List of U.S. railfan jargon

A
* ALCOhaulic or ALCOholic: a railfan who loves, or is obsessed with, American Locomotive Company (ALCO) locomotives.
* Alligator: ALCO RSD-15 locomotive, so named for its long, low nose.
* Amcan: An Amfleet passenger car.
* Amshack: A small shelter that serves as a train station for Amtrak trains in a small town. There are normally no manned services offered at these small stations.

B
*B-Boat: 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.
*B unit: A booster locomotive commonly with no cab.
*Baby Boat: GE U18B locomotive.
*Bandit: Nickname for Milwaukee Road engines after the railroad was sold to the Soo Line. The Soo covered up the Milwaukee Road name and logo on the orange locomotives with black paint, causing them to resemble bandits.
*Basketball: Nickname for the Pan Am Railways logo.

*Big G, the: Nickname for Guilford Rail System, in reference to the large "G" emblem on their locomotives and boxcars. Also refers to Great Northern Railway.
*Big hook: a railroad crane.
*Big Mac: Nickname given to EMD's SD70MAC, SD80MAC and SD90MAC locomotive models.
*Billboard: Santa Fe locomotive in the pre-1972 blue and yellow scheme.
*Brick: GE E44 electric engines used by Pennsylvania, Penn Central and Conrail (called this because the road-switcher style engines were as ugly as a brick compared to the classic PRR GG1s that they worked alongside of)
*Bright Future: The middle CSX tricolor paint scheme (also known as Yellow Nose 2 or YN2).
*Buggy: a caboose on the Boston and Maine Railroad.
*Bull: a railroad police officer.
*Cadillac: A nickname for EMD SD9 locomotives, in reference to their smooth ride quality reminiscent of a Cadillac automobile. This nickname is said to have originated on the Southern Pacific Railroad.
*Can Opener: Conrail's herald.
*Catfish: D9-40CW locomotives.
*Ches-C: Chessie System's kitten logo.
*Chicken Bone: Amtrak's City of New Orleans
*Coal Drag: A train loaded with coal.
*Cow: a switcher locomotive, when paired with a Calf.
*Crap-9: Another term of derision for Dash-9 engines.
*Crash 8: A term for CSX's C40-8Ws that are starting to show their age.
*Critter: A small industrial locomotive.

D
*Dark Future: The current CSX paint scheme, also known as Yellow Nose 3 (YN3) or Gold Nose 1 (GN1).
*Darth Vader: Term used to describe the lens hood on a modern style of railroad signals, due to its visual resemblance to the helmet of Darth Vader from Star Wars.

*Deathstar: Term used to describe the logo of the Illinois Central, which has the letter "i" inside a circle — based on a resemblance to the Death Star battle station in Star Wars.
*Diet Pepsi: An Amtrak GE Dash 8-32BWH wearing the Phase IV paint scheme. (See Pepsi Can)
*Dinky: Nickname given to small locomotives, particularly one running in industrial service and/or on narrow gauge tracks.
*Dirt Dauber: Loaded phosphate train.
*Douche-9: Another term of derision for Dash-9 engines.
*Draper-Taper: Nickname for certain Canadian locomotives that feature a full-width carbody with improved rear visibility, designed by William L. Draper, an employee of Canadian National Railway.
*Dress Blues: Former Conrail unit, nostalgic.
*Dump Truck: a GE AC6000CW, based at least partially on the fact that these units are almost always covered with dirt and grime.
*Dynamics/dynamic braking: Regenerative braking in which the motors on the locomotive wheels generate electric power off of the momentum of the moving train, and this power is burned off through resistor grids as heat.

E
*Elephant-style: A lashup of multiple locomotives with all units facing forward.
*Ex-Con: Former Conrail unit or former Conrail employee

F
*Fallen flag: a railroad company that no longer operates.
*Wings/Flags/Flares (W/F/F): Characteristics used to designate Union Pacific's paint scheme and engine type. Wings = "Wing" Decal on the engine nose, Flags = "American Flag" Decal on engine body, Flares = "Flared Radiators" of certain SD70Ms on the long hood. Some engines have one or more of these UP characteristics.
*Ford Edsel: Amtrak GE Genesis locomotives.

*FRED: "Flashing Rear End Device" located on the rear of trains, measures train air line pressure and train speed.
*FRN: an acronym for "fucking rail nut", a derogatory term used by some railroaders to describe railfans.
*Furball/Furbie: Locomotive owned by First Union Rail (FURX).

G
*Geep: Nickname for EMD's GP series of locomotives.
*Gennie: A MetroNorth or Amtrak locomotive.
*Genset: A switching locomotive that uses two or three high-speed diesel engines, rather than one medium-speed diesel engine. Sometimes confused with Green Goat locomotives; the only similarities between the two types are their outward appearance and that both are designed to reduce air pollution.
*GEVO: Nickname for GE Evolution Series locomotives, in reference to the GEVO-12 engine used in those units.
*GN1: Gold Nose 1, the current CSX paint scheme. Another term for YN3.
*Goat: a locomotive used in yard switching service.
*Greenie Weenie: Leased locomotive, typically of Burlington Northern heritage.
*Guilford Fail System: Guilford Rail System (derogative). Several Guilford locomotives have had the "R" in the word "Rail" vandalized to resemble an "F," thus resulting in this nickname.

