Railroaders rarely say locomotives when they can say power: a train has power on the head end, the yard is waiting on power, and a terminal is power short when there are not enough units for scheduled departures. Lite power is a set of locomotives running without cars. Planners measure power in horsepower per trailing ton, and a train with too little of it stalls on grades or crawls across a division.
Our power's coming in on the Q train, so we're on hold until they cut it off and fuel it.
Also heard as
- units
- motive power
Related terms
DPU
Distributed power unit: a locomotive placed mid-train or on the rear and controlled by radio from the lead unit.
Light engine
A locomotive or set of locomotives running without any cars attached.
Hostler
A terminal worker who moves, fuels, sands and services locomotives inside the engine facility.
Goat
A yard switch engine, the locomotive that spends its life sorting cars around a terminal.
Run eight
Running a diesel locomotive in its highest throttle notch, wide open.