# "Train 68: Highball..."



## jamesontheroad (Mar 27, 2006)

Is it the same thing as the Hollywood reference for the last shoot of the day - the Martini Shot, because that's what everyone will soon be drinking?

Also overheard yesterday as 71 started to accelerate out of PLB, the train manager calling 'Stand-by' the locomotive crew as two sleepy students realised they had missed their stop. I would have expected something more forceful than just 'Stand-by'...

Thanks !

*j* :blink:


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## Bill Haithcoat (Mar 27, 2006)

Highball is, in its own right, a railroad expression. Something--originally--- about a ball hung above the tracks, a signal meaning "go".

No doubt some can elabobate on this better than I. What I know for sure is it is an old-fashioned railroad term, not to be confused with the drink term.


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## battalion51 (Mar 27, 2006)

I'm not entirely sure on this one, but it may be a reference to signaling systems. A clear signal is always a green light at the top of the signal post (no matter where you are), and is also refered to as a "high clear," but I think that's a reference to semaphore days.


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## haolerider (Mar 27, 2006)

If you Google "highball - train terminology", you will find several different definitions of "highball", but the most consistent is:

"Highball. A train signal consisting of a ball that is run up a pole to inform the engineer that the track ahead is clear. A ball at the high position )high ball) indicatges the track is clear."

It is also defined as: "get the train moving at high speed" and several others that refer to clearance to move the train.


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## Trogdor (Mar 27, 2006)

And just as a technicality, Amtrak has no "train managers." They're called conductors.


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## GG-1 (Mar 27, 2006)

jamesbrownontheroad said:


> Is it the same thing as the Hollywood reference for the last shoot of the day - the Martini Shot, because that's what everyone will soon be drinking?


Aloha

never heard it called the "martini shot", possibility because Mai Tai's are more comon here. But the usual coment is just the wrap or pau hana. I worked on Hawaii 50, Magnum, Joe verses the Volcano, and many others, much prefer the legit theater, which gets me to the rails.


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## sechs (Mar 27, 2006)

For future reference --

http://users.adelphia.net/%7Eedportzline/glossary.htm


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## caravanman (Mar 28, 2006)

I recently heard the "highball" expression on my Amtrak trip too. I had thought the guy said it wrong, and should have said "high tail", as in a rabbit running...little did I know I was soon to learn a bit more railroad speak, courtesy of amtrak unlimited!

Ed B)


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## Yerry (Mar 28, 2006)

There's one remaining set og "highball" signals, in the NE somewhere. they protect a diamond crossing, and are raised/lowered by hand. When they go up for one line, they go down for the other. There was a picture of it in Trains some time ago, and in PTJ many years ago.


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## Guest_timetableflagman (Apr 1, 2006)

There's some belief that the "highball" glass (and drink) gets its name from being short and wide enough that it wouldn't tip over on a fast-moving or "highballing" train.

The position of signals is reminiscent of all the older signal poisitions from the ball to the semaphore. Likewise, the term "highball" is still used and actually does relate to signal position. The continuity of terms and usages is good in that in a harrowing emergency, no one has to really think of what is the newest term or concept devised by someone who didn't learn the traditional ones.


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## jccollins (Apr 1, 2006)

jamesbrownontheroad said:


> Also overheard yesterday as 71 started to accelerate out of PLB, the train manager calling 'Stand-by' the locomotive crew as two sleepy students realised they had missed their stop. I would have expected something more forceful than just 'Stand-by'...


I always heard and said "that'll do #__!" over the radio to get the engineer to stop for pax left behind.


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## Aussie Traveller (Feb 10, 2011)

FWIIW, while riding the Surfliner northbound out of San Diego last week, and having been proceeding (slowly) at caution for quite a distance behind a very slow Metrolink - which let us through at a loop - the conductor happened to pass my seat as a voice said on her handset: "Mr Rodrigez says highball it into Union", so the term is still very much in use. I take it Mr R is the train controller.

Aussie Traveller


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## amtrakwolverine (Feb 10, 2011)

Highball is very much still in use. There are allot of youtubes videos where the person filming had a scanner and you could here the call "Amtrak 8 highball on signal indication" .


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## jis (Feb 11, 2011)

Although in an O scale model, but here you go


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## Devil's Advocate (Feb 11, 2011)

jis said:


> Although in an O scale model, but here you go.


I've always wondered just what the whole highball contraption looked like. I understand this is a reproduction of a specialized version intended for an interchange but it's still nice to finally have a legitimate visual in mind.



Guest_timetableflagman said:


> There's some belief that the "highball" glass (and drink) gets its name from being short and wide enough that it wouldn't tip over on a fast-moving or "highballing" train.


I wouldn't consider a highball glass to be especially short or wide. That sounds more like an _old fashioned_ glass to me.


