Snakes on a ...Train? Trivia Quiz

Answer: At the lower front of the locomotive

The cowcatcher is located in front of the lead wheels of the train. Its purpose is to deflect objects off the rails and out of the train path. Since it has no arms, the likelihood of actually "catching" a cow - or anything else - is VERY slim!

The term "cowcatcher" was quickly replaced with the term "pilot" by railroad officials. This was probably because of comments from frustrated passengers: "I don't understand why you even have a cowcatcher on the front end - this train is so slow it could NEVER catch a cow. But you should put the contraption BEHIND the last car? Maybe it would discourage cows from climbing on and bothering passengers!"

Answer: Switching light freight loads in the rail yard

Yard goats were (and still are) engines used to reposition or "switch" freight cars between various tracks, and ultimately form up a train for road engines to haul. Goats were usually small engines specifically built for yard work, but obsolete or worn out road engines might also serve out their final days as goats.

Answer: Help guide the wheels through a switch (turnout)

A railroad switch or "turnout" is used to move trains from one set of tracks to another. The rail frog is part of a turnout, and is the crossing point between two rails. A frog can be fabricated from cut and bent pieces of rail, or specifically designed and cast from tough manganese steel.

Oddly enough, the rail frog took its name from the horse. The shape of a rail frog resembles the frog of a horse hoof.

Answer: Run it - it's a type of locomotive

The camelback engine (aka "Mother Hubbard" or "center cab locomotive") was designed by John Wootten in 1877. Featuring an extra wide firebox (called the "Wootten firebox" (how clever!), the camelback was intended to use waste anthracite coal - an otherwise useless byproduct. Unfortunately the wider firebox had to be placed in front of the crew cab, and the engineer could not see in front of the train. To resolve this problem, the engineer's position was moved forward of the firebox, straddling the boiler (thus, a center cab design). The fireman was left alone in a small barely covered deck in the back.

While the basic engine design was efficient and economical, the engineer was in grave danger should a side rod break; the fireman was alone in a small, exposed work area. For these (and several other) reasons, construction of most camelbacks was banned in 1918, and by 1927 a complete ban on center cab locomotives was enacted.

Answer: Their union badge displayed a serpentine "S"

In 1874, switchmen routinely worked 12 hour days, seven days a week for a weekly wage of $50! That's 60 cents an hour; about $2600 a year - NOT too good. In order to improve working conditions, the Switchmen's Union of North America was formed in 1894. In 1969 SUNA merged with several other rail worker organizations to become the United Transportation Union.

Incidentally, in 2011, the average switchman's pay was $23.61 an hour, or about $49,000 a year. Average!

Answer: Railroad police

Railroad police were called "bulls", "cinder dicks", and "[ho]bo chasers." They frequently carried wooden clubs to tighten brake wheels, and sometimes used these clubs on hoboes.

The classic train song "Big Rock Candy Mountain" sings of hobo life in an imaginary pleasant land where: "...the boxcars all are empty, and the railroad bulls are blind...". Obviously, a blind cop wouldn't be much of a threat to a rail-riding tramp.

Answer: He'd be the dining car chef cooking your meals

The "lizard scorcher" was the dining car chef or cook; you'd be in need of his skills three times a day during the 3-4 day trip.

The vast majority of dining car crews were black men. And like any other organization, those crews had a hierarchy: the chef or cook was highest, followed by the pantryman who kept the kitchen stocked and usually prepared salads. Lower down were the silver man who kept utensils polished, and the "upstairs man" who delivered food to locations beyond the dining car. The lowest member of the car staff was the "pearl diver", who washed dishes.

If you'd like to learn more about the experiences of Pullman car porters, read "Rising From the Rails: Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class" by Larry Tye.

Geckoes selling insurance? Get serious - NO ONE would use a silly gimmick like that!

Answer: Working on top of boxcars

A catwalk or running board was a wood or metal walkway that ran the length of a boxcar roof. Before the advent of the Westinghouse air brake system in 1869, the brakes on each car of a train had to be set manually - by brakemen, of course! A brakeman would have to cross the top of each moving car, manually tighten a brake wheel, then move to the next car. Tank cars, gondolas, and flat cars were relatively easy to cross. But 40 foot long, smooth sided boxcars offered no grip. So it was up and over, via the catwalk!

With modern technology, there's no need for train crew to be atop a car, so the catwalk has gone the way of the dinosaur. And for the most part, so have train riding brakemen.

Answer: Bent iron rails punching up through car floors

Early rails were simple wooden beams, with long iron straps attached to the top to reduce wear. When these iron straps broke free from the timbers, they could - and apparently DID - curl upward, and punch through running gear and the floors of cars. Imagine the damage a two inch wide iron sword could do, coming up through your seat at 30 miles an hour! These snakeheads could wreak fearful death and destruction on early trains.

Solid iron web rail or "T rail" helped eliminate the snakehead threat. Virtually all rail today is made of strong steel.

The 4-4-0 locomotive was a distractor. There actually was a steam locomotive - called the "American" type - with that wheel arrangement. To learn more about various steam locomotives, check out the "Whyte Classification System."

Answer: The cupola of the caboose

Most of us know that the "caboose" was the small, boxcar-like structure at the tail end of old time trains. The caboose served as a work station and shelter for the rear end crew: the conductor, brakemen, and others. The most common type of caboose had a small raised center section, called the cupola. From this vantage point, train crews (the "crows?") could observe their own train (as well as other trains) for safety and security.

By the 1980's, technology had left the caboose in the dust. Various advances in railroading eliminated the need for the rear end crew. The Flashing Rear End Device" (FRED) became the end-of-train indicator, and the caboose was essentially extinct.