Ron / Todd - The term "Wild Cat" was a common slang reference to an extra train. Maybe there was a local variation, but I suspect that either the reporter or the type setter turned a cat into a rat. I have seen an old train order from the D&H in the 1870's reading something like "Engine 10 Jones run wild Mechanicville to Schenectady and meet Engine 11 Smith at Elnora." "Run wild" predated "run extra," and the trains were often called "wild cats." It was also common to name the conductor in train orders at the time. I can understand why "wild" was changed to "extra," considering the connotation of the terms in the minds of the public. I'm sure that "Scranton Bull" was not the official symbol for a Utica-Scranton train. The DL&W would have called it, officially, something like US-2. In 1967, the Utica-Binghamton train, the only pre-arranged southbound freight from Utica, was UB-22. There were other local names for freight trains. The Ordinary from Croxton via the Main Line (Paterson and Middletown) to Port Jervis was called "The Paterson Gang." The local on the upper end of the New Jersey and New York RR was "The Hayshaker." Gordon Davids List, Last week I came across a Buffalo newspaper article from November 21, 1890 where an engineer ran his train into a standing work train inside East Buffalo yard limits. While giving testimony he referred to his train as a "Wild Rat", i.e., a train without a schedule. Never heard that one before. Ron Dukarm The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List http://EL-List.railfan.net/ To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html ------------------------------
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