Question for Chris Walker or any other citizen of a former British colony

The language of railroading is a fascinating topic.

When you add regional and national differences, it is even more interesting. Then there's the language of each railroad itself.

Norfolk & Western called it's mighty Y-6b's Barmaids (affectionately I am told) and the Class A's were known as Cocktail waitresses. Their motive power seems to have taken on the female gender. I can't recall the location of the quote or I'd source it and get it verbatim, but evidently an engineer told this particular author "so long as you treat a Y like she's a lady, she'll work hard for you. She ain't fancy, might not look the best, but she'll do right by you every time."

The U.P. had a masculine bent with names like Big Boy and Challenger. Great story about how the Big Boy got its name while still at Alco.

My question for Chris is the story of how brake van's got their name. In the U.S. the caboose had plenty of names including hack, crummy, bobber, etc.

Did the brake van serve the same function as the caboose in the U.S?

Any similarities or differences in use or design of note or interest?

Thanks.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2018 11:04AM by kcsivils.