I remember that story...Here's a quickie...Definition of a "fixed signall"... A student brakeman on the ground with a cinder in his eye and his lantern out" This too from RAILROAD
Pete
-----Original Message-----
From: John D. Mitchell, Jr. <cbqrr47@yahoo.com>
To: CBQ <CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sat, Jan 5, 2013 11:47 am
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Re: Abbreviation quiz
One of the funniest stories I ever read in those old RAILROAD MAGAZINES was about a greenhorn fireman who watching for signals at night. A switchman was riding high on a boxcar when he dropped his lantern and someone on the ground threw it back up to him. The greenhorn asked the engineer, "I know how that guy jumped off the boxcar but how did jump back up on it?"
--- On Sat, 1/5/13, Jpslhedgpeth@aol.com <Jpslhedgpeth@aol.com> wrote:
From: Jpslhedgpeth@aol.com <Jpslhedgpeth@aol.com>
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Re: Abbreviation quiz
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, January 5, 2013, 11:12 AM
I never could get those above 5 figured out..Especially those done with a lantern in the dark....I remember reading in the old RAILROAD MAGAZINE accounts by old heads who said that a crew could work all night together and never SAY A WORD to each other....All communication was via lantern signals.
Pete
-----Original Message-----
From: Philip Weibler < pawnbaw@sbcglobal.net>
To: CBQ < CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Fri, Jan 4, 2013 11:03 pm
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Re: Abbreviation quiz
When my Barbara Ann and I are at estate sales and she asks me about the price of an item I'll sometimes answer with the switchman's hand signs for numbers. Four is no problem - eight and nine sometimes get confused - but still useful. PAW
From: "John D. Mitchell, Jr." <cbqrr47@yahoo.com>
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Fri, January 4, 2013 10:42:24 PM
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Re: Abbreviation quiz
I used to do that to my wife. I would tell her I was giving her an "easy". She never did get it when I said,"That'll do". My son is a farmer and I taught him the signals when I was helping him on the ground and he was on the tractor.
--- On Fri, 1/4/13, Jpslhedgpeth@aol.com <Jpslhedgpeth@aol.com> wrote:
From: Jpslhedgpeth@aol.com <Jpslhedgpeth@aol.com>
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Re: Abbreviation quiz
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, January 4, 2013, 9:08 PM
John
Ain't we glad we had all that fun back in the day...Comes in handy now and then.
On a few occasions I would be "helping" my wife to park the car or move it...I would be giving "hand signs"....Llike.."come to me" or "go away from me"....Leo and us other trainmen know what those look like...She never figured it out and it caused me more trouble than it was worth.
Pete
-----Original Message-----
From: John D. Mitchell, Jr. < cbqrr47@yahoo.com>
To: CBQ < CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Fri, Jan 4, 2013 8:03 pm
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Re: Abbreviation quiz
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I was in a train order office in the 70's and a very young operator couldn't keep up. I told him to say BK. The DS said "You're too young to know that. Who told you to say that?"
He said, "Mitchell". And the DS said,"I might have known!" The DS had known me, from his telegrapher days.
From: Jpslhedgpeth@aol.com <Jpslhedgpeth@aol.com>
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Re: Abbreviation quiz
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, January 4, 2013, 6:52 PM
John...I know I'm disqualified....but I had to jump in on this one...BK is "Break"....used primarily by telegraphers when the sender...usually the DS.... was sending too fast for the OP to copy.... They would break the circut and then send BK. The old timers would continue to use BK when taking TO's on the phone..They would just yell BK into the phone. The old guys continued to use the telegraph abbreviations and station call signs even when the telephones came in.
There was a young "then" operator on the Lincoln Division back in the 1950's.....his name was Archer...He could barely telegraph,.....It was said that the only thing Arch could send was...FN.
Add FN to your abbreviation list.
Pete
-----Original Message-----
From: John D. Mitchell, Jr. < cbqrr47@yahoo.com>
To: CBQ < CBQ@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Fri, Jan 4, 2013 9:20 am
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Re: Abbreviation quiz
The ones in error are marked in red.
--- On Fri, 1/4/13, kurthayek <kurthayek@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: kurthayek <kurthayek@yahoo.com>
Subject: [CBQ] Re: Abbreviation quiz
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, January 4, 2013, 1:02 AM
Abbreviation quiz:
I did not see this until several others had already posted answers but I'll pretend I didn't see those. Here's what I remember without looking in any reference material:
a/c—account
A1
AFE—Authority For Expenditure (prepared many of these on the CNW)
B/A—Billed At (location)
BK—Brakeman (a guess)
BO—Bad Order (easy; anyone that didn't know this one?)
Bsk
Bx—Box (car)
C&E—Conductor & Engineer
jct—junction
Jt—Joint
K
Ld—Load (-ed car)
LFVC—Loaded Full Visible Capacity
MT—Empty (car)
NOIBN
Ntfy—Notify
O
OS—On Station or On Sheet (time by a location)
P.H.P.—Packing House Products (meat, etc.)
RIP—Repair In Place (according to magazine articles; I'm dubious)
Rpt—Repeat
Sk—Stock (car)
W&F
W/C—Waycar
WB—Waybill
WW&IB-Western Weighing & Inspection Bureau
This was fun!
No, I was not an agent or clerk on the railroad; engineering dept. on Up and CNW, then TYE on CNW, BN, and BNSF.
Kurt Hayek
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