| I want to thank all of you who have replied to my accidental email - some just directly to me. Bill’s was the latest. Again thank you.
As others have said this interest group is a very helpful and knowledgeable group!
Being a philosopher (I taught it for 53 years) I am fascinated by general patterns. In theater and in sailing and in railroading (I am sure other things as well) there is an internal vocabulary that is extremely important to avoid confusion and to make sure directions are clear. On a sailboat don’t refer to a rope as a “rope.” Ropes have other names - like “stay,” "sheet,” “halyard” - which help identify their purpose. When a gust is about to tip the sailboat over, the captain is not going to call out “Loosen the rope.” There are a few dozen of those! In theater (mostly this for the technical crew but even actors need to know how directions on the stage are termed) the terms are also crucial. So with railroading.
I have learned (I hope I have it correct!) that idler cars are:
- Cars (specially configured underneath) used on dual gauge track to connect the narrow gauge cars to the standard gauge cars
- Cars used to prevent an engine from having to enter a building
- Cars used to accommodate a load that overhangs the car it is on (overhanging on one end or both)
- Cars used to keep the engine off a float (but not necessarily off the float bridge - or "transfer bridge”)
Cars used to protect the engine crew from hazardous material (including petroleum tank cars) are called “buffer cars” - they are NOT empty.
Doug Hosler
Douglas,
On the Grand Truck Western in Muskegon, MI, and the C&O in Ludington, MI, those cars between the locomotive and the cars to be loaded on the ferry or float, (usually flat cars or gondolas) were called “idler” cars. In my experience, two or three were always used.
Bill Barber
Gravois Mills, MO
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