# Why is it called "Johnson bar?



## lotsasteam (Jan 3, 2008)

Cause when you put your foot against the backhead and wrench that sucker into your midsection you tend to jam your "Johnson"?

Found the explanation on another Forum!


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

I did some searching myself. First off, the term, "Johnson Bar" doesn't only refer to steam locomotives. From Wikipedia...

*A Johnson bar is a hand lever with several distinct positions and a positive latch to hold the lever in the selected position. The latch is typically activated with a spring-loaded squeeze handle on the lever so that only one hand is needed to release the latch, move the lever, then re-engage the latch in a different position. This is an American English term, in British English the lever is named for its function. *

They were used on tractors, steam rollers, and a variety of equipment. And by this definition, the throttle is also actually a "Johnson Bar" though on a steam locomotive it isn't called that.

I found a couple of answers on a different forum...

*1 - According to Freeman Hubbard's "Encyclopedia of North American Railroads", the origin of the term "Johnson Bar" is lost in history, but probably was named for an official of the Baldwin Locomotive Works.*

*2 - Many years ago i asked the same question. The answer i was given is that in the early days of steam, before power reverse was invented or mandated, the term was "jouncin" as in bouncing around. This was because as steam engines grew in size the associated parts of the valve linkage grew also. You can well imagine in a typical large 2-8-0 of the early 1900"s the mass of metal that was moving around when the engine was underway. When an engineer changed the reverse lever position to "notch" up or down he had to hang on for dear life! Hence the term originally was "jouncin bar" which over the years morphed into Johnson bar. *

I suspect #1 is correct and the actual origin is lost to history.


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Guys; 

Don't know whether this is any help, but I spent part of a winter in the late 1960s working maintenance for Hershey Park & Sports Arena. The crew had some long, heavy wooden pry bars (about 5 feet tall) with small metal wheels at the fulcrum point, and a short steel blade at the "business" end. The angle of the blade to the wooden section was about 95 to 100 degrees. The crew would use these levers to "bull" heavy objects into place. And they called these levers "Johnson bars." So I have a hunch that the term could have predated steam locomotives. That big reverser with its fulcrum point below the footplate of the cab may have reminded laborers of the other type of Johnson bar used for "pursuading" heavy objects into place. 

Just a thought, 
David Meashey


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

My hunch would be more mundane... John 'n Sons Foundry made a bunch for the early builders. Stamped their name on 'em. Slang became history. 

Dave, Don't s'pose an old hogger named 'em do ya? 

Have Fun 

John


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

"Dave, Don't s'pose an old hogger named 'em do ya?"

John, with jargon anything could be possible. I still believe that steam locomotives were first called hogs once boilers and fireboxes grew too big for a mere human to keep them adequately stoked. Those poor firemen would tell anyone willing to listen that the new locomotives were "a hog for the coal." Pretty soon the name "hog" was just stuck on any large locomotive. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

Best,
David Meashey


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

I read that the term Hoghead came from Conductors describing an Engineer so full of himself he wouldn't look back for the Conductor's signal to leave the station A hogheaded fellow with a neck so thick he couldn't/ wouldn't turn his head..... was a derisive term.... 

John


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

John; 

Yeah, and there is also one version that says it come from the "Hogg Law" (no more than 12 hours on a train without rest - drafted by a Senator Hogg - no relation to the character on the Dukes of Hazzard). Engine crews also had their derisive term for the conductor, which was "Big O." Conductors thought it meant "Big Operator," but enginemen knew it meant "Big Ox." My favorite jargon term is "strawberry patch," which describes a freight yard at night, with the red and green indicator lights for the switches. 

Have fun, 
David Meashey


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