Dogcatch? Dogcaught?

by Aaron Hockley

I got an e-mail from someone today asking about the origin of the term “Dogcaught” and “Dogcatch crew”. For the new, in the US there is a federal regulation that train crews cannot work more than a 12 hour shift… after their 12 hours are over, they cannot work any more and the train must be left where it is. The replacement crew which is sent out to relieve this is referred to as a “dogcatch crew” and once they’re on the train, the train is “dogcaught”. As I understand it, the term came about because back in the “old days” when railroads were run efficently, a slow train that couldn’t make it between crew changes was referred to as a “dog” by crews. Hence the relief crew went out to “catch” the “dog” of a train.

If anyone else has any other history of the term, feel free to comment!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 1st, 2006 at 8:29 am and is filed under general info. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.