Basher Speak - slang as used by "bashers" (i.e. trainspotters). 

Words marked * are official railway terminology used by bashers; other 
terms are semi-official and used by bashers and rail staff alike.

Word 			Explanation
  
Ada/Ethel 		Old female passenger/rail worker..........  
ADEX* 			Advertised Day Excursion  
Albert Gastank 		Old male person.  
Baglet  		Nice looking female.  
Bail 			To leave train (eps. railtour) before end of run  
Bash 			Trip, journey.
Basher			Enthusiast 
Beast 			Good loco 
Bellow  		To make lots of noise and perform arm waving 
			gestures.  
Bert 			Male passenger/rail worker  
Blow up / Burst 	To fail (esp. but not excl. mechanically); to 
			let one down  
Bowl (out) 		To disappoint 
Cane 			"I caned in some good mileage behind 40082."  
Caning Cowboy 		A ned who spent his life just scoring engine 
			numbers for little mileage  
CAN'd 			Cancelled. 
CAPE*'d 		Cancelled en-route.  
Cattle 			General public 
CICERO* 		A special train will run as under, advise all 
			concerned and note  
Clag 			Thick smoke 
Cling-ons 		The kind of basher who's not sure of the best 
			moves so follows a "main man" about.  
Compo 			Compartment 
Connection 		UK term for US "transfer"  
Crankex 		Excursion train for rail enthusiasts ("cranks")  
Disciple 		One of the many kids that used to follow Jed 
			around during the school holidays as he knew all 
			the best moves (allegedly)  
Desperate gripper 	Guard/Ticket collector who is mad on tickets/does 
			them all the time.  
DMU* 			Diesel Multiple Unit (self-propelled railcar)  
Doss 			Sleep 
Diseased 		Better than dreadful  
Dreadful 		Excellent 
Drivers 		Driving wheels (the big ones in the middle :-))  
EMU*			Electric Multiple Unit
ETH*			Electric Train Heating
Farce 			C*ckup by BR / Railtrack / whoever  
Fester 			To wait a long time with nothing to do, as in "I 
			festered for 7 hours at Temple Meads".  Festering 
			happens a lot if you decide to travel on a country 
			branch line and then realise the next train going 
			anywhere else isn't for *ages*.
Fill-in turn 		Productive way of using otherwise dead time  
Finish(ed) 		As above, or to wind up fellow enthusiast  
Flap 			To lose control in a crisis. Usually when a move 
			breaks down.  
Fodder 			Foodstuff 
Fudger 			Person who lied about loco's they have had for haulage.  
FURNO* 			Until Further Notice  
Gen 			Information 
G-man  			Guard, who "Grips" (i.e. punches holes in) your tickets.  
Golden Gripper		Super keen or nasty gripper. AKA Ross Ancromarty.
Gricer 			Rail enthusiast 
Gripper 		Guard or other ticket collector doing ticket check  
Hellfire 		Very excellent 
Insect 			Someone who has had less than you :-)/ Species seen at 
			Birmingham New St at 0600 on summer saturday morning  
Insect move		Shuttle move (e.g. between Birmingham Moor St and Snow 
			Hill) designed to allow the maximum number of scratches
			in the shortest amount of time. A favourite German 
			insect move is Köln Hbf - Köln Deutz.
Jed 			Tall guy with long hair and beard, looks like a tramp, 
			who wears a large overcoat no matter what the weather. 
			Based at New Street but known nationally. Favourite 
			saying "What was on the Brighton"  
Juicebox 		Electric Multiple Unit  
Kettle 			Steam locomotive 
Large 			Very good loco? (as in "rather large beast")  
Leap 			See Bail 
LIAR			Enthusiast magazine, famed for inaccuarcy. Anagram.
Livery 			Colour scheme 
Men Who Know 		Superhuman gricers who live in IC225 sets and worship  
Move 			One leg of a journey  
Moves book 		Book for recording one's moves.  
NB 			No (train heating) Boiler. NB is also used when referring 
			to ETH locos with the ETH defunct (ie 33046 is NB).  
Ned			Enthusiast
Ned news 		Rail magazine. 
Norm(al)s 		Non enthusiast / General public  
Overnight 		Sleep on train 
Pair 			Two locomotives hauling a train together  
PARSPEC* 		Unadvertised Party  
Photpoint 		Photogenic aspect or location  
Pilot 			The leading locomotive of a pair  
Plastic 		Inferior or (of people) insincere; not the real thing.  
Obscene 		Very novel working  
Outrageous 		Novel working.  
Rake 			I raked in the milelage on me all liner  
Rate 			To like; to consider attractive; - rateable(adj)  
Reject 			To decline to travel on  
Require 		To need (esp. as in track-bashing or loco-bashing)  
Right Away* 		The signal for departure (flag, whistle or what have you)  
Riot 			An extremely unusual occurence  
Roadshow 		Group of highly desparate bashers.  
Scenario 		Current situation  
Scratch 		To fill in line in book/score loco  
Sheep 			The kind of basher who's not sure of the best moves so 
			follows a "main man" about.  
Shire's lynx 		DMU, especially plastic one  
SILK* 			Silk Arrangement (allowing a person without funds to 
			obtain ticket when payment is made by a third party at 
			another station).  
Spin 			Going for a train on the offchance you might require it  
Stagger 		To move slowly. 
Stock 			Carriages 
Storm 			To move rapidly. 
TC Ned 			Basher (I use the term loosely) who did all his bashing 
			in the West Midlands Travelcard area (Coventry - NEC - New 
			Street - Wolverhampton)  
Thrash 			A very good trip 
To Flag 		To wave away (ie pass up on, allow to depart without you).  
Top man 		Person with most mileage  
Train engine* 		The second locomotive of a pair  
UFN* 			Until Further Notice  
Vac 			Mark 1 coach with vacuum brakes  
Video vermin 		The manifestation of camcorders (not a basher word)  
View 			Watch the arrival/departure/passage of  
Wedged 			A very full train.  
Wither(ed) 		Miss something good  


Last modified 24 June 1998 
With thanks to Duncan Pflaeger's RailInfo site: http://www.pflaeger.demon.co.uk/railinfo/