Naming trains?

[FCIN]

What would the crews call those trains?

Some interesting possibilities there. Often train crews will have their own names for certain trains and/or the railroad company itself will use names for certain trains that often refer back to older railroads in the history of the railroad.

Couple of examples. On the L&N we had trains R160 and R163 that ran between Louisville, KY and Ravenna, KY (those trains were R161 and R162 between Lexington and Ravenna, due to the direction change at Lexington). Train crews called this train "The Gut Run" because of all the set outs/pick ups on this train. It was supposed to be a through mixed freight, but was actually more like a big local freight using 6-axle power.

In Louisville, there was the "Durkee Man" - a switch job that ran from South Louisville to switch the Durkee Foods plant in East Louisville every afternoon.

Another regular job was the "Big Four Puller" that ran from South Louisville to East Louisville. That name referred to the fact that originally it was a transfer job that handled interchange traffic between the L&N and the Big Four (NYC) connection in East Louisville along with traffic to be handled at the East Louisville yard. Even after the Big Four bridge was closed when Penn Central took over the NYC, this name remained.

Other typical names used by train crews (and management) usually referred to where the local train originated, such as the Frankfort Local, Frankfort Switcher, Richmond Switcher, Patio Turn, etc., even though the specific train had a designated number. One of my favorite names for a train was the "Tobacco Worm" that worked the tobacco warehouses in Shelbyville, KY, between November and February, every year. Many times, train crews would have names for certain jobs that I can't use on this web site!

Also rather interesting how names for some railroads were used when that company had vanished many years in the past. In Lexington, KY, the L&N always referred to the Southern Railway as the "CS" (Cincinnati Southern).