stack talk en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈstæk ˌtɔk/ (General-American)
- /ˈstæk tɔːk/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (General-American) audio
- /-ˌtɑk/ (General-American, cot-caught-merger)
Etymology
From stack (noun) + talk (noun). Stack is a clipping of smokestack (“conduit atop a structure (such as a steam locomotive) allowing smoke to flow out”).
Meanings
-
(US, slang, uncountable) The sound made by the exhaust of a steam locomotive.
[…] Father [Clement C.] Kubesh began making long dashes after trains to insure the correct pitch of sound or the proper placing of his car for the approach of a locomotive. He soon had recorded the "stack talk" of every type of locomotive on the Great Northern, Chicago and North Western, Northern Pacific and Union Pacific.
1956, Railway Progress, volume 10, Cleveland, Oh.; Washington, D.C.: Federation for Railway Progress, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 23:Enjoy the action as this giant 4-8-4 steam locomotive pulls heavy passenger trains over Christianburg Grade and Blue Ridge Grade. […] Highlights include […] Long, heavy trains with great stack talk
2022, “Norfolk & Western 611—On Home Rails—Train Blu-Ray”, in A-Trains.com, Greenwood, Ind., archived from the original on 24 Feb 2025:[T]he priest [Clement C. Kubesh] makes highly stylized recordings of train sounds. […] To him, every steam engine whistle has a recognizable quality and each puffing stack has its own "talk." […] One October, Father Kubesh spotted a potato warehouse about a quarter-mile from Drayton, N.D., on the Northern Pacific. Plugging in his recorder, he caught No. 13, a passenger train, and recorded the whistle, stack talk, and bell, while the train was rounding a bend and while rushing by the warehouse.
1956 October, “Railroad Hobby Club”, in Freeman [H.] Hubbard, editor, Railroad Magazine: The Magazine of Adventurous Railroading, volume 67, number 6, Canton, Oh.: Popular Publications, →OCLC, page 80, columns 1–2:
Translations (1)
fi savupiipun ääni (sound made by the exhaust of a steam locomotive)