Railroad slang for the small, low-horsepower locomotive assigned to yard work, butting cars back and forth on short moves all day. Crews use it for any yard engine, from a four-axle switcher to a unit run by remote control from a beltpack. Being on the goat means working a yard job rather than a road train.
Heard on the job
Road power's dead, ask the yardmaster if we can borrow the goat to pull our train out of 12.
Also heard as
- yard goat
- switcher
- yard engine
Related terms
Power
The locomotives assigned to a train, or locomotives in general.
Hump yard
A classification yard where cars are pushed over a small hill and roll by gravity into sorting tracks.
Bowl
The set of classification tracks at the bottom of a hump yard where sorted cars collect.
Kick
To shove a cut of cars, uncouple it on the move and let it roll free onto a track.