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## The Davy Crockett (Feb 11, 2011)

I remember a book that was published in the 1970s(?) about the PRR & NYC merger. It had a chapter entitled "Highballing to Nowhere" I thought it was a great visual - and accurate - title.


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## oldtimer (Feb 11, 2011)

The Davy Crockett said:


> I remember a book that was published in the 1970s(?) about the PRR & NYC merger. It had a chapter entitled "Highballing to Nowhere" I thought it was a great visual - and accurate - title.



Was that book "The Wreck of the PennCentral"?

If it was I read it when it came out but cannot remember anything form it. When you get old you can suffer from CRS syndrome (Can't Remember Stuff) or maybe there is another meaning for the S but I can't remember it.

I even went to the doctor with my CRS problem and his advice was to pay his bill in advance!

:help: :wacko: :giggle:


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## The Davy Crockett (Feb 11, 2011)

oldtimer2 said:


> The Davy Crockett said:
> 
> 
> > I remember a book that was published in the 1970s(?) about the PRR & NYC merger. It had a chapter entitled "Highballing to Nowhere" I thought it was a great visual - and accurate - title.
> ...



I sympathize with your medical condition. I myself suffer from CRMMS - Cant Remember More and More Stuff - and I honestly can't say for sure that the title was "The Wreck of the PennCentral," but that sure sounds familiar and I do think you are right. I really don't recall the details of the book either, other than that one chapter title. For some reason it struck me as funny and lodged firmly in one of my two or three better functioning brain cells.


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## The Chief (Feb 11, 2011)

Here's a photo from the *Railroad Museum in Conneaut, Ohio*, of the ball and chain signal, from which _Highball_ was derived. Signage indicates etymology.

Interestingly, I know a guy from Fort Worth who retired back from whence he came, Conneaut, PA.


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## oldtimer (Feb 12, 2011)

The Chief said:


> Here's a photo from the *Railroad Museum in Conneaut, Ohio*, of the ball and chain signal, from which _Highball_ was derived. Signage indicates etymology.
> 
> Interestingly, I know a guy from Fort Worth who retired back from whence he came, Conneaut, PA.



All this time I thought it was because railroaders were known as drinkers. I once heard an engineer tell a conductor that he was not leaving town until the conductor gave him a highball!

:help: hboy: :wacko:


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## railiner (Feb 12, 2011)

The Davy Crockett said:


> oldtimer2 said:
> 
> 
> > The Davy Crockett said:
> ...


I just checked my copy and it is indeed chapter nine in that book. So your memory is pretty good!


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## railiner (Feb 12, 2011)

amtrakwolverine said:


> Highball is very much still in use. There are allot of youtubes videos where the person filming had a scanner and you could here the call "Amtrak 8 highball on signal indication" .


And when they are scanned by a wayside dragging equipment detector, the conductor will often see that there are no defects indicated, and radio the engineer to "Highball the dragger, Number --". Nowadays, the detector 'talks' and saves the conductor the trouble.


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## Amtrak 1986 (Mar 21, 2011)

"Highball on signal Inducation" is what we say...meaning if the signal is clear, go at maximum permitted speed; because station work is completed or orders have been given to proceed. - a conductor


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## the_traveler (Mar 21, 2011)

I've seen a "highball" on the AE every time it passes thru KIN at 150 MPH - and maybe have a highball (or 2 or 3 or 4!



) while on the AE also!


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## Durham57 (Mar 21, 2011)

As I have always understood it, the word "highballing" in train-talk means tracks are cleared all the way, full speed ahead. But I grew up in the 1940s in the South...what do I know!


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## Partyman (Mar 21, 2011)

Rode the CONO from NOL to CHM about a month ago and I had my scanner on and several times I heard the conductor say to the engineer, Amtrak 58, engine 1, lets highball Memphis or whatever town we happened to be departing. I am just a simple farm boy, but I got a bit of a rush every time I heard that and we started to accelerate.


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## had8ley (Mar 22, 2011)

Just as a side note~ before computers and iPhones station agents would be positioned every 5 or 6 miles. IF the ball, on the tall pole, was in the lower position it meant a train had not cleared the following station (and the approaching train HAD to stop before going by the pole.) As soon as the train occupying the "block" cleared, the station ahead would telegraph the station behind that the train had cleared the block. Then the agent would raise the ball giving the "high" ball signal to proceed to the next block to any following trains. "That'll do" has been used as long as I can remember (five minutes? :lol: ) but we used "Stop the train" in freight service. It was just a regional slang for "that'll do." As with most RR rules track side signaling came to the RR's because of numerous wrecks caused by confusion.


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## George Harris (Mar 23, 2011)

oldtimer2 said:


> All this time I thought it was because railroaders were known as drinkers. I once heard an engineer tell a conductor that he was not leaving town until the conductor gave him a highball!
> :help: hboy: :wacko:


Obviously never heard of Rule G. Now, have fun with that one.


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