Meaning of jerk water | Babel Free

Definitions

1. To fill a steam locomotive water tank manually from natural water supplies (a hypothetical process whose use has been discredited).
   US
2. To scoop water from a track pan mounted on the tracks directly into a steam engine's tank without stopping.
   US, dated

Examples

“The Santa Fe, called the Jerk Water route because they "jerked" water from ponds and wallows for the engine, still frayed out at the Kansas line.”

“[…] by bailing from near streams with buckets, (the brake-man called this operation jerking water) and from this the road gets its name⟳ of jerkwater road.”

“In 1870 at Montrose, N.Y., the New York Central made the first installation of a track pan and scoop to permit⟳ locomotives to take⟳ water on the fly⟳. Since these installations invariably were in tiny communities, and since they permitted locomotives literally to “jerk water””

“The early, crude "jerk water" device applied by the New York Central is shown in figure⟳ 8.24.”

“Towns with track pans no longer had as many trains stop⟳ there, and they became derisively known as “jerkwater” towns, where the trains would jerk water and just keep⟳ on going.”

CEFR level