A carman or crew member who finds a defect, such as a cracked wheel, a broken safety appliance or a bad brake valve, tags the car as a bad order, and it must be repaired in place or set out to a repair track. The phrase works as a noun, an adjective and a verb: crews bad-order cars, set out bad orders and track a bad-order count that measures a yard's repair backlog. Railroaders use it loosely too, for a broken radio, a dead truck or a bad knee.
Bad order that hopper for a busted grab iron and set it out on the rip track before we pull.
Railroaders say a car is bad-ordered the way other trades say a machine is tagged out.
Also heard as
- BO
- bad-ordered
- bad-order car
Related terms
Rip track
A yard track where carmen make light repairs to cars without sending them to a heavy shop.
Car knocker
A carman, the mechanical worker who inspects and repairs railcars and tests their brakes.
Set out
To leave a car or group of cars on a track short of the train's final destination.
Hot box
An overheated wheel bearing on a railcar, a defect that can burn the end off an axle if missed.