In many professions, a private language evolves over the years. A certain term might glide off the tongue of some glib worker and be picked up by others and repeated. An argot forms-words and expressions that fit the job, verbal shortcuts that say what’s needed in a precise lingo outsiders might not understand.
At the Chicago Transit Authority, a colorful patois has evolved from the men and women who have worked the city’s street cars, trolleys, buses and elevated trains. Here is some of it:
Fool catcher: A 3-foot-square platform with a railing, adjacent to the elevated tracks and sometimes hanging out over the street, that provides workers on the track an escape from an oncoming train.
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Stub track: A train track that leads into a dead-end spur.
Going round the horn: The large swing through the Howard Street rail yard taken by the northbound Howard-Dan Ryan “L” before it heads back south.
Washout: A manual signal for a train to stop because of oncoming traffic or danger. The signal is given by a lantern or flashlight waved horizontally across the track. An old railroad term, it was used to warn trains of washed-out bridges.
Take a switch back: Refers to turning around and not completing a bus route. The term comes from the era when a trolley motorman would tell the conductor to go out on the street with a switch iron, wrest a handle on the tracks into a different position, and switch the tracks to change the car’s direction.
RTO: A rapid transit operator.
Spacing boards: Diamond-shaped pieces of wood usually spaced 600 feet apart and mounted on short posts adjacent to tracks. In the days before electronic signaling, they served as a warning to the motorman to slow down if he couldn’t see them because of an obstacle or inclement weather.
Put out: An elevated train ordered to leave the yard and go into service.
Lay up: Bringing a train into the yard and parking it.
Swinging load: A full load of passengers. The term comes from the days “L” trains and buses had overhead straps for standing passengers to grip; a vehicle with a “swinging load” was packed with riders.
Pull my poles: To be passed by another vehicle. The term harks back to the days of the trackless trolley, which was connected by poles to overhead electrical wires. When the driver of a streetcar wanted to pass one in front of him, he would signal to the other driver, who would yell “pull my poles.” The other driver would get out, grab a rope pulling the poles off the wires, and pass the first trolley.
Going into the hole: Entering the subway system from the “L” tracks.
Throw it into the big hole: An order for a motorman to come to an emergency stop.
Give ‘er nine: To use full power and attain maximum speed. The term is derived from the fact that the power pedals on the trackless trolleys had nine points of power.