H
*Hammerhead: A Dash-8 or Dash-9 series locomotive running long hood forward.
*Hertz: A locomotive leasing company.
*High Ball: Another term for a clear signal, derived from the days of steam where a station operator would hoist a ball up the scaffold, signalling the engineer he was authorized to proceed.
*Hogger: locomotive engineer.
*Horsehead: new locomotive livery with a horse's head embedded in the NS Logo. (sometimes also called )
*Hot box: Overheated wheel bearing.

I
*Iron Triangle (The): An area near downtown Fostoria in northwest Ohio where two main lines of CSX Transportation (the former Baltimore and Ohio line between Akron and Chicago and the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway line between Columbus and Toledo) and one main line of Norfolk Southern (the former Nickel Plate Road line between Bellevue and Fort Wayne) cross each other in close proximity.

J
*Jenny (also Jimmy): A 24 ft or 25 ft long ore car. Also refers to mine gondolas, as well as gondolas and hoppers from the early days of railroading.
*Jet: New Haven EP-5 electric locomotive, named for its loud cooling air blower equipment.
*Juice jack: Electric locomotive.

*Juice Train: Unit train of Tropicana cars.
*Junk box: see Rent-a-Wreck.

K
*Kodachrome: Southern Pacific Santa Fe Railroad's red, yellow and black paint scheme, which resembled the packaging of Kodachrome color transparency film. This was the scheme instituted when the merger between Southern Pacific and Santa Fe was assumed to be approved. Hundreds of locomotives were painted in Kodachrome colors before the merger was denied.

M

*Manifest: A freight train with a mixture of car types and cargos.
*Mate: See Mother.
*Mating Worms: Penn Central logo.
*Miniquad: Four ore cars (jennies) permanently coupled.
*Monobrow: The second version of Norfolk Southern's "Horsehead" paint scheme
*Mop, the: the Missouri Pacific Railroad (MoPac).

*Patch: A locomotive wearing a new reporting mark and/or number on a "patch" over existing paint, usually of the former owner's.
*Pennsy Style: Nickname for old Pennsylvania Railroad position light signals.
*Pepsi Can: An Amtrak GE Dash 8-32BWH, in reference to the units' original paint scheme with large red and blue stripes.
*Private varnish/PV: privately owned passenger cars.
*Pumpkin: BNSF Railway's current paint scheme, Formerly also ICG's all-orange scheme.

Q
R
*Racetrack: Nickname for a stretch of Metra Commuter Rail line and BNSF freight line between Chicago and Aurora, Illinois where commuter trains and freight trains commonly attain high speeds.
*Racks: Nickname for autorack cars
*Raccoon: Norfolk Southern locomotives that have the entire area around the cab windows painted white, resembling the face of a raccoon.
*Red Barns: Canadian Pacific's SD40-2F locomotives.
*Roster Shooter: Someone interested in photographing every locomotive road number they can.
*Royal Toaster: Nickname for the Amtrak AEM-7 #946 that led a train carrying Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.
*RV: Winnebago: Nickname for Amtrak or VIA Rail GE Genesis locomotives

S
*Screamer or Screaming thunderbox: EMD F40PH locomotive, in reference to it operating in a constant state of full throttle (in order to provide head-end power to passenger cars).
*Shower Caps: Canvas coverings which protect the mouths of locomotive air horns on most freight units. Usually blue in color, and easily deteriorated by exposure to the elements.
*Silver Snake: Name given to Norfolk Southern's PPLX hopper trains which have only silver Bethgon hoppers
*Slug: A locomotive, with or without an operator's cab, which lacks a diesel engine, and draws power for its traction motors from a normal locomotive, known as a "mate" or "mother."
*Speedo: a track speed restriction (slow order).
*Spin Cycle: derogatory name for the compressor noises made by GE D9-40CW locomotives when idling.
*Stacks: Nickname for double-stack cars or trains.
*Stealth Unit: The early CSX grey & blue paint scheme. So named for their virtual invisibility in poor light. Also used to describe NS D9-40CWs in light gray primer paint, and a scheme used on some Metro-North locomotives.
*Taco Belle: Nickname for the new Southern Belle-inspired paint scheme on Kansas City Southern Railway locomotives.

*Toaster: Amtrak AEM-7/ALP-44 or GE P42DC locomotives. Also used to refer to any GE locomotive, due both to their tendency to shoot flames out of the exhaust stack during Turbo Lag and to General Electric's historic involvement in the manufacture of household appliances.
*Turbo Lag: Characteristic of older Alco locomotives (and in more modern times, GE locomotives), where the turbocharger lags behind the throttle-up of the diesel, shooting dense clouds of black smoke and/or flames from the exhaust stack when initially throttling up.

U
*U-Boat: GE Universal Series locomotive.

V
*Vomit Bonnet: BNSF's first attempt at a paint scheme

W

*Warbonnet: Santa Fe's red and silver paint scheme (less common since the BNSF Railway merger in 1995).
*Wet Noodle: Canadian National's stylized CN logo, in use since 1961. High visibility paint scheme used on various Burlington Northern locomotives, primarily SD60Ms, SD40-2s, GP50s, GP39 rebuilds, and GP28 rebuilds.
*Window train: a passenger train.
*Winnebago: Nickname for Metra's fleet of EMD F40PHM-2 locomotives, in reference to that model's resemblance to the popular recreational vehicle.

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