Reply to "Pilot Trucks on Steam Locomotives"

I think a lot of terms we use are regional or from times past. I thank you for the history lesson. I wonder if railroads borrowed the term pilot from ships, when they needed a pilot onboard for unfamiliar waters. I drove truck in Detroit for years and all the truck terminals where known as barns and we still call our semi tractors a horse. We where even told by dispatch at the end of the day to put our trailer up to the dock and put our horse to bed. Nickname for trailers is still wagon. Yes I am a retired Teamster but never drove a horse team.