page_title: Glossary of North American railway terms
section_title: B
hierarchical_section_title: Glossary of North American railway terms / B
caption_attribution_description: English: Picture of typical railbox boxcar - Mike Chapman
context_page_description: This page contains a list of terms, jargon, and slang used to varying degrees by railfans and railroad employees in the United States and Canada. Although not exhaustive, many of the entries in this list appear from time to time in specialist, rail-related publications. Inclusion of a term in this list does not necessarily imply its universal adoption by all railfans and railroad employees, and there may be significant regional variation in usage.
context_section_description: B-Boat
  A GE B23-7, B30-7, or B36-7 locomotive. By analogy with U-boat, since with the Dash 7 line, the "B" or "C" moved to the beginning of the designation.
  Baby Boat
  A GE U18B locomotive
  Baby Tunnel Motor
  An EMD GP15-1 or GP15T locomotive, so-called because its low air intakes resemble those of the much larger SD40T-2 and SD45T-2
  Bad order
  A rail car that has a mechanical defect, and is sometimes set out on a spur to be repaired
  Bandit
  A nickname for Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road) locomotives after the railroad was sold to the Soo Line Railroad. Soo Line covered up the Milwaukee Road name and logo on the orange locomotives with black paint, causing them to resemble bandits. Also often applied to similarly patched, second-hand locomotives, especially if the patches are crudely applied.
  Baretables
  Empty flat, spine, or well cars
  Beans or Going to Beans
  Taking a break from work to eat
  Big Blue
  A nickname for Conrail due to the medium blue livery that their locomotives were painted
  Big G
   A nickname for Guilford Rail System, in reference to the large "G" emblem on their locomotives and boxcars
  The Great Northern Railway
  Big hole
  When a train suffers a loss of all brake air and stops, or when the air brakes on the train are placed in emergency. It refers to the air ports in the automatic brake valve, the emergency portion being the biggest port or hole. (e.g. over the radio: "We just big holed").
  Big hook
  A railroad crane
  Big Mac
  A nickname given to EMD's SD70MAC, SD80MAC, and SD90MAC locomotive models
  Big Orange
  A nickname given to BNSF, named after their orange livery
  Billboard
  Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway locomotive in the pre-1972 blue and yellow scheme
  Black Widow
  A Southern Pacific locomotive (all black with some silver)
  Bloody Nose
  A Southern Pacific locomotive (post-1959 gray and red paint scheme where the nose of the diesel locomotive was painted in scarlet red), or the Amtrak Phase I paint scheme: A reddish-orange nose and then the Amtrak Chevron logo on the side of the locomotive.
  Bluebonnet
  One of two Santa Fe paint schemes. The standard freight scheme from 1972 until the BNSF Railway merger was dark blue with yellow on the front, with the same color division as the warbonnet scheme. It is also known as Yellowbonnet. Bluebonnet can also mean a warbonnet unit with only the red painted over, resulting in a silver and blue locomotive; this was used on passenger engines transferred to freight service after the formation of Amtrak.
  Bluebirds
  A nickname given to GE U34CH locomotives because they were delivered in dark blue and silver NJDOT paint
  Blueliners
  A nickname given to the Reading Railroad's heavyweight MU cars, in reference to the bright blue and white paint scheme they wore in later years before being sold to SEPTA
  Bolster
  A transverse floating beam member of truck suspension system supporting the weight of vehicle body
  Booster
  A cabless B unit or slug. Although a slug and a B unit differ in terms of an engine, both serve the purpose of adding more tractive effort.
  Boxcar
  A type of rolling stock with a flat bottom enclosed on all sides and top, which is loaded and unloaded from sliding doors on each side
  Brakeman (US)
  A train crew member who performs railcar and track management, often a single job description along with switchman ("brakeman/switchman"). A brakeman manually activated brakes on railroad cars before the advent of air brakes.
  Brakeman's caboose (US)
  A small hut at one end of a railway wagon to protect the brakeman from the elements
  Bright Future
  The middle CSX tricolor paint scheme (also known as Yellow Nose 2 or YN2)
  Buda Car
  A type of inspection car or speeder, typically streamlined, manufactured by Buda Engine Co. They were sometimes built out of an ordinary automobile body, with flanged wheels added. They were driven by small engines from 30 to 200 horsepower.
  Buggy
  A caboose on the Boston and Maine Railroad
  Bull
  A railroad police officer
  B unit
  A cabless booster locomotive, controlled via multiple unit from a cab-equipped A unit, sometimes equippe
caption: A boxcar
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