We all know ships are "she". By extension, other machines are sometimes feminine, including locomotives. Then one day, many years ago, I was looking at a photo of a Sharknose, and I thought, "That's not a 'she'." Then I thought: Are cab units feminine and hood units masculine? That doesn't fit. Are passenger engines feminine and freight engines masculine? My head almost exploded. I must be crazy - I'm saying this, and I don't even know French!
In Spanish, it's "el tren," i.e., "train" is masculine. Of course, they also say "el barco" for boat, and this seems to have little bearing on the "she" pronoun being used in English. I guess this only raises more questions without resolving anything.
Steam locos are female, diesels are male. Steam locos are occasionally referred to as "the old girl", while you would never refer to a diesel that way. Dave.
We fell in love with the personality each steam engine had, so they were like girls, then things got confused when the "Big Boy" came out. Maybe it was because 'he' was such a pullin' brute! All muscle and stomp! Those high steppin' Ladies of the Passenger runs really were more like a lady who picked up her skirts and danced away into the dreamy fog of night... Anyone who ever felt the thrill of his steamer's response to his inner thoughts late at night when they were alone, will never fall out of love for "her". There is just nothing alive or dead that can take 'her' place at all. Only the older Hogheads can feel the sensation I am talking about, the rest of you can only imagine what it was like.
Neither. They are usually "this piece of crap" or "that junker". If I talk to it, it's "Baby", which could be considered feminine.
Rick, I have been told that your feelings are not unusual in today's working world on our railroads, because engineers are not usually assigned one particular engine to care for and run as if it were his very own. Back when steam was king, engineers were responsible for 'their' engines and expected to 'keep them up' in the best of safe dependable running order. It was the engineer who had the authority to request maintenance when he felt it was needed, not some young bureaucrat who never set foot in an engine because he was only concerned with the bottom dollar. You had to be 45 years old before you were even eligible to take the seat of a freight steam engine, full time, and at least 50 before being allowed the seat on a passenger steam engine. You were only allowed to take the seat temporarily for training so long as the full time engineer was there with you, while you were his fireman 'learning the ropes'. Today passengers and freight put their lives in the hands of 20 year old youngsters, even girls, who step into an engine right after engineer's 'school' of all things! They do not have to have the experience nor understanding of track maintenance, engine up keep, nor much on-line running before being presented with a 'driver's license' to blissfully wander off down the road to oblivion! Now that may not all be totally true, but that is my personal opinion on it today. Tomorrow? That remains to be seen...
Easy now:embarassed::teeth:, I've been told that I can run with the best of them and I started at 23 LOL.
Same here:teeth: BUT, I do agree that the "training" is not enough. A few of our newer hoggers have gotten fired or have torn things up because of the lack of "training." I know I was a nervous wreck my first solo trip.
C'mon now Watash - Not all of us kids are quite that oblivious! I've heard enough stories from the old heads about guys that fired for 20 years and still couldn't get an engine off the pit without the hostler once they got set up. Ask a few of the old conductors about getting splattered against the wall of the caboose with their grip, lunch and brakeman imbedded in their back and you'll find out that some of those old throttlemen were not all that. Some begged the fireman to run so they wouldn't get whiplashed. One friend of mine who spent years working passenger service tells the story of an engineer coming downhill into a station stop and running in the slack so hard that it cleared every table in the diner, rolled a woman in a wheelchair right out into the vestibule and instantly reclined everybody that wasn't in a fully braced position. I know another guy who plain forgot where he was and smashed into his own train going back to double a hill. The stories are legion. Yup, there was some real winners then, just as now. As for learning the ropes, there was enough old-timers around yet when I was training for me to figure out that a lot of them wouldn't even talk to you, much less tell you anything until you did something wrong and then you got the screaming treatment. Great training that. Age and treachery may defeat youth and skill but it doesn't necessarily make a good teacher. Yes, they do throw guys to the wolves too early anymore and the training is too short (and only going to get shorter I'm afraid) but at the end of the day...it's all about attitude, ambition and what you do with the training. Some figure that the end of Engine School is the end of learning and for them, every day is an adventure in new screw-ups. I can't tell you how many shiny new Engineer Trainees I've come across that don't want to run, don't want to study, won't take instruction and end up engineers anyway. I've watched a bunch of them go off into the sunset with their dismissal papers waving in the breeze too. Maybe I'm a dinosaur but I still think you have to take the initiative to train yourself to be better at this or any profession unless you want it to eat you alive. The carriers aren't going to do it for you, they'll just cut you loose after you break things enough times and say "Well, we trained him to our high standards and he blew it." You have to want to be good at this and work at it on your own... especially if you're like me and don't have a natural talent for it. Too many people do just the bare minimum to stay certified and scare the pants off the rest of us when we have to look at them across an interlocking and wonder what they're going to do next. Getting off the subject of Locomotive personalities so maybe we should start another thread? ...and by the way...they're all women. Feisty, tempermental, unpredictable, maddening, frustrating, but a real blast when all the stars line up and you get to dance.
You are absolutely correct rule281, I was 'brought up' by a kind patient engineer, and I have never been the kind of kid to jerk a throttle wide open or throw her in reverse just to see the wheels spin. I was always very careful and paid attention to how it was supposed to be done. My training was different in that I started out in the roundhouse and was pretty familiar with what reaction I was going to get, before ever getting out on the line. Most of what I heard was, "Hey we got a new gal coming in!", or "That old girl sure got run ragged on her last trip!", or "Hey 'Grunt' run this old lady out on the table". The only time I recall hearing an engine referred to like a man, was when the Rock rolled one of the new stream-liners in for flat spots and we were to do a quick re-turn on the wheels and our head hostler said, "Well looky here at 'Fancy Dan' stumbling in with flat feet!". Someone had skidded it far enough to wear flats on all wheels but the middle ones. "WE" didn't like the diesels, but occasionally had to 'fix' one anyway.
I don't recall ever hearing references in masculine terms. Just female. Whether steam, or diesel. Although I have also heard the less complementary neuter use of "it". It's a poor steamer. It's a poor puller. It's headed for the cutting torch... Boxcab E50
I can settle this one: Steam locos are DEFINATELY girls--just think about what your significant other looks like when she's yelling at you--steam coming out of her ears and that high pitched whistle of a voice yelling--yep, DEFINATELY FEMALE!
I guess that could apply to diesels too, then, they get all painted up to look pretty before going out, and they sound like most 'motor-mouth' women do when getting up to speed in an argument when you are wrong. SHE can rev up and out shout you 2:1!
Keep your head down Buddy Hope my wife doesn't read that one, Watash! She's liable to make a Texas road trip to fix both our wagons.
