| RAILROAD | UNOFFICIAL NICKNAME |
| Atlantic Coast Line | Always Cries Loudly |
| Baltimore Chesapeake & Atlantic | Black Cinders and Ashes |
| Baltimore & Ohio | The Bum's Own |
| Birmingham & Southeastern | Bump & Slide Easy |
| Buffalo Union Carolina | Busted Until Christmas |
| Carolina & Northwestern | Can't and Never Will |
| Chesapeake & Ohio | Cheapskate and Ohio |
| Chesapeake & Western | Crooked & Weedy |
| Chicago Rock Island & Pacific | Baby Railroad |
| The 'CRAP' | |
| Wreck Island | |
| Columbia Newberry & Laurens RR | Crooked, Noisy, and Late |
| CSX | Crashed, Smashed & Exploded |
| The East Tennessee & Western Carolina RR(ET&WNC) | Tweetsie |
| Eat 'Taters and Wear No Clothes | |
| Exquisite Trains and What Nice Conductors | |
| Eat Taters and What Nice Clothes | |
| Georgia and Florida | God Forgot |
| Gulf, Mobile & Ohio | Grease, Mud & Oil |
| Hampton and Branchville | Humped and Boggy |
| Illinois Central Railroad (ICRR) | I Can't Run Railroads |
| Illinois Central Gulf | I Can't Go |
| Jacksonville Beach and Pablo | Jump Boys and Push |
| Kansas City Southern (KCS) | Haywire |
| Louisville & Nashville (L&N) | Loud & Noisy |
| Missouri, Kansas, Texas | KATY |
| Nashville & Eastern (NERR) | Never Ever Runs Right |
| New York Chicago & St. Louis | The Nickel Plate Road |
| Norfolk & Western | Nights & Weekends |
| Norfolk Southern | No Service |
| New Southern | |
| Piedmont & Northern | Po and Needy |
| Reader RR (Arkansas) | Possum-Trot Line |
| Richmond Fredricksburg& Potomac | The Doggie Railroad |
| The Capital Cities Route | |
| St. Louis Southwestern | The Cotton Belt Route |
| Seaboard System | Slowly Breaking Down |
| Slow Board System | |
| Seaboard Air Line | Surely Always Late |
| Tallulah Falls Railway | Total Failure |