Chris said "lorry donkey" not "donkey engine".
Chuck Norcutt
On 3/8/2013 5:11 PM, Moose wrote:
> On 3/8/2013 11:29 AM, Bob Whitmire wrote:
>> My guess is it refers to what we would call the tractor, sometimes known in
>> country songs as bobtail or bobtail rig.
>
> That's what I think, usage transferred from the railroad term for what would
> be called a switching engine in the US to
> the separate pulling part of a non-railroad truck-trailer(s) combination.
>
> Mistaken usage here, if that is the case, as the concrete mixer truck is all
> one piece, not articulated tractor and trailer.
>
> The term donkey engine, BTW, had quite a different meaning in the NW US,
> still probably derived from the English
> railroad term. It was, in essence, a steam winch, that revolutionized logging
> in the late 19th. century.
>
>
> Etymological Moose
>
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