| Beginning With: "G" |
| G.M. |
General manager. G.Y.M. is general yardmaster |
| GALLOPER |
Locomotive, the iron horse |
| GALLOPING GOOSE |
A shaky section car |
| GALVANIZER |
Car inspector |
| GANDY DANCER |
Track laborer. Name may have originated from the gander-like tremulations of a man tamping ties, or from the old Gandy Manufacturing Company of Chicago, which made tamping bars, claw bars, picks, and shovels |
| GANGWAY |
Space between the rear cab post of a locomotive and her tender |
| GARDEN |
See yard |
| GAS HOUSE |
Yard office |
| GATE |
Switch |
| GAY CAT |
Tramp held in contempt by fellow vagrants because he is willing to work if a job comes along |
| GENERAL |
Yardmaster, abbreviated Y.M. |
| GET THE ROCKING CHAIR |
Retire on a pension |
| GET YOUR HEAD CUT IN |
Boomer slang for "wise up" |
| GIRL or OLD GIRL |
Affectionate term for steam engine. The locomotive, like the sailing ship, is often called "she" instead of "it" |
| GIVE HER THE GRIT |
Use sand |
| GLASS CARS |
Passenger cars |
| GLIM |
Switchman's or trainman's lantern |
| GLIMMER |
Locomotive headlight |
| GLORY |
String of empty cars. Also death, especially by accident |
| GLORY HUNTER |
Reckless, fast-running engineer |
| GLORY ROAD |
Sentimental term for railroad |
| GO HIGH |
Same as deckorate |
| GO-TO-HELL SIGNAL |
Signal given with violent motion of hand or lantern |
| GOAT |
Yard engine. (See yard) |
| GOAT FEEDER |
Yard fireman |
| GODS OF IRON |
Huge, powerful locomotives |
| GON |
Gondola, or steel-sided, flat-bottom coal car |
| GONE FISHING |
Laid off |
| GOO-GOO EYE |
Locomotive with two firedoors |
| GOOSE |
To make an emergency stop |
| GOOSE HER |
Reverse a locomotive that is under headway |
| GRAB IRON |
Steel bar attached to cars and engines as a hand bold |
| GRABBER |
Conductor of a passenger train. (He grabs tickets) |
| GRAMOPHONE |
Obsolete term for telephone |
| GRASS WAGON |
Tourist car. (Tourists like scenery) |
| GRASSHOPPER |
Old type of locomotive with vertical boiler and cylinders |
| GRAVE-DIGGER |
Section man |
| GRAVEYARD |
Siding occupied by obsolete and disused engines and cars; scrap pile |
| GRAVEYARD WATCH |
12.01 A.M. to 8 A.M., or any midnight shift, so called because that shift includes the quietest hours of the day |
| GRAZING TICKET |
Meal book |
| GREASE MONKEY |
Car oiler |
| GREASE THE PIG |
Oil the engine. (See hog) |
| GREASY SPOON |
Railroad eating house. Bill of fare is colloquially known as switch list, fork is hook, butter is grease pot, hotcakes are blind gaskets, and beans are torpedoes |
| GREEN EYE |
Clear signal. (At the time Cy Warman wrote his celebrated poem, "I Hope the Lights Are White," the clear signal was white and green meant caution. This was changed years ago because of the fact that when a red or green signal lens broke or fell out it exposed a white, thus giving a clear board to engineers even though the signal itself was set to stop or go slow) |
| GREENBACKS |
Frogs for rerailing engines or cars |
| GREENBALL FREIGHT |
Fruit or vegetables |
| GREETINGS FROM THE DS |
Train orders from the dispatcher |
| GRIEVER |
Spokesman on grievance committee; Brotherhood or Union representative at an official investigation |
| GRIND |
Shay-geared engine |
| GROUNDHOG |
Brakeman, yardmaster, or switch engine |
| GRUNT |
Locomotive engineer. Traveling grunt is road foreman of engines (hogs). Grunt may also be a lineman's ground helper; grunting is working as a lineman's helper |
| GUN |
Torpedo, part of trainman's equipment; it is placed on the track as a signal to the engineer. Also the injector on the locomotive that forces water from tank to boiler. To gun means to control air-brake system from rear of train |
| GUNBOAT |
Large steel car |
| GUT |
Air hose. Guts is drawbar |
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