer's interpretation and that would be the correct answer in the P-Way Class exam.

[railtechnician]

tunnelrat said:

When I was at Golders Green, we used to call a runs-when-required stock move from Golders to Kennington and back to turn a unit around an "Anthea" (as in Turner) ;D

In a similar vein but from signals is the 'Tina'

Trainstops are bolted to the sleepers with two channel irons underneath which each hold two of the four hex head bolts to prevent them from rotating. In practice these channel irons are in fact aluminium because it doesn't rust, however, it will weaken over time as trainstops are lifted and replaced frequently to be packed/unpacked or changed. This eventually makes it impossible to tighten down a trainstop.
When we had a Tina we were going to get our hands dirty, and often wet too, digging down into the ballast as much as a foot to get a spanner under the sleeper and hold the bolt by hand as the nut was tightened down on top.

[railtechnician]

stanmorek said:

Juice Mat - plastic/fibreglass moulded guard that can be placed around live conductor rails whenever work is to be carried out close to a live rail.

However, I don't recall seeing track staff using this much though.

No, it's a great idea but when trains are running it isn't very practical as it's easy to forget and leave a mat on a juice rail when the lookout man blows up. Unfortunately proper use of a juice mat on a running line should really require a dedicated person, let's say a Juice Mat Master (no the role does not exist) whose sole responsibility would be the placing and removal of a juice mat in traffic hours. In this day and age labour is expensive and realistically no manager would want to employ a person on such a task which produces no performance output. The alternative is to shift the work to Engineering Hours and generally that is what happens. We used to use juice mats on nights working in depots or the entrances thereto until it was decided that such work could only be done under possession with the juice off which gave the DDMs less time to sort trains, kept Line Controllers at their desks a little longer and cut the amount of work we could actually get done in a shift!

Now if someone could invent a low profile high insulation juice mat that could remain in situ during traffic they would probably earn a nice few quid! Somehow I don't think it is worthwhile as the normal use is more likely to be around complex trackwork where such a device would be most likely to cause problems by fouling points and crossings.

[Oracle]

Now if someone could invent a low profile high insulation juice mat that could remain in situ during traffic they would probably earn a nice few quid!

Why not do so?

[Colin]

A couple more have occurred to me:

Blocking Back - a queue of trains one behind the other all being held by red signals. Signals clear & trains move up as the one at the front of the queue moves forward along the line.

Mind you, the main cause of blocking back on the District are the signallers & Circles. ;D ;D ;D ;D

Job's up the wall - service sometimes advertised as 'severe delays' to you punters. Basically means the train service is not running to timetable - drivers on late meal reliefs/not in place for pick ups, trains turning short of booked destinations, DMT's & service control loosing the will to live, etc, etc.

[c5]

colin said:

Mind you, the main cause of blocking back on the District are the signallers & Circles. ;D ;D ;D ;D

And Never down to Train Ops PNRs, or going walkies or keeping as many trains as possible on the road during/after a shutdown/delay just to keep the mileage figures up - even though there are no Train Ops as they are all on Short Grub and everything is blocking back - making things worse!

[Colin]

To add to JTD's post (and how did I get away with my signaller comment? ;D ;D) - I was running 25 late the other day going west owing to one or two hick up's @ Upminster (it was the day I was late booking on TMBA , though it wasn't directly related to that!), so I called up the controller at South Ken just to check whether he was aware.............the reply?

"We don't turn trains in the peak driver".

Ok then thinks I, I'll just follow that train in front all the way to Richmond; then I'll follow him back all the way to Upminster where I'll still be 25 late

Oh and when I eventually got back to Upminster (after 'they' tried to turn me @ Barking despite the fact the next driver for the train picks it up at Upminster :, the DMT said the controller had phoned him to inform him that I had demanded to be turned!

Next time I just might!

[pgb]

colin said:

A couple more have occurred to me:

Blocking Back - a queue of trains one behind the other all being held by red signals. Signals clear & trains move up as the one at the front of the queue moves forward along the line.

Not to be confused with Blocking Back on NR which is something completely different. Normally used by signalman.

[Deleted]

oracle said:

Now if someone could invent a low profile high insulation juice mat that could remain in situ during traffic they would probably earn a nice few quid!

Why not do so?

OHLE has neutral sections, rather short ones... I'm sure some section switches could be devised for the +ve and -ve rails, divide the rails up... 'pull' the section for maintenance, let the train coast... cost = £££ though.

[Deleted]

pgb said:

colin said:

A couple more have occurred to me:

Blocking Back - a queue of trains one behind the other all being held by red signals. Signals clear & trains move up as the one at the front of the queue moves forward along the line.

Not to be confused with Blocking Back on NR which is something completely different. Normally used by signalman.

Would that not be referred to as block working on NR rather than blocking back?

As for blocking back on LU, trains involved can be said to be "on the block"

[railtechnician]

More serious slang;

DB = disciplinary hearing (from the old Disciplinary Board)

four hour walk = instruction to attend or attendance to a DB

dropped = reduced in rank as a result of a DB, often to a much lower grade for at least 6 months and resulting in loss of pay and privileges. Frequent punishment for signal linemen in days of old.

slapped wrist = minor punishment following DB, usually a verbal warning

verbal = verbal warning

written = warning added to staff record for 6 months, in practice seldom removed!

cardinal sin = something leading to a charge of gross misconduct

[Deleted]

railtechnician said:

=

dropped = reduced in rank as a result of a DB, often to a much lower grade for at least 6 months and resulting in loss of pay and privileges. Frequent punishment for signal linemen in days of old.

Dipped is the term I know for being reduced in grade, haven't heard dropped before.

Stood down - suspended from normal duties pending some kind of investigation into alleged misconduct.

[pgb]

tfc said:

pgb said:

Would that not be referred to as block working on NR rather than blocking back?

Block working is completely different to blocking back. Rather than try to explain it, I'll leave it to this website
www.rgsonline.co.uk/docushare/dsweb/Get/Rail-41575/TS3_3.pdf

Should add, it's section 3.6