The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-04-02
RAILWAY MECHANICS.
HOW WBLL-KNOWN ROADS ARE
DESIGNATED BY TRAINMEN,


How Legal Titles of Railroads Are Alb
breviated and Twisted-Some Short
Cut Names Are the Result Of sinRu-
lar Incidents OF the Country Through
Which They Pass, or Accident.
From the Washington Star.
Press dispatches frequently come from
the west telling Of railroad accidents on the
800" or big -Four" roads and the reader
that is not we'll posted On railroad nomencla-
ture is at a loss to locate the scene Of the
catastrophe Recently an order has been
issued to the effect that unless an accident
has occurred in the noighbordood OF
large city the road upon which the break
up Eas happened must be given in full In
the dispatches This move is a good one,
because there are as many niokuames to
railroads as there are roads, and in many
cases the nom de plume does not indicate
whether it is in the west, south, east or
north.
A fact not generally known is that the
railroads OF the country have nicknames by
which the high officials know them and that
railroad employees, those in the ranks, have
entirely different synonyms. A close study
of this question reveals the information that
the high officials nickname the roads for
convenience sake, while the trainmen do 1t
to express some phase of personal experience
thereon. Ii the latter's christening is a
good one it generally sticks, and as their
experience has generally been a vivid one
an original and worthy nickname generally
crops out.
ONE CHANCE.
To illustrste this point the Columbia and
Port Deposit railroad, running from Column
bia, Pa, to Port Deposit, Md, can be aptly
cited. The railroad men call this road the
''One Chance" IL runs along the river
shore almost its entire length, and is as
crooked as any in the country. Train dis
patchers at Columbia frequently find it diff
ficult to secure seasoned trainmen to work
on this road, as the accidents average
almost one a day. If not on account of
roadbed, then the cars will be found at
fault. For this reason they have no doubt
given &c the significant christening, as to 60
sut on the run over the road and come back
alive the trainman has taken the advantage
of the one chance in 100.
Newspaper readers will recall the great
railroad coup in which Senator Brice was
interested some ten years back, by which
the New York, Chicago and st. Louis road
was built and the New Y ork Central paral-
leled from New York city to Buffalo. The
road was built in a day, comparatively
speaking, and the buying of il by William
II. Vanderbilt resulted in great profit for
the selling syndicate and the christening or
the road, the name Of which has stuck TO it
to this day.
Vanderbilt was grumbling at the price he
had to pay, and remarked: "Why, If the
internal road was nickel-plated it couldn't
cost more" and the road has been known as
the ''Nickel Plate" ever since.
An EUeniHg Star reporter with an
inquiring turn Of mind recently
accosted a prominent railroad off,
cial in this city as to how many
railroad nicknames there we're. He replied:
Just as many as you have mind to make.
l have heard the Pitts burg Fort Wayne and
Chicago road called Paddy Finnigan's Wife
and Children, but where the name came
from is more than l can tell.
SOME WESTERN ROADS.
"Here are few Of the roads with nick
names that / can now recall without re-
ferring to books. The Minneapolis, st.
Paul and Sault Ste. Marie is called the 500
and is an abbrevlRtIOn of the pronunciation
Of the latter name. The Big Four is taken
from the consolidation of four big roads,
the Cincinnati, Indianapolis. st. Louis and
Chicago, the Cleveland, Columbus, Gin
cinnati and Indianapolis, the indianapolis
and st. Louis and the Cairo, Vtncennes and
Chicago. This consolidation took place
many years ago, the nick name given, and it
has stuck TO it ever since. Many railroaders
claim that the words Big Four are taken
from the four big cities touched by the
road, viz: Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis
and indianapolis, but l think the right
origin is the one l have given.
"The Chicago. st. Paul and kansas City
road is called the Maple Leaf By draw
ing line around the cities after which this
road Is named on map it will be found to
form psTfect leaf of the maple tree. The
Pittsburg, Cincinnati and st. Louis road is
called the Pan Handle for the same reason
"a line drawn through these cities making
good counterfeit of the pan handle The
Glover Leaf is given TO the Toledo, st.
Louis and Kansas City road for the same
cause, inasmuoh as It doesn't come near re-
sembling clover leaf under the same cir
cumstances. Possibly the road gets its nom
de plume on account of the exceedingly fine
grass lands through which it passes.
QUEEN AND CRESCENT.
''The euphonious name Queen and Cres.
cent is given to the Cincinnati. New
Orleans and Texas Pacific road. An old
railroader that worked on that road some
years back told me that the best part Of il
was the name. He said the trainmen called
II the 'Chills and Fever road, as it took the
best part Of their salaries TO buy uulnine
with which to keep of this demoralizing
malady. 1t certainly runs through a bad
country for people whose hvers are likely
1.-THE Louisville, New Albany and Chi
cago road is called 'Monon' from the fact
that the main junction on the road is 80
called. The unique name 'Nypano' is given
90 the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio
road and is simply an abbreviation and CON
solidation Of each state. This is the road.
think, that the late Mr.. Vsnderbilt threat
ened 90 use as a club against the Pennsylva-
MIA road on account of a belief that the lat
ter road was intruding in his territory, A
compromise was effected between the two
great railroad magnates, Vanderbilt and
Roberts, and the resources Of this road were
never properly developed.
THE COTTON BELT,
"The st. Louis, Arkansas and Texas road
iscalled the Cotton Belt and Of course, de-
rives Its name from the great product of
that region. Among the trainmen it is
nicknamed the 'Stand-and-Deliver' line, no
doubt from the fact that Of late wears many
daring train robberies have occurred on
this line. II runs through a country
sparsely settled, which affords the high
wsymen every opportunity to escape after
their assault upon the train.
Blue Grass a pretty name for rail-
road, is given to the Kentucky Central on
account of the exceptionally rich grass
country through which it passes. Tom