High Five in Railway Conductor book from 1894 Mistakenly removed a reference to this 1894 bit of text in my recent clean up the source is available on Google Books The Conductor and brakeman Volume 12 By Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen it is on page 225 and the text reads Progressive high five was the order of the evening and refreshments were served It s surely not a reference to the hand gesture but any ideas what it could be Deserves some discussion I read the whole page no clear idea of what it could be but it sounds abstract like some kind of bonhomie or pleasant ambiance rather than a tangible object or act