Glossary
Railroad Conductor Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential railroad conductor terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key railroad conductor vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in railroad conductor training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Bad order
- A car with a defect.
- Consist
- The list of cars in a train.
- Coupling
- Connecting cars together.
- Derail
- A device that prevents runaway cars from fouling a track.
- Hand brake
- A brake set by hand to secure cars.
- Hand signals
- Standard signals used to guide moves.
- Placard
- A sign showing hazardous materials.
- Shove
- Pushing cars instead of pulling them.
- Siding
- A track where trains meet or pass.
- Switching
- Moving cars to build or break up trains.
- Three-step protection
- Stopping, setting brakes and centering the reverser before going between cars.
- Track warrant
- Authority to occupy track.
- Waybill
- A document describing a car’s shipment.
- Yard
- A network of tracks where trains are built.
- Yardmaster
- The person who manages yard operations.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Railroad Conductor practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Railroad Conductor training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.